(Effective: 05/01/19)
3.2 Evaluating case progress
Evaluation is an integral component of the casework process. Its purpose is to measure the extent to which treatment goals have been, or are being attained.
Measurement of case progress should not wait until the ending phase of the treatment period. Evaluation should be an ongoing process that assists staff in providing purposeful services to the family.
Evaluation for FCS cases consists of the following activities:
- Building the long term safety plan with the family, Family Safety Planning Document, CD-267
- Monitoring the Family Safety Planning Document, CD-267
Building the Family Safety Planning Document, CD-267
Often we have started gathering information that relates to the Family Safety Planning Document, CD-267, from our first meeting with the family and throughout the assessment process. The focus of the CD-267 is to guide your conversations with the family and their network in developing a plan that will assist them in achieving their long term safety goals.
The CD-267 should be used once a safety goal has been developed with the family. The CD-267 creates the road map for how the safety goal will be achieved. Creating the Family Safety Plan will often take time to develop and must be created with the family’s input. If there is a need to address immediate safety concerns, staff should use the Immediate Safety Intervention Plan (CD-263). See Section 1 (Policy Guide to the Practice Model) for more information on Safety Planning.
The Family Risk Assessment map is the how of safety planning and should be used to develop the CD-267 with the family in FCS. The CD-267 should be developed with a focus on how people will be doing things differently to help keep the children safe now and in the future, even after the Children’s Division’s case is closed.
The CD-267 should NOT focus on services that will be provided to families. Instead, the CD-267 guides the development of a specific set of rules and arrangements that describe how the family and network will show everyone that the child(ren) will be safe in the future. As the case progresses, it is expected that the CD-267 will be modified and refined. The CD-267 should involve the safety network in creating it, implementing it, and monitoring its effectiveness.
Monitoring the Family Safety Planning Document, CD-267
As the CD-267 is utilized, it must be constantly evaluated, monitored, and adjusted as necessary. Families should be given opportunities to incrementally demonstrate how they are using their plan as the case progresses. As the use and effectiveness of the plan is demonstrated, contact with the children should gradually become less restrictive.
Some ways the CD-267 can be monitored may include:
- Conduct an unannounced and announced home visits by Children’s Division staff or safety network members to observe how the CD-267 is being used;
- Have Three Columns Conversations with parents, children and network members to understand and compare their perspectives on how the plan is working;
- Have the family keep a safety journal where they can write their comments about how the CD-267 plan is working;
- Facilitate safety network meetings to review progress and assess the level of confidence in the safety plan based on how it is working; and
- Rehearse or test the CD-267 by practicing different parts of the plan.
A child’s version of the CD-267 plan can be created so the child(ren) can understand what will be done by whom to keep them safe. Tools such as the Words and Pictures or the My Safety House (CD-216) are useful for turning the CD-267 plan into a child-friendly version.