Teamwork Toward Permanency Welcome to Session 2! Teamwork Toward Permanency

Remember the Core Competencies of PRIDE: Protecting and Nurturing Children Meeting Children’s Developmental Needs and Addressing Developmental Delays Supporting Relationships Between Children and Their Families Connecting Children to Safe, Nurturing Relationships Intended to Last a Lifetime Working as a Member of a Professional Team

Supplemental Handouts for This Session NJ Definition of an Abused or Neglected Child Four Standards (Prongs) of the ASFA Law Children in Foster Care and the Courts DYFS Hierarchy Resource Family Reimbursement Rates Sample Foster Parent ID Letter Parental Roles for Children in Foster Care Family and Medical Leave Act Pre-School and Daycare for Children in Care Placement Questions

Are there any questions from the last session that we can answer now? “Parking Lot” Are there any questions from the last session that we can answer now?

Responsibilities of DYFS DYFS has two essential mandates: Protect children from risk and harm Connect children to permanent relationships intended to last a lifetime These are accomplished in one of two ways: Enabling the family to care for the child, or whenever this is not possible, Connecting the child to another family

Examples in “Making a Difference!” Why was Child Protective Services called to intervene in Vernon’s case? How did Child Protective Services respond? What might Vernon have been feeling? What might Vernon’s mother have been feeling?

What factors might contribute to families who cannot care for their children? Poverty Homelessness Loss of job Physical or mental illness Substance abuse Domestic Violence Insufficient family/community supports Legal problems

How can foster care be a support for families experiencing these problems? Temporary respite during a stressful time Opportunity for parents to enter treatment Ensures safety for children while parents develop necessary skills Opportunity for birth parents to work with foster parents on parenting issues and skills on behalf of the child “Families Helping Families”

Close your eyes for a moment and picture your loved one … How would you feel? Imagine that you are unable to care for a loved one. You have no choice but to find help. The loved one may be your parent, spouse, sibling, friend or child. Close your eyes for a moment and picture your loved one …

How would you feel? How do you feel about being unable to care for your loved one? What kind of caregiver do you want to find to care for your loved one? What might the caregiver do to make this easier for you?

Bridging the Gap PRIDEBook Page 47 shows some ways that resource families can “bridge the gap” with birth families. Remember that as we bridge the gap between resource families and birth families, we also bridge the gap between children and their families.

“Family Forever” Video This video should help you understand foster care as a family-focused service It will also help you understand how birth parents may experience their child’s placement You’ll see how teamwork contributes to positive outcomes, in this case reunification You’ll also see some of the benefits and challenges of working with birth parents

Importance of Families to Children DYFS first seeks to enable the parents to meet the child’s basic needs while the child remains in the home When a child is placed into foster care, every effort is made to work toward reunification When reunification cannot occur, DYFS recognizes the importance of a family to a child by making alternative plans

Permanency Is: Having a sense of one’s past; including one’s cultural heritage and identity Having a legal and social status that comes from being a family member Having safe, nurturing relationships intended to last a lifetime

Permanency Must Include: Connections Ongoing relationships Create a sense of belonging and stability Helps promote cultural and personal identity Continuity Child understands connections between past, present and future Know where you’ve been and where you’re going Also helps promote cultural and personal identity

The Genogram A Genogram is a tool that can be used to help understand family connections and continuity Provides a “picture” of the family connections and continuity Similar to a family tree, but with more finite detail (illnesses/addictions/relationships) You will prepare a genogram as part of your homework

The Genogram If you have a computer and Internet access, there’s a program called GenoPro® that can help you do a genogram. The software costs about $50, but can be downloaded and used for FREE for 30 days. www.genopro.com

Individuals - Children - Illnesses & Addictions Symbols for Genograms Individuals - Children - Illnesses & Addictions

Standard Symbols for Genograms Family Relationships - Unions

Emotional Relationships Symbols for Genograms Emotional Relationships

The Flintstones Genogram:

Definitions Permanency planning is a set of activities and tasks directed toward achieving the child’s permanent goal Concurrent planning is the practice of directing activities and tasks toward more than one permanent goal at a time

How Are Children Placed? When an instance of abuse or neglect is reported in a family, DYFS initiates an investigation As a result of the investigation, DYFS will do one of three things: Find the report to be unfounded and close the referral upon intake Open the case for services in an attempt to preserve the family (children remain in the home) Remove the children immediately on an emergent basis (Dodd removal)

How Are Children Placed? When preservation services are put in place, DYFS continues to work with the family until the issues have been resolved or until such time that it is determined that children are at risk of harm When a child is removed under non-emergent circumstances, it must be under the authority of a court order When Dodd removals occur, DYFS must obtain a court order to continue the out-of-home placement within three business days

The DCF/DYFS Hierarchy Who do I call when I have a problem?

The DCF/DYFS Hierarchy Local Office Manager Casework Supervisor Supervisor - Ongoing Ongoing Caseworker Resource Family

The DCF/DYFS Hierarchy Supervisor - Ongoing Ongoing Caseworker Supervisor - Resource Families Resource Family Resource Family Support Worker

The DCF/DYFS Hierarchy

Court Timelines Every child placed into care under court order is assigned a “law guardian” – an attorney that represents the child in court After a child is in placement for about 45 days, the case is reviewed by the Child Placement Review Board (CPRB) – a panel of volunteers appointed by the presiding family court judge to review cases and make recommendations to the court on the child’s behalf A case is reviewed by the family court judge approximately every three months

Court Timelines Around the 11th month of placement, the Court will hold a permanency hearing At the permanency hearing, DYFS must present a permanent plan to the court, which must include an intent to terminate parental rights (TPR) if reunification with family is not imminent If termination of parental rights is pursued, DYFS files a “guardianship complaint” which ultimately results in a TPR trial before the judge

Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) Federal legislation enacted in 1997 NJ implementation defined by law (N.J.S.A. 30:4C-11.1) Expands the provisions of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 States must demonstrate commitment to prevention and reunifications services Ensuring a child’s health, safety and timely permanency are DYFS’ paramount concern

Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) DYFS must demonstrate that reasonable efforts were made to prevent a placement or state why they were not possible Permanency options include safe return home, adoption, or “alternative” plan When a child is in placement for 15 of 22 months (about a year), DYFS must present a permanent plan, which must include termination of parental rights (TPR) or a statement of why TPR is not appropriate, if reunification is not likely

Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) The ASFA law does NOT mandate that if a child is in foster care for over a year, they automatically become free for adoption!

Timeline to Permanency Day 1 (assume emergency) Child is removed from home 0 days Within 3 business days Initial Court Hearing (Order to Show Cause, OSC) 3 days About 2 weeks later Follow-up Court Hearing (Return on the OSC) 2 weeks 45 days after placement CPRB Initial Review 45 days About every 3 months Court Hearing (Compliance Review) 3 months Around 11th month Permanency Hearing in Court 12 months If plan is TPR, within ~3 mos Filing of Guardianship Complaint 15 months If plan is TPR, within ~8 mos TPR trial is schedule (3-5 court days) 24 months After TPR trial, within ~2 months Judge issues decision 26 months Within 45 days of TPR decision Parties may file appeal 27 months After appeal filed, up to 1 yr Appellate Division hears appeal 39 months

Timeline to Permanency Number of Months from TPR to Adoption (FY2005) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb Preliminary Estimates for FY 2005 as of September 2006

Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) In order to terminate parental rights, a judge must be satisfied that DYFS has met four specific standards or prongs, “based on the preponderance of the evidence presented” …

Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) The child's safety, health or development has been or will continue to be endangered by the parental relationship. The parent is unwilling or unable to eliminate the harm facing the child or is unable or unwilling to provide a safe and stable home for the child and the delay of permanent placement will add to the harm. Such harm may include evidence that separating the child from his foster parents would cause serious and enduring emotional or psychological harm to the child.

Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) The Division has made reasonable efforts to provide services to help the parent correct the circumstances which led to the child's placement outside the home and the court has considered alternatives to termination of parental rights. Termination of parental rights will not do more harm than good.

Parental Roles Giving birth (Birth Parent) Legal responsibility (Legal Parent) Protecting & nurturing (Caregiving Parent) For children in placement, it is important to remember that these parental roles may be held by different people or agencies.

Parental Roles Birth Parent List all of the things children are given only through their birth parents … Birth Parent Addictions Citizenship Consent (medical/education/general) Family/Tradition Life Genetics Eye/Hair/Skin Color Gender Physical Characteristics Personality Intelligence Health Issues Heritage/History Name Prenatal Care Religion/Culture Siblings/Relatives Talents

List all of our legal responsibilities as parents … Parental Roles List all of our legal responsibilities as parents … Advocate Clothing – Subsidy (monthly allowance) from DYFS Consent (general) / Power of Attorney Day Care - Contracts w/approved providers Education – Consent for Transfer/IEP Ethics Food – DYFS Subsidy/WIC Healthcare – Medicaid/Placement Physical/Consent Identification – Foster Parent ID Letter Liability Name Protection Safety – Various assessments by DYFS Shelter – Subsidy Supervision Therapy Legal Parent

List all of the things we do for our children every day … Parental Roles List all of the things we do for our children every day … Acceptance Advocate Affection Buy Things Clothing Comfort Commitment Consistency Day Care Develop Talents Discipline Documentation/Chronicle Family/Traditions Food Healthcare Hobbies Hugs Humor Hygiene Interaction Language Liability Life Skills Listening Love/Affection Morals/Ethics Motivation Nurturing Opportunity Patience Playing Protection Quality Time Religion Role Model Safety School/Homework Shelter Sports/Recreation Structure Supervision Support Teach Therapy Tolerance Transportation Trust Understanding Vacation/Recreation Values Caregiving Parent

How might these distributed roles make CHILDREN feel? Parental Roles How might these distributed roles make CHILDREN feel? Child in Care Negative Positive Abandoned Abnormal Angry Conflicted Confused Depressed Disappointed Frustrated Hesitant Lost/Misplaced Rejected Sad Scared Happy Hopeful Relieved Safe Thankful

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Federally enacted in 1993 Entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for specified family and medical reasons 12-month period is at discretion of the employer (calendar, anniversary, fiscal) Defines entitlement to leave, maintenance of health benefits during leave and job restoration after leave

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) For more information about FMLA, visit www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla New Jersey has adopted the provisions of the FMLA through the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) www.state.nj.us/lps/dcr/law.html#FLA

Guidelines for Effective Teamwork Team members need to share child welfare values and a respect for child welfare laws. Team members need to respect one another’s complementary roles and value one another’s perspectives. Team members need to have a clear understanding of the goals and objectives, and ensure that these are shared among all team members.

New Jersey Family Team Meetings A component of child welfare reform plan Bring together supportive resources to assess the family needs Help keep the family and team members focused on plan of action Use conflict resolution methods that encourage collaboration and build consensus regarding placement and services Train other staff to become effective facilitators

New Jersey Family Team Meetings Identify needed interventions in finding solutions for the family Empower families to achieve their desired outcomes

Team Members Could Include DYFS staff (caseworker, supervisor) Foster parents Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Law Guardian Service Providers

Let’s add them to our Parking Lot! Are there any questions that you had that may not have been answered during this session? Let’s add them to our Parking Lot!

Key Points, PRIDEBook Pages 52-56 CLOSURE Key Points, PRIDEBook Pages 52-56 A Birth Parent’s Perspective, PRIDE Book Pages 59-61 PRIDE Connection exercises, PRIDEBook Pages 62-64 (copy in packet) Making A Difference!, PRIDEBook Page 65-66 Session 3: Meeting Developmental Needs: Attachment

Quickly answer the following questions from PRIDEBook Page 48. Exercise: Resource 2-F Quickly answer the following questions from PRIDEBook Page 48.

Exercise: Resource 2-F What do you plan to do tomorrow? Who do you plan to have with you tomorrow? What do you want to be doing one year from now (personally or professionally)? Who do you plan to have with you then? What would you like to accomplish in the next five years? Who would you like to have sharing your accomplishments?

Questions for Video Clip #1 & Clip #2 What does the foster mother do that demonstrates her ability to work as a member of a team in “shared parenting?” How will this help “Annie” to deal with loyalty conflicts?

Charlie Small group activity Each group will represent one of the following: BirthParent Caseworker Foster Parent School Teacher Counselor What knowledge, skills, and/or experience do you bring to the table?

Print out the slides following this slide as supplemental handouts.

The DCF/DYFS Hierarchy Resource Family

The DCF/DYFS Hierarchy

Team Questions List all of the things that you have given your children through birth? List all of your legal responsibilities as a parent? List all of the things that you do for your children daily?

Timeline to Permanency Review Hearing Permanency Hearing (1) File TPR Petition (2) Decision to make reasonable efforts TPR Trial (3) 6 mos. 12 mos. 15 mos. ASAP <3 days Reviews every 6-12 mos. (from previous hearing) until child is adopted or permanency goal achieved Child Taken into Care Adjudication/ Disposition File TPR Petition (if adoption is the goal) Permanency Hearing TPR Trial (if ordered) Decision to NOT make reasonable efforts 30 days ASAP ASAP When calculating when to have the permanency hearing or the 15 of 22 months, use the earlier of the date or adjudication OR 60 days after the child is removed from the home. Unless a compelling reason exists not to terminate parental rights. In NJ, usually within 6-8 months of filing TPR Petition. Copyright © 1998 by the American Bar Association

What did we learn about in Session 1?