chapter 10 – adoption and permanency policy cat...

Chapter 10 – Adoption and Permanency Policy CAT Slides

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Slide 1 - Welcome

Audio Script:

Welcome to the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) online training session. This session will provide you with an overview of the eleven sections of Chapter 10, Adoption/Permanency chapter of the DCS Child Welfare Policy Manual. This training is intended to provide a high level overview of the sections covered. Therefore, it will be important for you to read all of the chapter policies in their entirety.


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Slide 2 - 10.1-0 - Planning for an Adoption

Audio Script:

Chapter 10 Section 1, Planning for an Adoption is an overview of how and when DCS needs to plan for an adoption.


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Audio Script:

DCS will begin the process of adoption planning for all children that are in out-of-home care when either TPR has been filed, six months after the dispositional decree, or when a court finds that there is an exception to the requirement to make reasonable efforts to reunify with the family.


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Audio Script:

DCS will have a Child and Family Team Meeting or a case conference to discuss the need to change the permanency plan and to identify any needed services. Due to federal law, DCS will not delay or deny the adoptive placement of a child based on race, color, or national origin of the adoptive resource family or the child involved. Any child that is in out-of-home care and has a permanency plan of adoption will receive preadoptive services if it is age appropriate, to prepare the child for adoption. Every child with a permanency plan of adoption has a thorough search to locate potential adoptive families.


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Slide 5 - 10.2-0 - Assessing the Child's Readiness for Adoption

Audio Script:

In Chapter 10 Section 2, we will present some of the ways that DCS can assess the readiness of the child for adoption.


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Audio Script:

In order to determine the child’s readiness for adoption, DCS needs to review the child’s case records including the birth family history. DCS will interview the child, if age appropriate and anyone that the child has had a significant relationship including siblings, resource parents, and professionals. Additionally, DCS will use the Child and Family Team Meeting or the case plan conference to assess the child’s readiness for adoption and to develop a plan for the child. DCS will also ensure that all children that have a permanency plan of adoption have an opportunity to have a Lifebook completed.


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Audio Script:

A Lifebook is a good way for the child to prepare for adoption. The process of creating a Lifebook can be therapeutic and help the child to address the core issues of the child’s life. Lifebooks can contain photographs of the child, people and places that were significant to the child prior to placement, items related to school and extracurricular activities, positive messages to the child from important adults (including but not limited to birth parents and resource parents), and short summaries of significant events that have occurred in the child’s life. It is very important to note that Lifebooks are property of the child. Resource parents are encouraged to create their own scrapbook if they wish.


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Slide 8 - 10.3-0 - Preparing the Child for Adoption

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Chapter 10 Section 3, Preparing the Child for Adoption. DCS will work to the best extent possible to prepare a child for adoption.


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Audio Script:

DCS will utilize techniques such as one on one discussions, discussions with other adopted children, and ensuring that the child creates a Lifebook. DCS will seek input and participation from other adults that are important to the child to help prepare the child for adoption. During this process of preparing the child for adoption, it is imperative that DCS document the process in the child’s case file and in ICWIS.


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Audio Script:

DCS will inform any child over the age of 14 that written consent must be obtained from the child for the adoption to be completed.


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Slide 11 - 10.4-0 - Resource Parent's Role

Audio Script:

Resource parents are an important adult in the child’s life. This section addresses the role of the resource parent in preparing the child for adoption.


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Slide 12 - 10.4-1 - Resource Parent's Role

Audio Script:

DCS will partner with the resource parents to help prepare the child for the adoption process. Discuss with the resource parents if they would like to pursue adoption of the child. Support the resource parents’ decision to pursue adoption if DCS agrees that it is in the best interest of the child. DCS will communicate with and include the resource parents in the planning and implementation of the adoptive placement process regardless if they wish to pursue adoption or not.


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Slide 13 - 10.5-0 - Sibling Placements

Audio Script:

The bond between siblings is often the longest lasting relationship most people have. Bonds amongst siblings in placements are extremely beneficial because siblings are less likely to feel isolated and they share experiences and familiar family history. Children need to integrate their past with their future in order to have continuity, as well as understanding of their own identity. In chapter 10 section five, sibling placements are discussed.


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Audio Script:

DCS will to the extent possible attempt to place a sibling group in the same adoptive home including any additional siblings that are taken into care on a later date and siblings of a child in a previously finalized adoption that becomes free.


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Audio Script:

The only exceptions for not placing siblings together is because there are documented reasons from a professional why placement together would not be in the best interest of one or more of the children and why it cannot be rectified. Another exception is if a court orders the separation of the siblings. Lastly, if one of the children is placed in a residential facility, hospital, or juvenile detention center, DCS will not attempt to place the siblings together. DCS will make certain that any siblings that are not placed together will have face to face contact within five days of removal, unless one of the children are placed in a residential placement, hospital, or juvenile detention center.


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Audio Script:

The following reasons are Unacceptable for not placing siblings together,

Because the children are in separate resource homes;

Due to sibling rivalry;

Because there is a lack of homes willing to accommodate large sibling groups; or

Because treatment has not been sought after for one or more of the children that have perpetrated on a sibling.


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Slide 17 - 10.6-0 - Recruitment of Adoptive Families

Audio Script:

DCS will utilize SNAP services to assist with finding an adoptive family for every child who meets SNAP eligibility requirements. Chapter 10 Section 6 discusses what DCS needs to do in order to refer a child to the Special Needs Adoption Program or SNAP.


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Slide 18 - 10.6-1 - Recruitment of Adoptive Families

Audio Script:

SNAP is available to any child that is two years or older, or any child that is a member of a sibling group of two or more children that must be placed together with the sibling group in the same home. It is important to note that at least one of the children in the sibling group must be two years of age or older.


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Slide 19 - 10.7-0 - SNAP Services

Audio Script:

DCS will provide every child eligible for SNAP with adoption services. Chapter 10 Section 7 is an overview of the services that SNAP offers.


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Slide 20 - 10.7-1 - SNAP Services

Audio Script:

SNAP services include:

Registration with the Indiana Adoption Program

Posting the child’s information on the internet

Submitting the child’s information in the “Opening Hearts, Changing Lives” picture book

Interviewing families to determine the best adoptive family match for the child

Submitting the child's information for publication in “AdoptUSKids”, only if it is six months past TPR filing and no adoptive match have been made; and

Making referrals and coordinating the provision of pre and post adoptive services for the child and the adoptive family.


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Slide 21 - 10.8-0 - SNAP Team Meetings

Audio Script:

Chapter 10 Section 8, SNAP Team Meetings, is a brief overview of the Special Needs Adoption Program meetings.


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Audio Script:

SNAP team meetings are held once per month regionally. The SNAP team will review and recommend potential adoptive matches, review and approve home studies, and inform the SNAP team members of available children. The members of the team make their recommendations based on the best interest of the child.


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Audio Script:

Regional SNAP teams will consist of a SNAP specialist, DCS family case manager (the assigned FCM is recommended, but not required), FCM supervisor from each county in the region, licensed child placing agency case manager that is assigned to each available child, an experienced adoptive parent, and the DCS regional manager.


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Slide 24 - 10.9-0 - Preplacement Visits

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Chapter 10 Section 9 reviews preplacement visits between the child, the current caregiver, and the potential adoptive family.


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Slide 25 - 10.9-1 - Preplacement Visits

Audio Script:

Preplacement visits are a way to initiate the child’s integration into the adoptive family. These visits are an opportunity to diminish the child’s fears and worries of a new placement while encouraging the child to form new attachments. These visits can also help the child in the grieving process and making commitments for the future.


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Slide 26 - 10.10-0 - Resource Parent Adoption

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Chapter 10 Section 10 establishes guidelines for considering requests by resource parents to adopt a child in their care.


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Slide 27 - 10.10-1 - Resource Parent Adoption

Audio Script:

DCS will consider the requests of resource parents to adopt a child in their care if one of the following conditions exists:

Efforts to reunite the child with the parents have not been successful

Relative placement is not an option

The child has lived in resource home for 6 continuous months

Permanency option is adoption, and

A professional specializing in adoption has assessed that there is an emotional attachment between the child and the resource parents.


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Slide 28 - 10.11-0 - Child Social Summary

Audio Script:

DCS will provide the social summary to prospective adoptive parents as an effort to assure that the prospective adoptive parents are aware of and able to provide for the child’s needs. Chapter 10 Section 11 reviews the child social summary.


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Slide 29 - 10.11-1 - Child Social Summary

Audio Script:

DCS needs to complete a social summary for every child that is in out-of-home care with a permanency plan of adoption and for whom there are no adoptive families identified. Information for each social summary should include: reason for DCS involvement, family history, physical description, academic functioning, emotional functioning, personality, medical information, placement history, funding that is available, child’s attitude towards adoption, and an evaluation of child’s need in a home.


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Slide 30 – Congratulations!

Audio Script:

Congratulations! You have completed the Chapter 10 Adoption Computer Aided Training. If you have any addition questions regarding these policies, please contact your Supervisor, Director, or Regional Manager. You can also email policy directly at [email protected].

chapter 10 – adoption and permanency policy cat...

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