CHILD WELFARE MANUAL

Section 6, Chapter 7 (Children’s Division’s Appeal Processes), Subsection 3, – (Alternative Care Board Grievance Process Guidelines)

7.3 Alternative Care Board Grievance Process Guidelines

The Circuit Manager/designee, Regional Director/Designee and the Alternative Care Review Board (ACRB) will use the following guidelines to determine whether or not the Division’s child management decision should be upheld or reversed:

  1. The child management decision and rationale for making same is documented clearly and concisely in the child’s Alternative Care or the Foster/Relative/Adoptive Parent case record and includes a reference, where appropriate, to the statue, regulations, policy and/or procedure(s) which prompted the decision;
  2. The health and well-being of the child with regard to the decision is clearly and concisely documented;
  3. When appropriate, verbal and physical evidence supporting the Division’s child management decision is clearly and concisely documented;
  4. The Alternative Care parents evidence and statements are clearly documented and reviewed;
  5. The decision is in the best interest of the child.

These guidelines are not all-inclusive. The reviewer(s) should also consider Division policy and procedures, the Child Abuse Law Chapter 210 RSMo if applicable, and use his/her best professional judgment in reviewing the child management issue.