CHILD WELFARE MANUAL

Section 6, Chapter 3 (Resource Family Assessment and Licensing Process), Subsection 2, – (Adoptive Family Assessment)

3.2   Adoptive Family Assessment

The Children Services Worker will receive completed application, CS-42.

  1. Complete Vendor Licensure,  Approval and Renewal screen in FACES.
  2. Applicants shall be at least 21 years of age.

Initiate action within 30 days of receipt of application by face-to-face contact or group informational meeting.

Begin assessment process by personal interview.

Discuss with applicants any questions about the release of identifying and non-identifying information about biological parents/siblings and the Adoption Information Registry.

Complete assessment of family’s readiness for adoption within six (6) months from date application received, using Section 6 Chapter 3  Subsection 8 Sub-Subsection 1.

Concentrate on Readiness for Adoptive Parenthood portion of Assessment Guide for already licensed foster parents/relative parents.

Record and recommend, within six (6) months of receipt of application, one of the following:

  1. Suspension;
  2. Approval;
  3. Denial; or
  4. Withdrawal.

Obtain applicant’s signature on Family Assessment indicating agreement; applicant retains one copy.

Approve, update, process Vendor Licensure/Approval and Renewal Screen in FACES, and obtain CW-109 and AEM-2A.  Assist family in registering with other adoption exchanges if appropriate.

Notify of fair hearing process if rejected.

Record all transactions of children presented for placement with a family and family’s acceptance or rejection of children including family’s reasons for decision.

Update adoptive family assessment at least once every two years (biannually), if no children placed, or if family is interested in additional placements.

Update, Vendor Licensure, Approval and Renewal screen in FACES.

Accept approved family assessment of an adoptive home from a private agency or another state (public or private agency) at point of application only if they have utilized our same guidelines for completion of Adoptive Family Assessments.

Contact personally and update assessment if needed.

State applicants must work with just one agency; the applicant must make the decision.

Adoptive Home Assessment Recording Outline

The adoptive home assessment shall be conducted by the children’s division of the department of social services, a juvenile court officer, a licensed child-placing agency, a social worker, a professional counselor, or a psychologist licensed under chapter 337 and associated with a licensed child-placing agency, or other suitable person appointed by the court. 

Reason for Study

  1. Type of study
  2. Motivation of applicant

Summary of Contacts: Include dates and places of contact, and with whom contact was made.

Description of Household Members: Include about each household member all applicable information as follows:

  1. Full name, sex and date of birth
  2. Attitude toward children
  3. Attitude toward adoption
  4. Social history
  5. Marital history
  6. Military history
  7. Education
  8. Health
  9. Employment history
  10. Extended family
  11. Household pets

Family Relationships:

  1. Present marriage – roles, responsibilities; stability of relationship if not married
  2. Adoptive parent life style and practices (i.e. may comprise their attitude toward living, work, family, and leisure activities)
  3. Interaction between adoptive parents and/or children
  4. Group activities and shared interests
  5. Communication system
  6. Religious practices and preferences of each family member
  7. Methods of discipline
  8. Educational practices of the adoptive provider (i.e. preference of schooling: public, private, or home schooling; thoughts on the importance of education on a child’s future)

Financial Status:

  1. Source and amount of income
  2. Management/indebtedness

 Health Status:

  1. Summarize information from medical forms, coupled with information gained from interviews for all household members.
    1. If there are health problems, how do the family members cope with them? If there is a disability, how do other family members compensate?
    2. Statement from their physician adoptive parents are suitable to parent an adoptive child(ren).
    3. History of hospitalization for either physical or emotional problems for all household members.
    4. History of treatment for any psychiatric problem for all household members.
    5. History of treatment for any form of substance abuse, including drugs and alcohol, for all household members 
  2. For adoptive resource include information about the age differential between applicant and child(ren). If the differential indicates the child could not be reared to adulthood, include a description of the plans the applicants have made with the immediate or extended family members to assume this responsibility.

Home and Environment:

  1. Structure of environment to ensure safety and health of child
  2. Description of home and surroundings
    1. Proper lighting and ventilation
    2. Screen doors and windows
    3. Interior doors designed to permit opening of a locked door from the outside in an emergency
    4. Space for indoor play
    5. Access to outdoor play space
    6. Outdoor play space, in the judgment of the assessor, potential hazards suggest the necessity for such protection
  3. Housekeeping standards
  4. Weapons

 Attitudes Toward Adoptive Services:

  1. Type of child desired
  2. Attitude toward birth parents and siblings
  3. Special considerations, i.e., medically fragile, behaviorally disordered, cultural diversities, sibling groups
  4. Open to agency supervision
  5. Parenting skills (include information from interviews and the Foster Family Profile: expression of positive feelings toward a child both verbally and physically; response to child’s verbal and physical expression of needs and wants; discipline techniques used to refrain from using corporal punishment; ability to guide a child toward independence and recognize the immaturity of a child.)
  6. Demonstration of how they will provide care that is respectful and supportive of the youth’s cultural identity and needs and individuality
  7. Explanation of how they will provide for the moral training of an adoptive child and make available for religious education and attendance of services compatible with the child’s religious heritage, provided that this training would not be injurious to the adoptive child’s physical, mental, or emotional health
  8. Understanding and examples of how the applicant will provide normalcy for adoptive child.
  9. Support by own children and extended family.

Summary of Adoptive Resources and Adoptive Parent(s) suitability:

  1. Discussing with the child issues surround the adoption.
  2. Pre-placement planning and visits.
  3. Maintaining, over the child’s growth years, relationships with siblings when they are separated, and significant others.
  4. The sharing of social, emotional, health information at any time after final decree of adoption is granted.
  5. Continued availability of agency services after the final adoption decree is granted.
  6. Any special items that must be considered in the placement decision and subsequent planning.
  7. Statement to the effect that the child has been considered as a potential subsidy recipient and adoption subsidy payment system.
  8. Include pertinent information relevant to whether the child is suitable for the adoptive parent(s). 
  9. Include pertinent information relevant to whether the adoptive parent(s) is suitable for the child. 

Competencies

Detailed descriptions of how the adoptive parent(s) demonstrate:

  1. Protecting and nurturing
  2. Meeting developmental needs and addressing developmental delays
  3. Supporting relationships between children and families
  4. Connecting to lifetime relationships
  5. Working as a member of a professional team
  6. Cooperating with all division inquiries about care of foster children
  7. Responsible and mature behavior
  8. Exercise sound judgement
  9. Display the motivation to foster
  10. Reasonable and Prudent Parenting Standard
  11. Know how adoptive families are different
  12. Understand attachment and its importance in adoption
  13. Understand the need to anticipate challenges and be able to identify strategies for managing challenges as an adoptive family
  14. Understand that adoption means making a lifelong commitment to a child

Summary of Training:

Include dates and hours of all training courses

Summary of References:

  1. Highway Patrol (arrests and convictions; consider relevance to additional child-caring responsibilities)
  2. CA/N Central Registry, Family Support Division (FSD) (consider relevance to additional child-caring responsibilities)
  3. Documentation of CaseNet review
  4. Family Care Safety Registry Report
  5. Personal
  6. Employment
  7. School

A Summary of written reports were provided to the prospective adoptive parent(s), court, and guardian ad litem per RSMo 453.026:  Yes _____   No______

Recommendation:

Signature of Worker and Date Signed:

Approval of Supervisor Including Signature and Date: 

Signature of Adoptive Parent(s) and Date Signed:

NOTE: Send written notification to family at any time family assessment is removed from active status; inform them of fair hearing process. This should be accompanied by personal contact.

Chapter Memoranda History: (prior to 01-31-07)

CS03-05, CS03-51, CD04-05, CD04-79, CD05-80, CD06-29, CD06-46, CD06-60

Memoranda History:

CD12-84, CD17-42