700: Charting the Course Towards
Permanency for Children in
Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s
Overview
Section I: Introductions and Workshop
Overview
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Introductions
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Competencies
Parallel Process
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Agenda for Four-Day Training
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• Day 1
Introductions and Overview
Review of Module 1: Introduction to PA Child Welfare
System
Review of Module 2: Identifying Child Abuse & Neglect
Review of Module 3: Using Interactional Helping Skills
to Achieve Lasting Change
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Agenda for Four-Day Training continued
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• Day 2
Review of Module 4: In-Home Safety Assessment
Review of Module 5: Risk Assessment
Review of Module 6: Case Planning with Families
Review of Module 7: The Court Process
• Day 3
Review of Module 7: The Court Process
Review of Module 8: Assessing Safety in Out-of-Home
Care
Review of Module 9: Out-of-Home Placement and
Permanency
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Agenda for Four-Day Training continued
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• Day 4
Review of Module 9: Out-of-Home Placement and
Permanency
Review of Module 10: Making Permanent Connections:
Outcomes for Professional Development
Partnerships
Closing and Evaluation
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
• Recognize the relevant federal, state, and local agency
statutes, rules, policies, procedures and best practice
standards related to case planning.
• Recognize the steps of the casework process, from
intake to case closure and the best practice standards
associated with each step.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Learning Objectives (cont’d)
• As administrators, recognize how use of best practice
standards in child welfare practice can contribute to
the use of strengths-based and solution-focused
casework for the children and families in
Pennsylvania.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Competencies
The administrator:
• 503-1: Knows the structure, function and operations
of different types of work groups and knows how to
determine which type of group is needed to best
achieve the desired outcome.
• 531-3: Knows and can apply the steps common to any
planning process, including gathering and analyzing
information, defining the problem(s) or
opportunity(ies), determine goals and objectives,
evaluating available resources, identifying action steps,
managing implementation of the plan and evaluating
success.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Competencies (cont’d)
The administrator:
• 533-7: Knows strategies to reduce organizational
barriers to staff performance, including accessing
needed resources, changing policies or procedures,
modifying unrealistic job expectations and advocating
with upper level management for changes in
problematic organizational structures.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Parallel Process
The way in which the process on one level
(such as administrator-supervisor)
mirrors the way in which the process occurs on
another level
(such as supervisor-worker and worker-family).
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION II: Review of Module 1: Introduction to
Pennsylvania’s Child Welfare System
• Introduction to Charting the Course
• Introduction to Pennsylvania’s Child Welfare Practice:
o Mission of Child Welfare
o Pennsylvania’s Child Welfare Practice Model
• Overview of Laws, Bulletins and other Legal Guidelines
Families First (Caseworker Job Preview 2013)
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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The Mission of Child Welfare
In keeping with the Adoption and Safe Families Act
(ASFA) and the recommendations of the Child and
Family Services Review, Pennsylvania encapsulates its
mission for child welfare in the following:
•
To provide safety for children;
• To assure permanency in a family setting;
and
• To assure the well-being of children.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Historical Outcomes of Good Intentions
“I would give a hundred worlds
like this”, wrote one child from
her new comfortable home, “if
I could see my mother”.
• Orphan Trains from 1854 to 1929, carried up to
200,000 children away from their parents and
families.
• From 1870 to 1920’s over 100,000 Native American
Children were forced by the U.S. Government into
Christian Boarding Schools.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Historical Outcomes of Good Intentions
(cont’d)
• In the 1970’s, 20 to 25% of Native American children removed from
their homes were placed in non-Native American homes.
• In Minnesota, one of every four Native American children under age
one was removed from home and adopted by a non-Native American
couple.”
• African American and Native American children represented 8% of
the population, yet they represented “50% of the children in longterm foster care.” (2004)
• African American children are more likely:
– To come into contact with the system,
– To be placed in out of home care, and
– To have longer stays in out of home care than Caucasian children.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Comparison of Approaches
1. Diagnose the problem.
2. Gather all available information in order to classify
the client.
3. The professional is the expert.
4. Identify the web of causality that is supporting the
client problem.
5. The professional develops a service plan that the
client is expected to follow in order to achieve the
case goals.
6. The plan is expected to be implemented in a logical,
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION III: Review of Module 2:
Identifying Child Abuse and Neglect
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Phases of Casework Practice
Legal Definitions: Why we do what we do when we do
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Two components of child abuse
Perpetrator
Intentionally, knowingly, recklessly
Categories of abuse
Exclusions
Reporting abuse
Child Protective Services (CPS) and General Protective Services (GPS)
Multidisciplinary Investigative Teams
Dispositions
Indicators of Abuse and Neglect
Interacting with Medical Professionals
The Six Domains
Traumatic Stress and Self-care
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Child Protective Services
General Protective Services
CPS:
An allegation of child abuse is
investigated
GPS:
An allegation of maltreatment
that does not meet the criteria
for child abuse is assessed.
Investigation Timeframes:
• Immediately if emergency protective custody is required
or if it cannot be determined from the report whether
emergency protective custody is needed
• Within 24 hours in all other cases
(23 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 6368. Investigation of reports.)
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Dispositions
1. Unfounded report – a report in which it is determined
that there is not substantial evidence to make an
indicated report
2. Indicated report – a report in which it is determined
that substantial evidence exists that supports the
allegation of abuse
3. Founded report – a report in which there is a judicial
finding that the subject child has been abused
(23 Pa. Cons. Stat. §6303. Definitions.)
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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The 7 B’s of Physical Abuse
External: Visible
Internal: Test for
• Bruises
• Bites
• Burns
• Bones
• Brain
• Belly
The 7th B: Brothers
Other children living in a home in which another
has been physically abused
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Information Gathering: Six Domains
1. What is the extent of the maltreatment?
2. What surrounding circumstances accompany the
maltreatment?
3. How do the children function, including their condition?
4. How does the adult function in respect to daily life
management and general adaptation including mental
health and substance use?
5. What are the disciplinary approaches used by the
parent?
6. What are the overall, typical pervasive parenting
practices used by the parent?
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION IV: Review of Module 3: Using
Interactional Helping Skills to Achieve Lasting
Change
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Introduction to the Interactional Helping Skills Model
Strength-Based, Solution-Focused Questions
Using Interactional Skills in Individual Interviews
Stages of Change
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Interactional Helping Skills
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Tuning into Self and Others
Clarifying Purpose, Function and Role
Dealing with Issues of Authority
Reaching for Feedback
Questioning
Reaching Inside of Silences
Communicating Information
Summarizing and Identifying Next Steps
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Strengths-Based, Solution-Focused Questions
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Past Success
Exception
Scaling
The Miracle
Follow-Up
Coping
Indirect
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION V: Review of Module 4: In-Home
Safety Assessment and Management Process
• Safety-Risk Continuum
• Six Assessment Domains
• Interval Policy
• Structured Case Note Guidelines
• Present Danger vs. Impending Danger
• Safety Threshold
• PA Safety Threats
• Protective Capacities
• Safety Plans
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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In-Home Safety Assessment
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Consider all children in the home
Identify safety threats and protective capacities
Perform a safety analysis
Determine if the child(ren) is/are safe, safe with a
comprehensive safety plan or unsafe
• Develop a safety plan, if necessary
• Remove the children, if necessary, based on planning
with family
• Engagement is key to the process
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION VI: Review of Module 5: Risk
Assessment
• What Risk Assessment Can and Cannot Do
• Pennsylvania Risk Assessment Form and
Continuum
• Understanding and Rating the Risk Factors
• Completing and Documenting an Assessment
of Risk
• Case Transfer
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Risk Assessment
• Consider all the child, adult and
environmental factors
• Remember to engage the family
surrounding information gathering
• Delineate whether it is a future risk of
harm or safety threat
• Provide written rationale for moderate
or high risk ratings
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION VII: Review of Module 6: Case
Planning with Families
• Regulations Related to Family Service Planning
• ICWA Screening
• Family Service Plan Definitions
• Family Group Decision Making (FGDM)
• Service Provider Selection and Referral
Information
• Family Service Plan Review Requirements
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Family Service Plan Definitions
• Goals
– Represent overall desired outcome
• Objectives
– More specific than goals
– Describe in measurable terms the change desired
• Tasks
– Step-by-step implementation plan: who, when, how
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION VIII: Review of Module 7: The
Court Process
• Child Welfare Practice and PA’s Judicial System
• Hearing and Appeal Process
• Legal Authority and Decision-making in Dependency
Court
• Court Participants
• Courtroom Preparation
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Child Welfare Practice and Pennsylvania’s
Unified Judicial System
SUPREME COURT
SUPERIOR COURT
Appeals from
Commonwealth
and Superior Courts
Appeals from Courts
of Common Pleas
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Child Welfare Practice and Pennsylvania’s
Unified Judicial System, (cont’d)
COUNTY COURTS OF COMMON PLEAS
Family/Juvenile/
Delinquency Divisions
Orphan Division
Informal/Shelter Care
Termination of Parental Rights
Adjudication of Dependency
Adoption Hearings
Permanency Hearing
Permanency Review
www.pacourts.us
“For the Public”
“Pennsylvania Courts: A Video Introduction.”
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Child Welfare Practice Administrative
Hearing and Appeal Process
SUPREME COURT
Appeals from Commonwealth and Superior Courts
COMMONWEALTH COURT
Appeals from Bureau of Hearings
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Bureau of Hearings and Appeals – Appeals of:
www.dhs.pa.gov
Determination of Abuse
“Information for
Decisions regarding service provision
Families and
Individuals”
DPW decisions to expunge records
“Hearing and Appeals
Process”
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Legal Authority and Decision-Making Process
in Dependency Court
•Legal authority or grounds for court intervention;
•Outcome of the Safety Intervention Analysis;
•Reasonable Efforts to prevent placement; and
•Principles of Documentation.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Protective Custody
•Child Protective Services Law (CPSL)
o As provided by Juvenile Act; or
o By physician examining/treating child:
• if protective custody is immediately
necessary to protect the child;
• limited to 24 hours, after which a court order
is needed;
• must provide immediate oral notice to the
parent/guardian and to CYS; and
• must provide written notice to parent,
guardian within 24 hours.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION IX: Synopsis of Module 8:
Assessing Safety in Out-of-Home Care
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Defining Out-of-Home Care
Safety in Out-of-Home Care; five characteristics
Assessing Safety in Out-of-Home Care
Choosing an Appropriate Placement Setting
Children in Foster Care Act Requirements
Present Danger
Indicators of Safety in Out-of-Home Care
Quality Visitation
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Out-of-Home Care
• 24-hour care and
supervision of a child
outside of the home
from which the child
was removed; ‘out-ofhome’ care includes
both informal and
formal care
arrangements.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Formal Care
• Required in situations in which the County Children
and Youth Agency has legal and physical custody of the
child and places the child in an emergency caregiver’s
home that has temporary approval from a Statelicensed foster care agency, or in a resource home fully
approved by a State-licensed foster care or adoption
agency.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Informal Care
• Situations in which a child who is not in County
Children and Youth Agency custody goes to live with
an alternate caregiver on a temporary basis when
Safety Threats are present and the child is unable to
continue residing with the caregiver(s) of origin.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Informal Care, continued
• These arrangements include those
– 1) made by parents/guardians prior to County Children
and Youth Agency involvement or
– 2) agreed upon jointly between the parents/guardians
and the County Children and Youth Agency when the
situation occurs during the course of County Children
and Youth Agency involvement.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Safety in Out-of-Home Care
• A family and home situation where there is an absence
of perceived or actual threats, a refuge exists and is
experienced, family members have perceptions and
feelings of security and there is confidence in
consistency.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Characteristics of Safety & Safe Environment
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•
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An absence of or control of threats of severe harm
Presence of caregiver Protective Capacities
A safe home is experienced as a refuge
Perceived and felt security
Confidence in consistency
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Information Explored to Identify
Characteristics of Safety & A Safe
Environment
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•
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How the children are behaving in the home
How caregivers are performing
How the family is operating
The caregiver(s)’ capacity to sustain continued safety
How community connections sustain continued safety
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Steps to Assess Safety in Out-of-Home Care
• Step 1: Know the Child to be Placed
• Step 2: Provider Selection
• Step 3: Present Danger Assessment and safety
determination (First Encounter - Provider Interview)
• Step 4: Confirm a safe placement setting (Within 60
days, or two months, from the date of placement)
• Step 5: Monitor for stability and any changes that
could pose a threat to child safety (within 180 days,
or six months from the previously confirmation of a
safe placement setting)
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Principles for Choosing an Appropriate
Placement Setting
• If non-custodial parent can provide a safe home,
placement is not necessary.
• Consider Kinship Care as a 1st option.
• Include the family in the selection of the placement
setting and in pre-placement visits.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Principles for Choosing an Appropriate
Placement Setting, cont’d
• Place the child(ren) in a home/facility where they can
continue to attend the same school.
• Carefully assess the child’s needs prior to choosing the
placement.
• Select the substitute caregiver based upon their
capability to meet the child's special needs.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Placement Considerations in Pennsylvania
Policy
• Registry
• Relatives/Kin
• Least Restrictive
• Education Considered
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Present Danger in Out-of-Home Care
• Out-of-home caregiver(s) or others in the home are
acting violently or out of control.
• Out-of-home caregiver(s) describes or acts toward the
child in predominantly negative terms or has
extremely unrealistic expectations.
• The out-of-home caregiver(s) communicates or
behaves in ways that suggest that they may fail to
protect child(ren) from serious harm or threatened
harm by other family members, other household
members, or others having regular access to the
child(ren).
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Present Danger in Out-of-Home Care, cont.
• The out-of-home caregiver(s)/family refuses access to
the child, or there is reason to believe that the family is
about to flee.
• Out-of-home caregiver(s) is unwilling or unable to
meet the child’s immediate needs for food, clothing, or
shelter.
• Out-of-home caregiver(s) is unwilling or unable to
meet medical needs including their own, other placed
children, or children to be placed.
• Out-of-home caregiver(s) has not, will not, or is unable
to provide supervision necessary to protect child from
potentially serious harm.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Present Danger in Out-of-Home Care, cont.
• Child is unusually fearful/anxious of home situation.
• Out-of-home caregiver(s) has previously maltreated a
child, and the severity of the maltreatment or the
caregiver’s response to the previous incident(s)
suggests that safety may be an immediate concern.
• The physical living conditions are hazardous and
immediately threatening.
• The out-of-home caregiver(s)’ drug or alcohol use
seriously affects his/her ability to supervise, protect, or
care for the child.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Present Danger in Out-of-Home Care, cont.
• Out-of-home caregiver(s)’ emotional instability or
developmental delay affects ability to currently
supervise, protect, or care for the child.
• Domestic violence exists in the home and poses a risk
of serious physical and/or emotional harm to the
child(ren).
• Child has exceptional needs or behavior which the outof-home caregiver(s) cannot/will not meet or manage.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Present Danger in Out-of-Home Care, cont.
• Child is seen by either out-of-home caregiver as
responsible for the child’s caregiver(s) of origin’s
problems, or for problems that the out-of-home
caregiver(s) is experiencing or may experience.
• One or both of the out-of-home caregiver(s) are
sympathetic toward the child’s caregiver(s) of origin,
justify the caregiver(s) of origin’s behavior, believe the
caregiver(s) of origin rather than the CCYA, and/or are
supportive of the child’s caregiver(s) of origin’s point
of view.
• One or both of the out-of-home caregiver(s) indicate
the child deserved what happened in the child’s home.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Present Danger in Out-of-Home Care, cont.
• Out-of-home caregiver(s) has history of or active
criminal behavior that affects child safety, such as
domestic violence, drug trafficking or addiction, sex
crimes, other crimes of violence against people or
property.
• Out-of-home caregiver(s) or family members will likely
allow the caregiver(s) of origin unauthorized access to
the child.
• Active CCYA case or a history of reports and/or CCYA
involvement that indicates that history will
compromise the safety of the child if placed in this
home.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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10 Indicators of Safety in
Out-of-Home Care
1. Child Functioning: How are the children functioning
cognitively, emotionally, behaviorally, physically, and
socially?
2. Adult Functioning: How are the adult family members
functioning cognitively, emotionally, behaviorally,
physically, and socially?
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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10 Indicators of Safety in
Out-of-Home Care, cont’d
3. Caregiver Supervision: How are the out-of-home
caregiver(s) actively caring for, supervising, and
protecting the children in the home?
4. Discipline: How are discipline strategies used with the
children in the home?
5. Acceptance: How do the out-of-home family members
demonstrate in observable ways that they accept the
identified child into the home?
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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10 Indicators of Safety in
Out-of-Home Care, cont’d
6. Community Supports: How does the out-of-home
family access/use community supports to help assure
child safety?
7. Current Status: How do the out-of-home family
members respond to the current issues, demands,
stressors within the home that affect the child’s safety?
8. Placed Child’s Family– Out-of-home Family
Dynamics: Out-of-Home Family Dynamics: How do
the dynamics between the caregiver(s) of origin and
the out-of-home family support the safety of the child?
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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10 Indicators of Safety in
Out-of-Home Care, cont’d
9. Oversight: How does the out-of-home family
demonstrate that they are agreeable to and
cooperative with CCYA and other formal resources?
10. Planning: How do the out-of-home caregiver(s)
demonstrate that they are capable of and actively
engaged in day to day planning for the child’s day to
day safety?
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Considerations for a County Alert Process
Policy
• The agency policy should include:
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Who will be notified?
Who will be responsible for notification?
What will be communicated?
How will notification take place (verbal, written, etc.)
How will the notification be documented?
Where will notification be documented?
Where will records be maintained?
What timeframes will be associated with notification?
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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SECTION X: Review of Module 9: Out-ofHome Placement and Permanency Planning
• The Importance of Permanency
• Supporting Children, Parents, and Substitute
Caregivers throughout the Placement Process
• Permanency Goals
• What is Concurrent Planning?
• Clear Timelines
• Finding Family
• Teaming
• Engagement
• Visitation
• Child Permanency Plan
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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What is Permanency?
• The establishment of an identified adult or family who
has made a commitment to care for and to support a
child up to and beyond the age of majority (PA
Concurrent Planning Bulletin)
• …will continue onward to provide enduring family
connections and supports into adulthood (PA Quality
Service Review Protocol)
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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Basic Permanency Assumptions
• Children have a right and a need to live and develop
within safe, secure, and permanent families.
• Children have a right to live with parents/caregivers
whom they can love, trust, and depend upon.
• Separation for extended periods of time may result in
tremendous psychological and developmental
disruption.
• A child’s perception and experience of time are
determined by his/her level of cognitive developmental
maturity.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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What is Permanency Planning?
• Permanency planning is, first and foremost,
planning.
• Process directed toward the goal of a permanent,
stable home for a child.
• Begins at intake, and focuses child welfare
services on the child's need for a stable,
permanent home during all phases of practice.
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700: Charting the Course Towards Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania: An Administrator’s Overview
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What is Permanency Planning? (cont’d)
• Step-by-step process of assessment,
identification of goals and objectives,
formulation of activities, and reassessment of the
outcomes of services.
• Reminds us - All case planning activities MUST
be directed toward assuring that every child in
our care has a permanent family.
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Six Service Areas of IL
•
•
•
•
•
•
Education/Training
Employment
Housing
Life Skills
Prevention/Wellness
Support/Permanent
Connections
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Act 91 of 2012
Effective July 5, 2012
Allowed for resumption of jurisdiction for
youth to return to out-of-home care beyond
age 18 until age 21 by amending the
definition of “Child” in the Juvenile Act
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Hierarchy of Permanency Goals
1. Return to Parents (AKA Reunification)
2. Adoption
3. Permanent Legal Custody (PLC)
4. Permanent Placement with a Fit and
Willing Relative
5. Another Planned Permanent Living
Arrangement (APPLA)
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Extra Source of Financial Support for
Older Youth
• Extended adoption subsidies for eligible youth
 Under the age of 21 years
 Attained 13 years of age before adoption assistance
agreement was finalized
 Met certain conditions
• Extended guardianship (PLC) subsidies for eligible youth
• Amended and added several definitions
Act 80 of 2012: Effective July 1, 2012
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Sequential Planning
Time…………………………………………………………..
Failure
Plan B
Success
Permanency
Plan A
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What is Concurrent Planning?
Plan A
Option
Plan B
Alternative
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What is Concurrent Planning? (cont’d)
A process of working toward one legal
permanency goal (typically reunification)
while at the same time establishing and
implementing an alternative permanency
goal
Both goals are worked on concurrently to
move children/youth more quickly to a safe
and stable permanent family.
ASFA cites concurrent planning as a best practice
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(Permanency Roundtable Project, 2010)
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Goals of Concurrent Planning
• To promote the safety, permanency and wellbeing of children and youth in out-of-home care;
• To achieve timely permanency for children and
youth through early permanency decisions;
• To reduce the number of moves in the foster care
system for children; and
• To engage families and relatives early and foster
significant relationships between children in out-ofhome care and their family/kin.
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Who Gets a Concurrent Plan?
Effective July 1, 2015:
Effective January 1, 2016:
All children entering
foster care with a goal
of reunification will
have a concurrent plan
established within 90
days of their placement.
All children who were
already in out-ofhome care will have a
concurrent plan
regardless of their
court-ordered
permanency goal.
Concurrent Planning Policy and Implementation Bulletin # 3130-12-03
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Eight Core Components of Concurrent Planning
1. Full disclosure to all participants in the case planning process
2. Family search and engagement
3. Family Group Decision Making/Family Group
Conferencing/Teaming
4. Child/Family visitation
5. Establishment of clear timelines for permanency decisions
6. Transparent written agreements and documentation
7. Committed collaboration between child welfare agencies, the
courts, resource families, service providers, and other stakeholders
8. Specific recruitment, training, and retention of resource families
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OCYF Bulletin 3130-12-03
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Concurrent Planning:
Reasonable Efforts Toward Both Goals
Primary Goal
Concurrent
Goal
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A Key Reminder
TPR: When to File
The earlier of:
• When grounds exist
to file TPR
• When the child has
spent 15 out of 22
months in out-ofhome placement
Unless an exception
applies.
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A Key Condition:
When to Return to Parent?
The child is either:
• Safe or
• Safe with a safety
plan
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A Sense of Urgency:
Finalize Adoption ASAP!
Remember: Even
when the child is
living with the family
that intends to adopt
him or her,
permanency is not yet
achieved !
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Laws and Policy Relating to Diligent Search
and Engagement
• The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act of 2008 (H.R.6893/P.L. 110-351).
• Act 25 of 2003. (P. L. 31, No. 21.). Kinship Care.
• Act 55 of 2013 (P.L. 169, No. 25). Family Finding and
Kinship Care Act.
• Kinship care policy (2003). OCYF Bulletin #00-03-03.
• Concurrent Planning Policy and Implementation (2012).
OCYF Bulletin #3130-12-03.
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Reporting Instructions
1. Explain assigned legislation/policy.
2. Describe the necessary steps a child
welfare professional might take to ensure
compliance with the legislation/policy
when the removal of a child is necessary.
3. Explain how the legislation/policy helps
to support timely permanence.
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What is Full Disclosure?
A respectful, honest and candid
discussion that begins when the
child is placed in out-of-home
care and continues throughout the
life of the case surrounding the
agency’s intent to work towards the
implementation of two permanency
goals.
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Impact of Visitation
Research shows that visitation:
• Is the single most important factor in maintaining the
relationship between the child in out-of-home care and
the parents.
• Enhances the child’s emotional well-being.
• Improves parent’s positive feelings about the placement.
• Decreases parents’ worries about their children.
• Is associated with achieving permanency and decreasing
time in care.
(Hess, P.M., 2003)
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Impact of Separation
Without visitation, research shows:
•
Infants and toddlers who do not develop secure attachments produce
elevated levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), which may later the
developing brain circuits and cause long-term harm (National Scientific Council on
the Developing Child, 2014).
•
Young children with unhealthy attachments are at much greater risk for
delinquency, substance abuse, and depression later in life (Hardy, L.T., 2007;
Sroufe, A. et. al., 1999; Caspers, K.M. et. al., 2006; Thompson, R.A., 2001)
•
Children’s reaction to and ability to cope with separation from a parent
depend on their age and developmental stage (Wright, L.E., 2001)
•
Because multiple placements and attachment disruptions are likely to be
harmful at any age, concurrent planning should be used at the outset of
each case (Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption and Dependent Care, 2000)
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Visitation Requirements
• Visitation with parents must be offered at least every
two weeks and whenever possible, weekly visitation
should occur for children with a reunification plan.
• Sibling visits for children in placement must be offered
at least two times per month.
• Visitation must be face-to-face.
• Other forms of parent and sibling contact are
encouraged to supplement face-to-face visits.
Concurrent Planning Policy and Implementation. OCYF Bulletin #3130-12-03
Act 115 of 2010, Placement and Visitation with Siblings
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Modes of Contact
Describe other ways a child could stay
connected with a parent, besides face-to-face
visitation?
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Required Components of a Child Permanency Plan
1. Efforts made/service
provided to prevent
placement
8. Education information
2. Description of circumstances
that make placement
necessary
10. Preparation for
Independence (IL)
3. Identifying information
12. Notice of right to appeal
4. Description of placement
13. Participating team
members
5. Hearings
6. Permanency goals
9. Visitation Plan
11. Service Plan
14. Signatures
7. Heath Information
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SWAN Units of Service
Child Preparation
Child Placement
Child Profile
Adoption Finalization
CSR
Post Permanency Services:
Family Profile Child Placement
• Advocacy
• Support Groups
• Respite/Family Support
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http://www.diakon-swan.org/mission.asphttp://www.diakon-swan.org/mission.asp
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Knowledge Check
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SECTION XI: Review of Module 10: Making
Permanent Connections: Outcomes for
Professional Development
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Personal Safety, Permanence and Well-being
Secondary Trauma
Stress Reduction and Time Management
Ethical Dilemmas
How the Pieces fit Together
Transfer of Learning (TOL)
Professional Development Plan
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SECTION XII: The Technical Assistance
Collaborative
• AOPC
• ABA, Permanency Barriers Project
• Hornby Zeller Associates, Inc.
•
•
•
•
•
JCJC
CWRC
OCYF
PCCD, OJJDP
SWAN
– T.A.
– PAE and Helpline
– LSI
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SECTION XII: CLOSING AND
EVALUATION
•Review
•References
•Evaluations
•Dismissal
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