Conducting & Documenting Monthly Health and Safety Visits with Children, and Monthly Visits with Caregivers and Parents

By the End of This Session You will be able to: Identify Monthly and Health and Safety Visit policy requirements, including timeframes for conducting and documenting the visits, with children, caregivers and parents Demonstrate the ability to document necessary information under the correct codes in FamLink Utilize the information gathered in the Monthly and Health and Safety Visits to assess safety, well-being, and permanency of the child as well as the progress of the parent Utilize the information gathered in the Monthly and Health and Safety Visits to assess progress towards the child’s permanent plan

Monthly and Health and Safety Visit Policy Health and Safety Visits with are required with: Children Caregivers Parents Practices and Procedures Guide Chapter 4420

Visits are Required Extended Foster Care VPAs Courtesy Supervi- sion Depen- dency ICPC CPS Open > 45 Days FRSFVS

Health and Safety Visits with Children

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

All visits must occur in the family home Children 0-5 years require 2 visits every calendar month for the first 4 months (one of the monthly visits may be conducted by a CA contracted provider) If the child is 6 years or older, the health and safety visit must occur every calendar month Must be conducted in private, individually with each child In-Home Dependency Placements

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. Children with open FVS and FRS cases have the same requirements for visits as do in-home dependencies.

Preparing For Your Health and Safety Visit Understand the safety threat(s) that brought the child into care 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? 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

REQUIRED: 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? 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) Visit with the Child

Other Required Monthly Visits Social workers are required to meet with caregivers monthly (face-to-face). Location may vary. All known parents and legal guardians involved in either court-ordered or voluntary services (FVS, FRS, CFWS) must also receive monthly face-to-face visits, the majority in their home. These visits are required to continue until the child is legally free, the case is closed, or until the court determines reunification efforts need not continue.

Monthly Out-of-Home Caregiver Visits Discuss the child’s well-being & permanency Observe the child and caregiver relationship and home environment 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 in all monthly visits with out-of-home caregivers

Monthly Visits with Parents Progress made to eliminate or manage child safety threats Access to needed services and consideration of different or additional services Housing stability Permanency planning for the child Child and parent visitation Review of child’s interests in normal childhood activities Any requests to change the child’s appearance

Documentation: Health and Safety Visits 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

Documentation  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 and Parent Visits  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) or “Visit-SW Parent (Mother) or (Father) for each child

Documentation: Exceptions Workers 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

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?

Tips  Before leaving a H&S 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  Coordinate between workers to make sure visits are completed and to be clear who is responsible  Complete your documentation the next time you are in the office or have access to FamLink  Supervisors – check the visits in your supervisory case note

ICPC  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

Activity! Get Into Pairs! Activity! Get Into Pairs! Step 2 : Switch computers with your partner Step 1 : Each person pull up a recent Health & Safety case note in FamLink Step 3 : Using the child and caregiver checklist, read the case note of your partner, taking notes of strengths and areas of improvement Step 4: Take turns providing the feedback- person receiving feedback take notes of anything you might want to strengthen or add 23 Step 5: Go back to your computer and update your case note as appropriate

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