Conducting and Documenting Monthly Visits with Children, Caregivers and Parents   1

By the End of This Session You will be able to: Identify Health and Safety Visit policy requirements with children, including timeframes for conducting visits and documentation Identify policy requirements for monthly meetings with out-of- home caregivers and parents/guardians Utilize the information gathered in the monthly visits to assess safety, well-being, and progress toward achieving permanency of the child Demonstrate ability to document necessary information, under the correct codes in FamLink HANDOUT: Case Review Tool

Monthly Visits and Federal CFSR Requirements Item 14: Were the frequency and quality of visits between caseworkers and child(ren) sufficient to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of the child(ren) and promote achievement of case goals? Item 15:Were the frequency and quality of visits between caseworkers and mothers and fathers of the child(ren) sufficient to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of the child(ren) and promote achievement of case goals?

Monthly Visit Policy Monthly are required with: Children Caregivers Parents/Legal Guardians Practices and Procedures Guide Chapter 4420 4

Courtesy Supervi-sion Visits are Required Extended Foster Care VPAs Courtesy Supervi-sion Depen-dency ICPC CPS Open > 60 Days FRS FVS

Health and Safety Visits with Children

Children in Out-of-Home Placements The first Health and Safety Visit must occur within one week (7 calendar days) of and initial placement or change in placement Health and Safety Visits with the child must occur every calendar month Health and Safety Visits must be conducted face-to-face, in private, and individually Majority must occur in the child’s placement 7

Dependent Children in an In-home Dependency or Trial Return Home All visits must occur in the family home Children 0-5 years require 2 visits must occur every calendar month for the first 120 calendar days (one of the monthly visits may be conducted by a CA paraprofessional or contracted provider) and then monthly until the case is closed If the child is 6 years or older, the health and safety visit must occur every calendar month Must be conducted face-to-face, in private, and individually 8

CPS and Voluntary Services Children with open CPS investigation or FAR cases must receive a private, individual face-to-face health and safety visit every calendar month when the case is open beyond 60 days. Includes every child in the home Children with open FVS and FRS cases require monthly visits for children ages 6 years and older and twice monthly for children ages 0-5.

Preparing for Your Health and Safety Visit with the Child Understand the safety threat(s) that brought the child into care or to the attention of the department Review most current court order and case plan Get updates on child’s health and education Be prepared to answer challenging questions from the child-”when am I going home”, “why can’t I go home”, etc.

I’m at the visit, now what? Slide 6 Evidence base I’m at the visit, now what? Discuss with the person next to you: Questions you ask verbal children How you assess non-verbal children How you assess the child’s comfort with the caregiver and others in the home

H&S Visits with the Child Assess for Present Danger Observe: Is the child developmentally, socially, and emotionally on track? How the parent/caregiver and child respond to each other Child’s attachment to parent or caregiver How does the child appear physically? Is the home environment free of safety concerns? Observe sleep accommodations & discuss safe sleep for infants Discuss: Does child feel safe in their home or have concerns about their placement? Ask about child’s needs, wants, and progress Visits with siblings & parents The case & permanent plan (As age/developmentally appropriate)

ICPC Research: Contact ICPC worker monthly Slide 9 Research: (continued) Contact ICPC worker monthly Document the date the visit was conducted and any information provided Enter in FamLink as a health and safety visit conducted by other agency Upload reports (at least quarterly) when received

Caregiver and Parent/Guardian Monthly Visits Remember: You are also required to meet with the caregivers and both parents of children in families receiving services from the Children’s Administration.

Out-of-Home Caregiver Visits Discuss the child’s well-being (educational, emotional and developmental needs; medication and doctor appointments) Discuss the child’s permanency goals Observe the child and caregiver relationship Observe the home environment including sleeping arrangements and safe sleep for infants Assess caregiver’s ability to provide adequate care Assess placement stability Identify support or training needs Ask about child’s visits and response Discuss requests to change the child’s appearance Discuss normal childhood activities

Unannounced Visits With Out-of-Home Caregivers Must occur within 30 days of notification from FamLink Completes same procedures as all monthly visits with out-of-home caregivers

Monthly Visits with Parents Discuss: Case plan and services Access to needed services and consideration of different or additional services Child and parent visitation Child’s interests in normal childhood activities Additional opportunities for parent- child interaction Progress in addressing safety threats Expectations for court Permanency planning for the child

What if I can’t find a parent? Ask the parent, older children, relatives where the parent might be contacted Leave messages for the parent with people with whom they may have contact Look in all DSHS data bases Talk to your IV-E specialist to see what access they have for other data bases Google, Facebook, etc.

What if the parent is incarcerated? The department is required to provide reasonable efforts The parent is expected to have regular contact with the department to show a continued interest in the child The parent must be allowed to participate in permanency planning meetings and case conferences, even if this is by telephone or videoconference

Documentation: Health and Safety Visits Slide 9 Documentation: Health and Safety Visits Research: (continued) Remember, if it’s not documented, it didn’t happen! Must be documented in a FamLink case note within 3 calendar days of the visit Use case note activity code “Health and Safety Monitoring Visit” by assigned CA worker Use case note activity code of “Health and Safety Monitoring Visit” conducted by other agency only on out-of-state ICPC cases CHANGE SLIDES

Documentation: Health and Safety Visits Slide 9 Research: (continued) Specific child functioning information may need to be added to the “Child Functioning” tab in your Comprehensive Family Evaluation Health or education information should be documented in the Health & Education pages in FamLink Visit information may need to be updated in the child’s visit plan

Documentation: Out-of-Home Caregiver Visits Slide 9 Research: (continued) Must be documented in a FamLink case note within 3 calendar days of the visit Use case note activity code “Monthly Caregiver Contact” (in-person) For unannounced visits, use codes either “Unannounced Health and Safety Visit” or “Unannounced H&S Visit Attempted” Document each child caregiver visit with the child as the participant CHANGE SLIDES

Documentation: Parent Visits Slide 9 Research: (continued) Must be documented in a FamLink case note within 3 calendar days of the visit Use “Visit-SW Parent (Mother) or (Father)” for each child or, if active efforts were made to schedule the visit and the visit did not occur, Visit-SW Parent (Attempted) Document ongoing efforts to locate parents to include searching ACES, Facebook, Google, Instagram, asking relatives, and searching databases such as VineLink to determine if a parent is incarcerated. CHANGE SLIDES

Documentation: Exceptions Slide 9 Documentation: Exceptions Research: (continued) You will use and document only the following visit exceptions on the Extension/Exception Page in FamLink: The parent’s whereabouts are unknown after diligent efforts to find him/her The parent reports no interest in being involved with the child or refuses contact with the agency Visit with the parent is contrary to the child’s or worker’s safety The parent is deceased The parent’s rights have been terminated CHANGE SLIDES

Slide 9 Research: (continued) Assessment Based on the information you gathered at the visit, how is the child doing? Is the child safe? Are their needs being met by the parent or in placement? Do we need to consider support services for the child or caregiver? Are we making progress toward the child’s permanent plan? If not, what do we need to do to help progress move forward?

Avoiding Common Errors See both parents Leave time for discussions of safety, permanency and well-being in all monthly visits. Document discussions in all three areas of safety, permanency and well-being.

Tips Research: Before leaving a visit, schedule your next visit. Slide 9 Tips Research: (continued) Before leaving a visit, schedule your next visit. Schedule visits in the first two weeks of the month to give you time to re-schedule within the same month When cases transfer or courtesy supervision is established, coordinate between workers to make sure visits are completed and to be clear who is responsible Complete your documentation as soon as you can Supervisors – check the visits in your supervisory case note and ensure exceptions are input and approved

Activity! Get Into Pairs! Step 1 : Each person pull up a recent monthly visit case note in FamLink Activity! Get Into Pairs! Step 2 : Switch computers with your partner Step 3 : Using the checklists, read the case note of your partner, taking notes of strengths and areas needing improvement Step 4: Take turns providing the feedback-person receiving feedback take notes of anything you might want to strengthen or add Step 5: Go back to your computer and update your case note as appropriate

Review

What have I learned today? Take a few minutes to fill out the Personal Action Plan

Thank You Lyn Craik Deanna Bedell Karen Richholt Mary Pagni-Leavitt