9 CAR § 40-712. Maintaining family ties in out-of-home-placements

(a)(1) Removal from the home and subsequent out-of-home placement are traumatic events for children. (2) A way this trauma may be minimized is by maintaining family ties in out-of-home placements. (3) Moreover, the Division of Children and Family Services believes that strengths of families and supporting these strengths contribute to life-long permanent relationships for children. (4) This belief is supported by research demonstrating that children who maintain positive family ties while in out-of-home placement achieve better short-term and long-term outcomes. (5) While children are in out-of-home placements, the division, in conjunction with resource parents (both kinship and traditional resource parents, as applicable) and other placement providers, will update parents regarding their children’s lives including providing information regarding, without limitation, status of physical, behavioral, and emotional health, progress in school, involvement in extracurricular activities, and achievements. (6) Parents will be invited to participate in their children’s medical appointments as well as school, faith-based, and extracurricular activities, as appropriate. (7) If court orders differ from the requirements outlined in this policy and related procedures regarding family time and contact with family members, the division will comply with court orders accordingly. (8) It is the division’s responsibility to prepare the child for all family time sessions, assess the impact of family time on the child, and collaborate with the child’s placement provider to ensure the child receives the necessary supports to appropriately process each family time session. (9)(A) This applies to parent-child family time, sibling family time, and family time with other relatives, fictive kin, or other family network members. (B) The network is a group of family, friends, and professionals who are willing to meet with the division and work in concrete ways to support the caregivers and keep the child safe. (10)(A) For family time that requires supervision, the person supervising will document a summary of the family time session in the division’s information management system. (B) The summary will include a description of the activities that took place during family time, adult and child reactions during family time, any acts of protection or parenting skills demonstrated by the parents (specific to parent-child family time), and overall progress made during family time, or lack thereof. (11) It is the duty of the primary Social Service Specialist to obtain regular updates regarding family time sessions if he or she is not regularly supervising family time. (12) Updates may be obtained directly from the person who supervises the family time sessions or by regularly reading contacts entered into the division information management system specific to family time. (13) However, if an individual supervising family time does not have access to the division information management system, it is also the responsibility of the primary Social Service Specialist to communicate with the person who supervised family time in order to gather this information and subsequently enter a contact into the division information management system with said summary. (b) Contact with caregivers. (1)(A) In order to maintain and strengthen the caregiver-child relationship, family time and other forms of contact with caregivers and their children experiencing foster care are essential. (B) The first caregiver-child family time session after a removal will occur with the caregiver from whom the child was removed within two (2) business days of the removal. (C) From that point, family time between caregivers, including noncustodial and putative caregivers as applicable, and their children will occur at least weekly based upon the child’s best interest. (D) More frequent family time is encouraged, as appropriate. (E) Division staff will ensure all family time sessions follow the protocols set forth in the DCFS Statewide Family Time Requirements and Guidelines. (F) Division staff will also review the DCFS Statewide Family Time Requirements and Guidelines with caregivers at the first family team meeting and on an ongoing basis as needed. (G) All caregivers will receive a copy of the DCFS Statewide Family Time Requirements and Guidelines. (H) A positive drug or alcohol screen in and of itself will not result in the postponement or withholding of family time between a caregiver and child in division custody unless: (i) The caregiver is under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the scheduled family time and has observable behavior indicating impairment of parenting capacity; or (ii) A court order specifies that a caregiver’s positive screen will result in the withholding of family time. (2)(A) There is a legal presumption that family time may be unsupervised unless evidence has been provided to and the court has made a ruling that unsupervised family time is not in the best interest of the children involved. (B) The burden is upon division staff to provide evidence regarding why family time must be supervised or may be unsupervised. (3)(A) If the court orders supervised family time, the caregiver from whom custody of the child has been removed will receive a minimum of four (4) hours of supervised family time per week. (B) The court may order less than four (4) hours of supervised family time if the court determines that the supervised family time is not in the best interest of the child or will impose an extreme hardship on one (1) of the parties. (4)(A) Family time that has been ordered to be supervised may be graduated to unsupervised depending on the dynamics of the case. (B) Any division staff member as well as approved student interns and volunteers may supervise family time. (C) However, the appropriate supervisor will individualize each assignment to supervise family time. (D) When making the assignment, the supervisor will consider the family’s history, current level of functioning, and any other applicable factors as well as the skill set of the individual selected to supervise family time. (5)(A) The preferred location for family time is the caregiver’s home or, if that is not possible, in the most home-like setting possible. (B) Family time in a division office should be a last resort. (C) Family time is encouraged to include any variety of quality family activities such as visiting a library, playing at a park, or making and enjoying a meal together, as appropriate for an individual family. (6)(A) While children are experiencing foster care, the division, in conjunction with resource providers, will update caregivers regarding their children’s lives including providing information regarding, without limitation: (i) Status of physical, behavioral, and emotional health; (ii) Progress in school; (iii) Involvement in extracurricular activities; and (iv) Achievements. (B) Caregivers will be invited to participate in their children’s school, faith-based, and extracurricular activities as appropriate. (7)(A) The specific plan for family time between a child experiencing foster care and their caregivers, as appropriate, will be included in the family case plan. (B) As the family prepares for reunification, the frequency and length of family time will increase while the level of supervision will decrease accordingly. (C) The family case plan will be updated as needed to reflect changes regarding family time and other contact. (8)(A) Resource parents and approved relative and fictive kin volunteers may communicate directly with biological caregivers when appropriate and in the child’s best interest to: (i) Give updates on the child’s progress; (ii) Inform them of the child’s school and extracurricular activities; and (iii) Share photos. (B) Resource parents and approved relative and fictive kin volunteers are also encouraged to consider supporting the caregiver-child relationship in other ways such as: (i) Helping the child write letters to their caregivers; (ii) Creating life books with the children to then share with the biological caregivers; and (iii) Presenting a positive view of the child’s caregivers to the child to the extent possible. (9) In addition, since resource parents and the family’s network members can model positive parenting skills that may help the biological caregivers to achieve reunification, resource parents may consider hosting caregiver-child family time, if appropriate and acceptable to all individuals involved. (10) When assessing the appropriateness of resource parents and approved relative and fictive kin volunteers communicating directly with biological caregivers, holding caregiver-child family time in the resource parent home, or transporting the child to caregiver-child family time, the division will ensure the resource parents and approved relative and fictive kin volunteers thoroughly understand all court orders related to caregiver-child contact and consider: (A) Various family dynamics; (B) Progress of the case at that point in time; and (C) Experience and other skill sets of the resource family or the family’s network members. (11)(A) Division staff members will discuss with resource parents, approved relative and fictive kin volunteers, and biological caregivers the level of comfort that both sets of caregivers have with resource parents or approved relative and fictive kin volunteers providing transportation to caregiver-child family time or, as applicable to resource parents, hosting or supervising caregiver-child family time. (B) Staff will not expect resource parents to host or supervise caregiver-child family time or transport to caregiver-child family time: (i) During the first placement they have as resource parents; and (ii) During the first month of any open permanency case regardless of the number of times they have served as resource parents. (C) Exceptions to the above guidelines may be made if the resource parents express an interest in assisting with caregiver-child family time under these conditions. (D) Even when resource parents state they are willing to assist with caregiver-child family time during the first placement they have as resource parents or during the first month of any open permanency case, the division will make a decision regarding the resource parents’ involvement with caregiver-child family time after carefully assessing each individual case and the dynamics involved. (E) Even after the first month of an open permanency case, if resource parents desire to assist with caregiver-child family time, the division will continue to assess on a case-by-case basis the appropriateness of resource parent involvement for each foster care placement. (12)(A) The division will assist the resource parents and approved relative and fictive kin volunteers and biological caregivers in establishing appropriate expectations and boundaries regarding communication and interaction (such as frequency and specific times the biological caregiver may call or visit the resource home). (B) Any direct interaction between the biological caregivers and resource parents or approved relative and fictive kin volunteers in no way relieves the division of its duty to ensure the biological caregivers remain current on all aspects of their case and their children. (c) Contact with siblings. (1)(A) Sibling relationships are emotionally powerful and critically important not only in childhood, but over the course of a lifetime with sibling relationships likely to be the longest relationships most people experience. (B) Siblings include those individuals who would be considered a sibling under state and tribal law if it were not for the disruption in parental rights, such as a termination of parental rights or death of a parent. (2)(A) For children experiencing out-of-home placements, sibling relationships can provide a significant source of continuity, stability, and comfort while experiencing foster care. (B) As such, when it is in the best interest of each of the children and barring extenuating circumstances, siblings are entitled to be placed together in out-of-home placements. (3)(A) Siblings may be placed separately only if: (i)(a) Allegations of abuse between siblings are under investigation or have been founded. (b) An assessment must be conducted by a mental health professional within five (5) days of placing siblings in different placements due to the abuse allegations between the siblings that are under investigation or have been founded. (c) The siblings may continue in the separated placements if the assessment by the mental health professional supports continuing the separated placements because placing the siblings together would be detrimental to the health, safety, or well-being of one (1) or more of the children as related to the abuse allegations or investigation findings; (ii) An assessment by a mental health professional determines that placing the siblings together would be detrimental to the health, safety, or well-being of one (1) or more of the children; or (iii) The division presents evidence to the court that there are no available placements that can take the entire sibling group. (B) If children must be separated, the division will attempt to place them in close proximity to facilitate regular and meaningful contact. (C) The division will ensure the reasons for the separation of siblings into different resource homes or other approved placements are regularly reassessed and targeted recruitment efforts continue to reunite the siblings. (D) The family case plan must include when siblings will be reassessed to determine if they can be reunited at a later point in time. (E) If the reassessment determines reunification is appropriate, the plan for reunifying siblings in one (1) placement will be documented in the family case plan as well. (4)(A) In an effort to maintain sibling connections for those siblings who are placed separately, the siblings’ case will be reviewed by the court at least once every ninety (90) days to determine whether there have been reasonable efforts to reunite the siblings and to allow regular and meaningful contact between the siblings. (B) If the court approves a paper review, the ninety-day court reviews of separated siblings may be satisfied by such a review and a hearing is not required. (5)(A) In addition, siblings who must be placed separately will have consistent and meaningful contact at least weekly when possible. (B) While face-to-face contacts in home-like settings or other family-friendly locations are preferred and encouraged, other forms of communication such as phone calls, emails, and FaceTime (or similar program) conversations are permissible, as age and developmentally appropriate, to meet the weekly contact requirement. (C) However, siblings who are placed separately will have at least biweekly face-to-face sibling family time unless a supervisor grants a family time waiver. (D) The plan for sibling family time and other contact will be outlined in the family case plan. (E) Sibling family time or other forms of contact between siblings will not be withheld by the division or any placement provider as a behavioral consequence unless there are documented safety threats to one (1) or more of the siblings. (6)(A) Siblings also have the right to remain actively involved in each other’s lives. (B) Aside from regularly scheduled family time, the division, resource parents, approved relative and fictive kin volunteers, and other placement providers will work together to allow siblings to share celebrations including birthdays, holidays, graduations, and other meaningful milestones when possible. (C) The division, resource parents, approved relative and fictive kin volunteers, and other placement providers will also collaborate to ensure siblings attend each other’s extracurricular events such as athletic events, musical performances, and faith-based events when reasonable and practical. (7)(A) The division will ensure siblings are included in one another’s family case plan family team meeting decisions and permanency planning decisions as age and developmentally appropriate. (B) Siblings will also be notified when another sibling has a change in placement or exits foster care as age and developmentally appropriate. (C) When a sibling exits foster care, that sibling will be allowed, as appropriate, to maintain contact with a sibling who remains in an out-of-home placement. (D) The division will also strive to help children experiencing foster care to maintain relationships with their siblings who are not experiencing out-of-home placements or who have been adopted or placed in permanent custody or guardianship. (d) Contact with kin. (1) In an effort to ensure foster care supports the permanency and well-being of the children in division custody, children may have an opportunity to have contact with noncustodial parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, other relatives, and fictive kin, provided the family time or contact is in the best interest of the children. (2) It is the responsibility of the division to explore the willingness and appropriateness of identified relatives and fictive kin interested in being involved in the lives of children experiencing out-of-home placements. (e) Contact after termination of parental rights. (1) If it is in the child’s best interest, family time and contact with relatives may continue after termination of parental rights (TPR). (2) Family time after TPR will continue until an adoptive placement is made or the permanency case is closed. (3) The division will encourage adoptive parents to consider allowing contact between biological relatives and fictive kin with their adopted children, as appropriate. (4) Continuation of family time and contact with relatives does not include the caregivers for whom the division has obtained TPR.