CHILD WELFARE MANUAL

7.1.5 Contact with the Child/Resource Provider

The child’s Children’s Service Worker should meet face-to-face, individually and jointly, with the child and the resource provider, at the placement, no later than the next business day following initial placement and any time a child moves during out-of-home care.  Arrangements may be made for someone other than the case worker to complete this visit with supervisory approval.  The case manager  must then meet face-to-face with the child a minimum of one time per month thereafter, with the majority of these visits being in the placement setting. The case manager is required to have at least monthly contact with the placement provider of which the majority of these contacts must be in the placement setting.   

Examples of the majority include:

      • If a child is in foster care for 6 months during October 1 thru September 30, 4 out of the 6 required visits during that time frame must be in the child’s placement.
      • If a child is in foster care for only 2 months during the Federal Fiscal year, 2 visits must occur in their placement as the majority of the visits are required in that setting.
      • If a child has been placed in a foster home for 5 months, 3 of the visits held with the provider must be in the provider’s home 

These visits may be conducted at the same time or separately.  The visit with the child must occur in the placement home the majority of the time to continually assess:

    1. The child’s safety in the placement
    2. The child’s reaction to separation from his family
    3. The child’s perception/understanding of the problem and what he would like to see happen
    4. The child’s adjustment to placement
    5. The resource provider’s perception of the child’s adjustment to placement
    6. The Children’s Service Worker’s observation of the child’s adjustment to placement
    7. The resource provider’s response to the sibling group’s adjustment and
    8. The sibling group’s response to the resource provider.

Chapter Memoranda History: (prior to 1/31/07)

Memoranda History: