1. Conducting and Documenting
Monthly Visits with Children, Caregivers and Parents 1

2. By the End of This Session
You will be able to:
Identify Health and Safety Visit policy requirements with children, including timeframes for conducting visits and documentation
Identify policy requirements for monthly meetings with out-of- home caregivers and parents/guardians
Utilize the information gathered in the monthly visits to assess safety, well-being, and progress toward achieving permanency of the child
Demonstrate ability to document necessary information, under the correct codes in FamLink
HANDOUT: Case Review Tool

3. Monthly Visits and Federal CFSR Requirements
Item 14: Were the frequency and quality of visits between caseworkers and child(ren) sufficient to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of the child(ren) and promote achievement of case goals? Item 15:Were the frequency and quality of visits between caseworkers and mothers and fathers of the child(ren) sufficient to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of the child(ren) and promote achievement of case goals?

4. Monthly Visit Policy Monthly are required with: Children Caregivers
Parents/Legal Guardians
Practices and Procedures Guide Chapter 4420 4

5. Courtesy Supervi-sion
Visits are Required
Extended Foster Care
VPAs
Courtesy Supervi-sion
Depen-dency
ICPC
CPS Open > 60 Days
FRS
FVS

6. Health and Safety Visits with Children

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

8. Dependent Children in an In-home Dependency or Trial Return Home
All visits must occur in the family home
Children 0-5 years require 2 visits must occur every calendar month for the first 120 calendar days (one of the monthly visits may be conducted by a CA paraprofessional or contracted provider) and then monthly until the case is closed
If the child is 6 years or older, the health and safety visit must occur every calendar month
Must be conducted face-to-face, in private, and individually 8

9. 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.
Includes every child in the home
Children with open FVS and FRS cases require monthly visits for children ages 6 years and older and twice monthly for children ages 0-5.

10. Preparing for Your Health and Safety Visit with the Child
Understand the safety threat(s) that brought the child into care or to the attention of the department
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.

11. I’m at the visit, now what?
Slide 6
Evidence base
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

12. H&S Visits with the Child
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?
Observe sleep accommodations & discuss safe sleep for infants
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)

13. ICPC Research: Contact ICPC worker monthly
Slide 9
Research:
(continued)
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

14. Caregiver and Parent/Guardian Monthly Visits
Remember:
You are also required to meet with the caregivers and both parents of children in families receiving services from the Children’s Administration.

15. Out-of-Home Caregiver Visits
Discuss the child’s well-being (educational, emotional and developmental needs; medication and doctor appointments)
Discuss the child’s permanency goals
Observe the child and caregiver relationship
Observe the home environment including sleeping arrangements and safe sleep for infants
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

16. Unannounced Visits With Out-of-Home Caregivers
Must occur within 30 days of notification from FamLink
Completes same procedures as all monthly visits with out-of-home caregivers

17. Monthly Visits with Parents
Discuss:
Case plan and services
Access to needed services and consideration of different or additional services
Child and parent visitation
Child’s interests in normal
childhood activities
Additional opportunities for parent-
child interaction
Progress in addressing safety threats
Expectations for court
Permanency planning for the child

18. What if I can’t find a parent?
Ask the parent, older children, relatives where the parent might be contacted
Leave messages for the parent with people with whom they may have contact
Look in all DSHS data bases
Talk to your IV-E specialist to see what access they have for other data bases
Google, Facebook, etc.

19. What if the parent is incarcerated?
The department is required to provide reasonable efforts
The parent is expected to have regular contact with the department to show a continued interest in the child
The parent must be allowed to participate in permanency planning meetings and case conferences, even if this is by telephone or videoconference

20. Documentation: Health and Safety Visits
Slide 9
Documentation: Health and Safety Visits
Research:
(continued)
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
CHANGE SLIDES

21. Documentation: Health and Safety Visits
Slide 9
Research:
(continued)
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

22. Documentation: Out-of-Home Caregiver Visits
Slide 9
Research:
(continued)
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)
For unannounced visits, use codes either “Unannounced Health and Safety Visit” or “Unannounced H&S Visit Attempted”
Document each child caregiver visit with the child as the participant
CHANGE SLIDES

23. Documentation: Parent Visits
Slide 9
Research:
(continued)
Must be documented in a FamLink case note within 3 calendar days of the visit
Use “Visit-SW Parent (Mother) or (Father)” for each child or, if active efforts were made to schedule the visit and the visit did not occur, Visit-SW Parent (Attempted)
Document ongoing efforts to locate parents to include searching ACES, Facebook, Google, Instagram, asking relatives, and searching databases such as VineLink to determine if a parent is incarcerated.
CHANGE SLIDES

24. Documentation: Exceptions
Slide 9
Documentation: Exceptions
Research:
(continued)
You 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
CHANGE SLIDES

25. Slide 9
Research:
(continued)
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?

26. Avoiding Common Errors
See both parents
Leave time for discussions of safety, permanency and well-being in all monthly visits.
Document discussions in all three areas of safety, permanency and well-being.

27. Tips Research: Before leaving a visit, schedule your next visit.
Slide 9
Tips
Research:
(continued)
Before leaving a 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
When cases transfer or courtesy supervision is established, coordinate between workers to make sure visits are completed and to be clear who is responsible
Complete your documentation as soon as you can
Supervisors – check the visits in your supervisory case note and ensure exceptions are input and approved

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

29. Review

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

31. Thank You
Lyn Craik
Deanna Bedell
Karen Richholt
Mary Pagni-Leavitt