CHILD WELFARE MANUAL

6.9.3  Suggested Outline For Child’s Summary:

1.  Identifying Data: Name, birth date, race, sex, religion
2. Child’s Personality and History:
   1. Appearance: Height, weight, coloring, facial and body characteristics. Be specific about unusual characteristics;
   2. Current emotional adjustment: Current generalized emotional responses; i.e., crying, or contented, demanding, exploring, passive;
   3. Child’s life experience;
      • Describe child’s life experience in his/her natural home, including description of abuse and neglect.
      • Describe child’s life experience outside his own home if placed in out-of-home care. Include the age of the child at placement, child’s reaction to separation from parents, significant happenings with each out-of-home care placement, reason for changes, child’s reaction to change.
      • School progress.
   4. Child’s understanding, if appropriate to age, of reasons for placements;
   5. Present living situation of the child;
   6. Inter-relationships with people:
      • Attitudes of others to child: Birth parents, foster or adoptive family, children in the home or institution, Children’s Services Workers, playmates outside home, teachers, etc.
      • Attitudes of child to parents and others who have provided care.
      • Relationship with siblings, if applicable.
      • Relationships, if any, with intended family in receiving county.

3.  Development History:

1. Prenatal, including mother’s physical and emotional health during pregnancy;
2. Mother’s medical care during pregnancy; serology results and treatment, if administered;
3. Father’s health history;
4. Details of delivery and neonatal history;
5. Health history, including current medical information;
6. Illnesses and hospitalizations; diagnosis and treatment; age at onset, duration, prognosis;
7. Growth and development;
8. Professional observations of development. (Include results of psychological test, if done and school reports.)

4.  Natural Family:

1. Composition of family;
2. Mother: Age at delivery, physical appearance, religion, physical and mental health, (discuss in detail if significant for child’s placement and future adjustment) general personality, including interests and talents; observation of adequacy of mother’s functioning with reasons for this; school and employment history;
3. Father: (Same as mother);
4. Siblings of child, if any, and extended family (Significant information affecting the child’s placement and future adjustment.);
5. Child’s legal status;
6. Court of jurisdiction and date court assumed jurisdiction;
7. Date(s) of termination of parental rights and/or legal/putative parents consented to adoption; and
8. Present permanency plan including date of last administrative review and recommendation.

5.  Evaluation of child’s present needs and type of home desired for the child. Reason for desired placement in another county.