	Kinship Care Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-KC 4: Child and Youth Permanency

The agency participates in, or facilitates, a permanency planning process with families to promote stability and permanency.

Interpretation: Permanency work is aimed at achieving physical, emotional, and legal permanency for the child. Public and private agency roles in the permanency planning process are defined by federal and state rules, regulations, or contracts. When the agency is not responsible for facilitating permanency planning, it documents attempts to participate in the process.

NA The agency only provides informal kinship care services.

PA-KC 4.01

Service providers, caregivers,and the court work with the family to develop a permanency plan within 30 days of placement, which specifies:

the permanency goal(s);
a timeframe for achieving permanency; and
activities that support permanency.

Interpretation: Intensive efforts should be made to locate family members who can be involved in permanency planning and who may wish to (re)establish positive relationships with the child. Tribal representatives and service providers should be involved in the permanency planning process when the Indian Child Welfare Act applies.

Interpretation: The age of a youth should not limit the consideration of all permanency options. Tribal definitions of permanency should be recognized and incorporated into the permanency plan.

Interpretation: In extenuating circumstances the plan can be completed within 60 days. The timeframe for achieving permanency is consistent with state and federal regulations, and in most cases the permanency hearing should take place within 12 months. Whenever possible, the permanency timeline for parents with substance use conditions reflects the time needed to receive substance use treatment services and make progress towards recovery.

Research Note: Tribal definitions of permanency can vary by tribe but generally focus on the concept of belonging through the identification and enhancement of the child’s support networks including their extended family, clan, and tribe. Thus, permanency is the result of continuity and a sustained sense of belonging.

PA-KC 4.02

Concurrent planning is undertaken when appropriate and includes:

early assessment of the potential for reunification;
full disclosure of options, expectations, and timelines;
early identification of potential family resources;
early placement with a permanent family resource; and
counseling for parents about relinquishment when reunification seems unlikely.

Interpretation: Federal and state statutes or administrative rules may provide guidance about when concurrent planning is appropriate, and how concurrent planning is to be conducted.

Interpretation: When appropriate, the child's extended family and other community members should be considered when identifying potential family resources.

PA-KC 4.03

The child, parents, caregivers, and relevant professionals participate in a court or administrative case review at least everysix months to assess:

the safety and appropriateness of continued placement;
constructive parent, child, and sibling visitation;
efforts to reunify the family and progress toward permanency;
possible placement resources and best placement options; and
appropriateness of services.

Interpretation: When the case involves an Indian child, a representative from the tribe or a local Indian organization should receive timely notification of court or administrative case reviews, be given an opportunity to participate, and be informed of any changes made to the permanency plan.

Interpretation: Federal laws, state statutes or administrative rules may provide guidance about when and how administrative reviews are to be conducted.The review is scheduled at times when important, appropriate parties can attend.

PA-KC 4.04

Children are actively involved in the permanency planning process and receive information about progress toward permanency, as appropriate to their age, cultural needs, and developmental level.

PA-KC 4.05

The case record documents opportunities provided to parents in support of reunification, including:

involvement in service planning and access to needed services;
constructive visitation and ongoing contact with the child;
reduction of barriers to contact, visitation, and involvement in the child’s care; and
use of formal and informal resources to prepare the family for reunification.

Interpretation: Resources can include support from extended family members or the tribal community when one has been identified.

Note: The documentation must be in a format legally admissible as evidence to facilitate court proceedings.

Research Note: The Indian Child Welfare act outlines miminum federal requirements, called active efforts, to support reunification of Indian children with their families. Active efforts include full engagement with the family, the provision of more intensive remedial and rehabilitative services, and caseworkers who actively assist the family in accessing necessary services from outside resources. Early consultation with the child’s tribe is critical to ensuring that a full range of resources have been made available to the family and that active effort requirements are fulfilled.

PA-KC 4.06

The agency recommends, or files, a petition to terminate parental rights for children who have been in care for 15 of the most recent 22 months, unless case-specific information legally exempts a child.

Interpretation: When the case involves an Indian child, the agency should collaborate with the tribe to ensure compliance with Indian Child Welfare Act requirements governing the termination of parental rights.

Interpretation: The reason submitted for termination of parental rights cannot be the length of time a child has been in care. When the decision is made not to reunify the child and parents, the justification and alternative permanency goal are entered into the case record.

Research Note: The Indian Child Welfare Act requires that, prior to removing an Indian child from the home, the state must be able to demonstrate to the court that active efforts have been made to prevent removal and that all efforts have been unsuccessful. The Act also requires that a qualified witness testify that serious emotional or physical harm would likely occur if the parent were to maintain custody of the child.

Research Note: Federal law permits Indian families to move forward with a customary adoption, without terminating parental rights. Customary adoptions are arranged through custom and tradition and allow for the transfer of custody while preserving parental rights.

Research Note: The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) outlines three legal exemptions to the termination of parental rights requirement outlined in PA-KC 4.06, including if: (1) the child is being cared for by a relative; (2) the case record contains documentation of a compelling reason why the termination of parental rights would not be in the best interest of the child, including failure to meet federal statutory requirements such as active or reasonable efforts; and (3) the agency hasn’t provided the family with services identified by the state to be necessary for the safe return of the child. ASFA does not override, amend, or repeal the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

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	PURPOSE: Kinship Care Services maintain the family system as the primary source of care and preserve the continuity of care, culture, relationships, and environment essential for child safety 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."


	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.


	PLANNING The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.


	CONTRACT A formal written agreement between two or more parties that specifies the services, space, or products to be provided in exchange for some form of compensation. Also known as "purchase of service arrangement."


	CAREGIVER The provider of physical, emotional, and social needs to another person, often dependent and unable to provide for his or her own needs. Caregiver is the generic term used for the direct service providers in Community Care and Support Services (CCS).


	CONCURRENT PLANNING An approach used in foster care casework that simultaneously involves the identification and assessment of possible alternative permanency options for a child with efforts toward parent/child reunification.


	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.


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


	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.


	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.


	APPROPRIATENESS The degree to which a particular service, placement, treatment, intervention, or activity is: best suited to an individual's needs; not excessive, unduly intrusive, or restrictive; anticipated to be effective in achieving the desired and specified outcomes; and adequate or sufficient in quantity to address the problem.


	INDIAN ORGANIZATION As defined in ICWA, "Any group, association, partnership, cooperation, or other legal entity owned or controlled by Indians, or a majority of whose members are Indians."


	CASE RECORD A written compilation that describes the client and the services delivered. Records can be in hard copy and/or electronic format. The case record can be used as a source of information for quality improvement or other evaluation activities, for research purposes, or to demonstrate accountability to funding bodies.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	INDIAN CHILD As defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), "Any unmarried person who is under age eighteen and is either (a) a member of an Indian tribe or (b) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe and is the biological child of a member of an Indian tribe." For purposes of compliance with ICWA, the definition provided in the Act shall apply. For purposes of access to services and resources, other more inclusive definitions may apply (e.g. Indian Education Act, tribal definitions, etc.).


	CUSTODY The care, control, and maintenance of a child. The court legally can award custody to an agency in abuse and neglect cases or to parents in divorce, separation, or adoption proceedings. Child welfare departments retain legal custody and control of major decisions for a child in foster care; foster parents do not have legal custody of the children for which they provide care.