Case Planning Standards of Practice

CASE PLANNING STANDARDS OF PRACTICE

SOP 301 - Introduction to Case Planning

SOP 302 - Supports and Services Provided by Community Partners

SOP 303 - Orientation of the Family to the Department for Community Based Services, Division of Protection & Permanency

SOP 304 - Maintaining Cultural Connections

SOP 304.1 – Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) 1994 and Interethnic Adoption Provision (IEP) 1996

SOP 304.2 – Indian Children Welfare Act (ICWA) 1978

SOP 305 - Primary Family Level Objectives (FLO) Related to Maltreatment, Presenting Problem or Statement of Need

SOP 306 - Secondary Family Level Objectives (FLO) Related to Other Risk and Well-Being Factors

SOP 307 - Individual Level Objectives (ILO) Related to the Person(s) Responsible for the Maltreatment/Status Actions

SOP 308 - Prevention Plan and Comprehensive Family Worksheet

SOP 309 - Required Objectives for In-Home Child Protective Services (CPS) Cases which include Family in Need of Service Assessment (FINSA) Cases

SOP 310 - Required Objectives for In-Home Status Offense Cases

SOP 311 - Required Objectives for General Family Cases

SOP 312 - Required Objectives for Adult Protective Services (APS) including Domestic Violence and General Adult Cases

SOP 313 - Required Objectives on APS Cases involving Domestic Violence when Child(ren) are involved

SOP 314 - Required Objectives on Kinship Care Cases when Kinship Caregiver Relative has Custody

SOP 315 - Required Objectives on Out-of-Home Care Cases including Kinship Cases when the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) has Legal Custody

SOP 316 - Required Objectives on Cases where Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) has been granted by the Court

SOP 317 – Required Objectives on Extended or Reinstated Commitment Cases when the Youth is the Only Household Member

SOP 318 - Required Objectives on the Child Youth Action Plan Portion of the Case Plan

SOP 319 - Timeframes for All In-Home Services Case Planning

SOP 320 - Case Planning Participants and Notification for All In-Home Cases

SOP 321 - Timeframes for All Out-of-Home Care Case Planning

SOP 321.1 – Five (5) Day Conference, Family Team Meeting

SOP 321.2 - First Periodic Review for Permanency in Out-of-Home Care Cases

SOP 321.3 - Second Periodic Review and Permanency Hearing in Out-of-Home Care Cases

SOP 322 - Case Planning Participants and Notification for All Out-of-Home Care Cases

SOP 323 - Distribution of Case Plan for All Out-of-Home Care Cases

SOP 324 - Permanency Goals in Out-of-Home Care Cases

SOP 324.1 - Return to Parent

SOP 324.2 - Adoption

SOP 324.3 - Legal Guardianship

SOP 324.4 - Permanent Relative Placement

SOP 324.5 - Planned Permanent Living Arrangement

SOP 324.6 - Emancipation

SOP 325 - Case Planning for Persons with a Disability

SOP 326 - Case Planning for Persons with Mental Illness or Chemical Dependency

SOP 327 - Case Planning for Persons with a Condition or Disability

SOP 328 - Case Planning and Reasonable Efforts

SOP 329 - Case Plan and Visitation Agreement Revisions or Modifications

SOP 330 - Service Appeals (DPP-154, Service Appeal Request and DPP-154A, Notice of Intended Action) in Case Planning

SOP 301 - Introduction to Case Planning (Effective Date 1/23/03)

The Case Planning process, which assists the individual and/or family to achieve safety, permanency and well-being is based on the findings of the Continuous Quality Assessment (CQA) and family engagement. The Social Service Worker (SSW) involves, to the fullest extent possible, the participation of the individual and/or family. Family is defined as an individual or the family unit, which includes all children, ages six (6) and older and other significant persons in the child’s life not living in the family unit, such as legal and/or biological parents. The Case Plan matches the intensity of the service with the intensity of need and:

·  Is based on family strengths and needs;

·  Includes all services;

·  Describes how the services will be provided;

·  Specifies community partners;

·  Includes service goals and their objectives, task, scope, timing, expected duration of each service element; and

·  Specifies anticipated outcomes.

Individuals and families have a right to know what is expected of them and to work in partnership with the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) in the decision making process. The steps to achieve safety, permanency and well-being are developed in a Family Team Meeting and are implemented through a team environment. The team is to include the individual and family (including all children, ages six (6) and older), caregiver of the child in out-of-home care, SSW and may included extended family, other DCBS staff and community partners.

A Family Team Meeting refers to an array of conferences such as Case Planning Conference, Five (5) Day Conference, Family Case Plan Meeting, Family Unity Meeting, Family Group Decision Making and Periodic Reviews. Through the Family Team Meeting, members implement the Comprehensive Family Services (CFS) philosophy for the provision of services to achieve desired outcomes.

The approach varies from a Family Team Meeting composed of the SSW and individual or family at the most basic level to a more typical Family Team Meeting with community partner involvement. A Family Team Meeting is used throughout the duration of the case until services to the individual or family end and may be called by any member at any time to address issues of individual or family safety, well-being or child permanency.

In partnering with families, the SSW and other staff uses engagement skills that focus on strengths of the family to build consensus about the Case Plan. The SSW documents that the Case Plan is based on a partnership with the individual or family and how the partnership is carried out in case planning and service delivery. To encourage co-ownership and family engagement, the SSW explores the individual or family’s vision for a safe future, which may be included in the Case Plan. There is a greater probability of success in goal achievement when an individual or family are considered members of the team and are able to make a significant contribution to the family’s Case Plan. The DCBS encourages individuals and families served to fully participate in the process to retain as much personal responsibility for case planning as possible.

The SSW is responsible for, but are not limited to:

·  Updating the Continuous Quality Assessment (CQA) and Case Plan as needed;

·  Encouraging and supporting all team and family members to participate in case planning;

·  Incorporating information from all sources into a coherent, individualized planning document with specific and measurable objectives that will guide the provision of services; and

·  Incorporating the Prevention Plan as a worksheet to meet safety objectives and task to include:

·  Identifying early warning signals;

·  Planning to prevent high-risk situations;

·  Planning to interrupt high-risk situations early, if not prevented; and

·  Planning for escape from the high-risk situation, if early interruption fails.

SOP 302 - Supports and Services Provided by Community Partners (Effective Date 1/23/03)

The SSW, with the individual, family and others, as appropriate, identifies the needed supports and services. The SSW is to include all services offered to assist the family to improve the safety, care, relationship with their children and the parent’s ability to fulfill their roles to promote child and family safety, well-being and permanency, whenever possible.

The SSW through the CQA, Case Plan and the Comprehensive Family Services approach may arrange for services from community partners, which may include but are not limited to:

·  Child Care;

·  Family Preservation and Reunification;

·  Home Health;

·  Mental Health;

·  Physical Health;

·  Education;

·  Housing; and

·  Clothing.

SOP 303 - Orientation of the Family to the Department for Community Based Services, Division of Protection & Permanency (Effective Date 1/23/03)

Once a case has been opened, the SSW is to discuss the case planning process, as implemented by the Department for Community Based Services, with the family and members of the family’s team. During the initial contact to develop a Case Plan the SSW is to provide information, when appropriate, about the:

·  Basis for DCBS involvement;

·  Rights and responsibilities of the parent and child;

·  Roles of each team member and the court, including how DCBS staff will support achievement of desired outcomes;

·  Service options and the benefits and consequences of each service; and

·  Parent health and well-being and their progress towards reunification with the child in out-of-home care.

SOP 304 - Maintaining Cultural Connections (Effective Date 1/23/03)

The SSW is to assess culture in terms of describing their whole way of life, defined or observed by the family members and community partners. A family’s culture consists of all the ideas, objects and ways of doing things created by the group.

Since culture consists of learned ways of acting, feeling, and thinking (rather than biologically determined ways), the SSW uses positive aspects of the family’s culture to motivate behavior changes. Culture is the ideas, customs, skills, art of a people or a group that are transmitted, communicated or passed along, in or to succeeding generations. People feel comfortable within their own culture, and may prefer the company of others who share their culture. When engaging persons of another culture, even small differences in behavior may make them uneasy. It is very important that the SSW assesses the needs of children, biological families and caregivers for cultural issues that will need to be addressed to maintain connections to a child’s cultural.

SOP 304.1 – Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) 1994 and Interethnic Adoption Provision (IEP) 1996 (Effective Date 1/23/03)

The Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) and Interethnic Adoption Provisions (IEP) were implemented for the purpose of removing barriers to permanency for children in the child protective system, and to ensure that adoption and foster placements are not delayed or denied based on race, color or national origin.

Purpose of MEPA-IEP

The purposes of MEPA-IEP are to:

·  Reduce the length of time that children wait to be adopted;

·  Facilitate the diligent recruitment and retention of foster and adoptive families; and

·  Eliminate discrimination on the basis of the race, color or national origin of either the prospective parent or the child.

MEPA-IEP Guidelines:

·  Prohibit foster care and adoption agencies from delaying or denying or otherwise discriminating in making a placement decision on the basis of race, color or national origin.

·  Prohibit denying adoptive or foster parent solely on the basis of the race, color or national origin of the adoptive or foster parent or the child.

·  Require plans for the diligent recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the state for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed.

·  Placement of a child in an appropriate household is not delayed by the search for a same race or ethnic placement.

Even when the best interests of an individual child appear to compel consideration of these factors, the SSW is not to assume that needs based on race, color or national origin can be met only by a racially or ethnically matched parent. Much depends on the nature of the child's specific needs and on the capacity of individual prospective parents to respond to these needs. The SSW is to consult with the Family Services Office Supervisor (FSOS) or designee on any concerns relating to MEPA-IEP in case planning and placement considerations.

(Link to http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/mepa94/)

SOP 304.2 – Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) 1978 (Effective Date 1/23/03)

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a federal law, which regulates placement proceedings involving Indian children. If the child is a member of a tribe or eligible for membership in a tribe, the family has the right to protection under the ICWA. These rights apply to any child protective case, adoption, guardianships, termination of parental rights action, runaway or truancy matter or voluntary placement of children.

Purpose of ICWA

The ICWA requires that placement cases involving Indian children be heard in tribal courts if possible, and permits a child's tribe to be involved in state court proceedings. It requires testimony from expert witnesses who are familiar with Indian culture before a child can be removed from the home. If a child is removed, either for foster care or adoption, the law requires that Indian children be placed with extended family members, other tribal members or other Indian families. The SSW is to consult with the FSOS or designee on case planning and placement involving Indian children.

(Link to http://www.cdhs.state.co.us/cyf/cwelfare/iwca.html)

SOP 305 - Primary Family Level Objectives (FLO) Related to Maltreatment, Presenting Problem or Statement of Need (Effective Date 1/23/03)

The SSW negotiates primary Family Level Objectives (FLO) with the individual or family, using the Prevention Plan. The primary objective deals with safety or why the case is being opened. The tasks are the action steps the individual and/or family members (including community partners) is willing and able to do to achieve the objectives to prevent future maltreatment, presenting problem or need. (Link to SOP 307-316, concerning requirements and exceptions)

SOP 306 - Secondary Family Level Objectives (FLO) Related to Other Risk and Well-Being Factors (Effective Date 1/23/03)

The SSW negotiates secondary FLO as appropriate with the individual or family, using the Comprehensive Family Worksheet. Secondary objectives address family and child well-being issues. Secondary FLO are objectives that may be needed for assessed risk factors, which do not require a case to be opened, and would not keep a case open, but issues that need to be addressed for the well-being of the family. Job training, educational advancement, socialization skills, better housing/location, physical health and the well-being needs (physical/mental health and education) of the children are all examples of secondary FLO.

(Link to SOP 307-316, concerning requirements and exceptions)

SOP 307 - Individual Level Objectives (ILO) Related to the Person(s) Responsible for the Maltreatment/Status Actions (Effective Date 1/23/03)

The SSW negotiates Individual Level Objectives (ILO) with the individual or status youth, using the Prevention Plan. The individual objectives deal with safety and what the alleged perpetrator is willing and able to do to change their behavior. ILO involves individual family members who have high-risk patterns of behavior that are linked to the primary FLO and make the family objectives difficult to achieve. For example, in a child protection case at least one ILO is to be developed for each identified perpetrator. In a status offense case the child will have the ILO, which is linked to the presenting problem.