	Foster Care Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

FC 2: Assessment

Families participate in an individualized, strengths-based, family-focused, culturally responsive assessment that informs service and permanency plan development.

Research Note: Tribal representatives, or individuals with knowledge of the tribe and tribal customs, should be involved in the assessment whenever possible and appropriate. Their familiarity with the child’s culture can improve the quality of the assessment by ensuring that it is culturally grounded and involves the family and tribal community.

FC 2.01

All family members are engaged in the assessment process, and extended family members are involved when appropriate.

FC 2.02

The information gathered for assessments:

includes internal, external, and historical factors that may contribute to concerns identified in initial risk and safety assessments and initial screenings;
identifies child and family strengths, protective factors, and needs;
includes the impact of maltreatment on the child;
includes factors and characteristics pertinent to selecting an appropriate placement;
identifies family resources for the child and the parents; and
is limited to material pertinent for meeting service objectives.

Interpretation: Therapeutic foster care programs also receive or provide a diagnostic assessment prior to, or within 30 days of, placement to identify needs and determine the most appropriate placement.

Interpretation: The child’s extended family and other community members should be considered as valuable resources when identifying family resources for the child and the parents.

Note: Refer to the Assessment Matrix for additional assessment criteria. The elements of the matrix can be tailored according to the needs of specific individuals or service design.

Research Note: Literature suggests that assessment of the child’s self-esteem, fear of rejection, ability to tolerate intimacy, aggression, and impulsivity can help identify the most appropriate placement for the child, and is important for developing service plans and preventing placement disruption.

FC 2.03

Assessments are conducted in a strengths-based, culturally-responsive manner to identify resources that can increase service participation and support the achievement of agreed upon goals.

Interpretation: Culturally-responsive assessments can include attention to geographic location, language, political status, tribal affiliation, and religious, racial, ethnic and cultural background. Other important factors that contribute to a responsive assessment include attention to age, sexual orientation, and developmental level.

Research Note: The United States Refugee Program provides specialized resettlement and foster care services for unaccompanied refugee minors and should be considered as an alternative care option for resettled refugee minors. Resettlement of these children occurs in accordance with domestic child welfare guidelines, but services are only provided through programs specifically designed for the unique needs of refugee youth. Unaccompanied Refugee Minors foster care placement is also available for children who enter the United States with a parent or guardian but can no longer remain with them. Eligibility for Unaccompanied Refugee Minor status is determined by the Department of Health and Human Services.

FC 2.04

The child receives an initial screening from a qualified medical practitioner within 72 hours of entry into care to identify the need for immediate medical or mental health care, and assess for infectious and communicable diseases.

Interpretation: The portion of the initial screening that addresses mental health identifies suicidal ideation or history of suicide attempts and aggressive, dangerous, self-destructive, or psychotic behaviors.

Note: In order to receive a rating of 1, the screening should be conducted by a qualified medical practitioner. In order to receive a rating of 2, the organization can work with a qualified medical practitioner to develop a screening tool that can be administered by trained personnel at the organization. The organization should implement this practice within the stated timeframe in the majority of cases, but will receive a rating of 2 if in all other cases, the screening is conducted within 5 days of entry into care.

Note: See FC 10.03 for additional information about the comprehensive health assessments needed to identify and address children’s health needs.

FC 2.05

The assessment process is initiated through individual meetings:

with the child within the first 72 hours of initial placement or any subsequent placements;
with the child’s parents within the first two weeks of placement; and
with the foster parent within the first two weeks of placement.

Interpretation: The meeting with children in therapeutic foster care occurs on the day of placement, and the meeting with therapeutic foster parents occurs within 10 days of placement.

FC 2.06

Assessments are completed within timeframes established by the organization, and are updated periodically.

Interpretation: Assessments may need to be updated prior to case reviews or decision-making processes, and when the child or family’s circumstances change.

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	PURPOSE: Children and youth who receive Foster Care Services live in a stable home, remain safe and healthy, and achieve permanency and well-being.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	CULTURE The customs, habits, values, skills, technology, beliefs, and religious, social, and political behaviors of a group of people in a specific period of time.


	QUALITY In this context, the extent to which contemporary and generally recognized standards for professional practice are met and exceeded, and desirable service outcomes achieved.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	PARENTS Parents can include: birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Please see service standards for more specific information about use of this term.


	OBJECTIVE A sub-goal stated in operational terms, i.e., a statement that makes clear what expected results are to be measured or assessed.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	SERVICE PLAN A written plan of action based on the assessment of consumer needs and strengths that identifies problems, sets goals, and describes a strategy for achieving those goals and engaging in joint problem solving with the consumer. Also known as a "treatment plan".


	REFUGEE Those who flee their home country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion and are unable or unwilling to return to, or avail themselves of, their home country.


	ELIGIBILITY The degree to which an individual, family, group, or community meets the specific criteria and qualifications required to receive goods, benefits, or services.


	HUMAN SERVICES Programs designed to address individual and group development and well-being in addition to conditions that impact individuals and groups including: aging, delinquency and crime, child welfare, poverty, housing, education, employment, mental health, physical health, substance abuse, and developmental disabilities.


	CASE REVIEW A regular and periodic examination of a consumer's service needs, service delivery goals and objectives, intervention plans, prognoses, and the timelines required to achieve them. The direct service provider and supervisor frequently conduct the case review, but it may also involve others, as in an interdisciplinary or inter-organizational case conference. The client, or the parent or legal guardian in the case of a minor, are included in his/her periodic case review by the team.


	FOSTER PARENTS State- or county-licensed adults who provide a temporary home for children whose birth parents are unable to care for them. Foster parents are not considered employees or personnel and are specifically referenced in all relevant standards.