	Child Protective Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-CPS 12: Child and Youth Permanency

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

PA-CPS 12.01

Service providers, foster parents, the public authority, and the court work with the child, youth, and 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-CPS 12.02

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 parents about relinquishment and permanency options 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: As appropriate, the child’s extended family and other community members should be considered when identifying potential family resources.

PA-CPS 12.03

The child, parents, caregivers, foster parents, and relevant professionals participate in a court or administrative case review at least every six 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 options; and
appropriateness of services.

Interpretation: Federal and 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 appropriate parties can attend.

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 review, be given an opportunity to participate, and be informed of any changes made to the permanency plan.

PA-CPS 12.04

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

PA-CPS 12.05

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 on-going 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.

PA-CPS 12.06

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: 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 return the child home, the justification and alternative permanency goal are entered into the case record.

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

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 CPS 12.06, 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: Child Protective Services protect children from abuse and neglect and increase child well-being and family stability.

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."


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


	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.


	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.


	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).


	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.


	TERMINATION See CASE CLOSING


	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.