3371 Reasonable Efforts

 

The primary goal of DCF and the Adoption and Safe Families Act (AFSA) is the safety of the child.

 

1. Reasonable efforts shall be made to prevent the removal of the child from the home. The legal documents (journal entries), prepared by the court, must articulate reasonable efforts the agency made to keep the child at home or demonstrate an emergency existed, and the child's safety was in jeopardy, requiring out of home placement.

While it is the court's responsibility to document these efforts, it is the responsibility of the Child Welfare Case Management Provider to provide the court with documentation of all efforts made to keep the child at home.

 

Reasonable efforts need to be taken into consideration when determining case plan objectives. It is important to be aware of services that have already been implemented as well as services that may yet be needed.

 

Services to the family which are used to document reasonable efforts include but are not limited to:

 

1. Referral to DCF Family Services;
2. Referral to other community resource agencies (i.e. clothing/food banks, day care centers, churches, and counseling centers, etc);
3. Referral to services provided by the school system;
4. Referral to the Family Preservation Case Management Provider.

The court shall document this finding at a permanency hearing and a copy of the documentation placed in the case record.   Reasonable efforts to return the child to his/her home continue until at the court permanency hearing find reasonable efforts are not needed.  The court shall document this finding in writing and a copy of the written documentation must be in the case record.

 

2. Efforts to Return Child Home

In those situations where a child has been removed from his/her home, the Child Welfare Case Management Provider is responsible for the provision of services to facilitate reintegration.  The decision to recommend reintegration is a decision made by and communicated to the court.  The primary factors in this decision are the safety and well-being of the child.  Demonstrating reasonable efforts to return a child home when there is a concurrent plan is especially important.

 

During the time the child is in out of home placement, the Child Welfare Case Management Provider shall ensure the family receives services to address the concerns, which resulted in out of home placement. Identification of these services shall take place during all case planning conferences. The Case Management Provider shall continually monitor the effectiveness of these services.

 

In the case of divorced or unmarried parents, the child is considered "reunified" when he/she is placed with either parent, regardless of the home of removal.

 

The family shall receive adequate follow-up services from the Child Welfare Case Management Provider during the six months aftercare period following the child's return home.

 

Services to the family and/or child, which facilitate reintegration, include but are not limited to:

 

1. Assistance in building a family support network;
2. Family counseling/therapy;
3. Assistance in accessing school resources;
4. Parenting Classes;
5. Referral to Drug/Alcohol Treatment;
6. Individual Therapy;
7. In Home Services;
8. Budgeting instruction;
9. Employment services;
10. Housing assistance;
11. Assistance in accessing all applicable community resources;
12. Assistance with transportation and in developing the family's transportation resources;
13. Development of a safety plan at reintegration;
14. Development of a crisis intervention plan.

All of these efforts shall be documented in detail in the case record and reported to the court.  The court shall determine if the child may be safely reintegrated and document all such efforts in journal entries.  If the court finds reasonable efforts have not been made, the CWCMP shall notify the DCF Regional Director, PPS Program Administrator and DCF Regional Attorney the same business day of the finding.

 

Reasonable efforts to ensure the child's safety at the time of reintegration and during the Child Welfare Case Management Provider aftercare period shall be documented in the case file and the PPS 3051, Permanency Objectives. The case plan shall be attached to the PPS 3003, Report to the Court.  Other documentation includes any special reports prepared by the Child Welfare Case Management Provider, case logs, and schools reports/records, resource parent logs/reports, therapist reports, etc.

 

If a determination is made that the reintegration efforts have not been successful, the Child Welfare Contract Management Provider shall submit a report to the court recommending termination of parental rights.  The court shall document these reasonable efforts in the journal entries.

 

3. Conditions When Reasonable Efforts are not Required

Both ASFA and the Kansas Code for the Care of Children clarify that child safety is paramount and efforts to maintain a child at home or reintegrate the child are not required when:

 

1. A parent has been convicted of murder of any child;
2. A parent has aided, abetted, attempted, conspired or solicited the murder of any child;
3. A parent has been convicted of a felony battery that resulted in bodily injury to any child;
4. A parent has subjected any child to abandonment, torture, chronic abuse, sexual abuse, or chronic life threatening neglect;
5. Parental rights to any child have been involuntarily terminated; or
6. The child has been in out-of-home placement for 15 of the last 22 months.

When the child is in DCF custody and placed out of the home for 12 continuous months, or 15 of the last 22 months, a Permanency Plan Desk Review (PPS 3056) shall be completed and consideration shall be given to the termination of parental rights. Unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary, it is expected the Child Welfare Case Management Provider shall pursue termination of parental rights.