Case Management Services During Placement 624-05-15-50-30

(Revised 2/10/07 ML #3053)

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The case manager supervising the placement of a child in foster care must have regular contacts with the foster child and foster parents, and must coordinate services (including periodic medical examinations) from other resources for the foster child. The case manager must be cognizant of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (Implemented in North Dakota 7-1-99) and of the new timeframe requirements for foster care.

 

The content of the case manager/child visit must relate to the child and family team plan developed and the circumstances, issues, and relationships apparent at the time of the child/case manager visit.

 

The supervision of foster care placements requires periodic home visits, including interviews of the child.  The requirements concerning frequency of visits by case workers supervising the placement of a child in foster care are as follows:

• In all cases, the visits/contacts must be sufficiently frequent to ensure the child’s safety and well being.

 

Visit frequency must be discussed within the review process. Frequency and conditions must be defined in the child's case plan. The following are North Dakota's minimal standards for visitation:

 

Out-of-State Placements

Effective 10-1-06, for children placed in foster care in either family or residential settings outside of North Dakota, federal law requires that a caseworker (representative from either state) must visit the child in the foster care setting not less frequently than every 6 months and submit a report on the visit to Children and Family Services Division, North Dakota Department of Human Services.  How visitation and reporting will be accomplished, as well as the possible costs to the custodian, must be carefully considered whenever out-of-state placement is being considered.

 

Missing Children:

The case manager, upon learning of a missing child or a child on the run, must report the incident (with pertinent information) to the legal custodian and the regional supervisor as soon as possible, but in no instances later than 12 hours.

 

Pertinent Information means, but is not limited to the following:

 

Circumstances of the "missing" report:

• Who, what, where, when, date, exact time.
• Description of the child's appearance; i.e. hair color/style, clothing, identifying marks.
• Last placement, name, address.
• Who saw the child last?
• Date, time, and name of last case manager visit.
• Is this the first time the child has been "missing"? If not, provide a brief history of prior "missing" episodes.
• What was going on with the child at the time?
• Was it from a special event? i.e. game, rodeo, carnival, etc?

 

Action taken by the Case Manager:

What action was taken by the case manager, family foster home, and/or facility since being notified that the child is missing? i.e. APB (all points bulletin), etc.

 

Family Foster Care

1. Personal contact once a month is required with the foster child and to the foster parents in order to carry out the agency's basic obligation toward the child and ensure that the child achieves permanency as quickly as possible. Visitation content must include focus on child related issues. More frequent visitation is recommended immediately after placement or if problems are experienced in the placement.
2. When visiting the foster child face-to-face, once a month, weekly supplemental telephone contacts are recommended.

 

Group/RCCF Foster Care/Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTF)

1. Personal contact once a quarter is required in order to carry out the agency's basic obligation towards the child.  More frequent visits may be indicated immediately after placement or if problems are being noticed in the placement.
2. When visiting a foster child face-to-face on a quarterly basis, telephone contact with the child on a monthly basis is recommended.
3. Planned (included in the permanency plan/Single Plan of Care (SPOC)), less frequent visitation to the foster child in group/RCCF care in cases where distance (out-of-state) is a problem should be spelled out in the permanency plan/(SPOC).  (See paragraph on “out-of-state placements.”)

 

In all cases, the case manager visitation frequency should be discussed at permanency planning reviews/Foster Care Child & Family Team meetings and written into the case plan/Single Plan of Care (SPOC).

 

Document the agency involvement and time frames on the permanency planning initial and on-going progress reports in the “tasks” section, and time frame the activity. This is available on CCWIPS. (It is also incorporated in the SFN 902 and SFN 903 for those limited situations done on hard copy.) Refer also to the Single Plan of Care (SPOC).