February 25, 2008

Standard: Contact Between the Social Worker/Clinician, the Child, the Family and Resource Parent(s) or Other Alternate Care Providers

Contact between children and guardians should be used to continually assess the child's safety and to review the family's progress towards achieving the desired results of case plans. Regular contact between the social worker/clinician and the child's parents can serve as motivation for parents to make progress on their case goals and provides a means of supporting their efforts. Frequent contact allows the social worker/clinician to continually assess the resource family's ongoing needs and to provide additional supports that will enhance the stability of placements for children.

This report provides direction and guidance to the Children and Family Services (CFS) program regarding frequency and purpose of contact between the social worker, the child, the parent/caregiver, and resource parent(s) or other alternate care providers. The purpose is to achieve statewide consistency in the development and application of CFS core services and be implemented in the context of all applicable laws, rules and policies. It also provides a measurement for program accountability.