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

(Revised 1/15/10 ML #3206)

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The case manager supervising the placement of a child in foster care must have regular contacts with the foster child, foster child's parent(s), 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 8-1-99) and of the new timeframe requirements for foster care.

 

The frequency of case manager’s visits with the parent(s) must be sufficient to meet the needs of the family and promote the achievement of the case goal.

 

The content of the case manager/child or case manager/parent(s) 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 or case manager/parent(s) 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:

 

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:

 

  1. Out-of-State Placements - relative parent, family foster care, residential

Federal law requires that a caseworker (representative from either state) must visit the child in the foster care setting on a monthly basis. 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. Visitation standards are the same as those outlined for foster youth placed within North Dakota.

  1. Foster Youth Placed in North Dakota family Foster Homes

  1. Personal contact once a month is required with the children in family foster care in order to carry out the agency's basic obligation toward the child and ensure that the child achieves permanency as quickly as possible. The majority of these visits must occur in the residence of the child. The home where the child is residing includes foster home, child care institution, or the home from which the child was removed if the child is on a trial home visit. Caseworker visits can be conducted by any caseworker within the custodial agency. Whenever possible, best practice dictates visitation should occur between the child and the child's case manager.

These face-to-face visits will focus on the child's safety needs, issues, and conditions needed for reunification or permanency, and well-being of the youth and his/her family. Using polycom or similar interactive system will not meet the requirements of the 'face-to-face' visit.

  1. When visiting the foster child face-to-face, once a month, weekly supplemental telephone contacts are recommended.

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

  1. Personal contact once a month 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 monthly basis, telephone contact or IVN (polycom) with the child on a weekly basis is recommended.
  3. The content of these visits should focus on the child's safety needs, issues, and youth and his/her family. Using polycom or similar interactive system will not meet the requirements of the 'face-to-face' visit.

  1. Special Circumstances

  1. On occasions when a face-to-face visit is not possible between the child’s case manager, or with a case worker within the custodial agency, it is possible for another case worker to visit the child and meet this requirement. The case worker can be anyone that the administrative county has assigned or contracted visitation responsibilities. The designee must have information regarding the child’s ongoing case plan, the child’s parents or legal guardians, and the child, including any special needs of the child. The staff person making the contact is responsible for assessing the safety and well-being of the child. Documentation of the visit must be provided to the child’s case manager to be included in the child’s case file..

 

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/FRAME.

 

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. (It is also incorporated in the SFN 902 and SFN 903 for those limited situations done on hard copy.) Refer also to the FRAME - Case Activity Log.

 

Caseworkers must enter one of the following codes in FRAME, under the Case Activity Log, following each visit with the child:

 

     

 

FF

Face-to-face contact not in child's residence

 

FR

Face-to-face in child's residence

 

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:

 

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.