DCF Family Assessment And Action Planning Policy 201701

dcf family assessment and action planning policy # 2017-01 summary & comments i. dcf’s new policy regarding family assessment a

DCF Family Assessment and Action Planning Policy # 2017-01
Summary & Comments
I.
DCF’s new policy regarding family assessment and action planning.
The Massachusetts Department and Children and Family Services (DCF)
has a new policy directing social workers how to conduct clinical
assessments and create “action plans.” The policy went into effect on
February 6, 2017 and replaces DCF’s “Assessment Policy # 85-011” and
“Service Planning and Referral Policy # 97-003.” As part of the new
policy, the term “action plans” will replace “service plans.”
II.
Intent of policy.
The stated purpose of this policy is to help DCF determine what
families must stay involved with the state agency and how to best meet
the “safety, permanency and well-being needs of each child.” Each
action plan should clearly identify: (1) the desired behavioral
changes; and (2) the period of time those changes must exist in order
for the clinical case to close. (pg. 3). These measurements are
designed to help social workers know when the clinical case is
complete. (pg. 3).
Throughout this policy, DCF’s focus is on the impact on the child from
various clinical concerns--not the presence of those issues in and of
themselves. “The goal of the assessment and subsequent planning with
the family is to understand and provide services to address the impact
that substance use/misuse, trauma, mental/behavioral health challenges
and domestic violence have on the [parent’s] ability to provide for
the child’s safety, permanency, and well-being.” (pg. 32-33).
III.
New landscape of assessment and action planning.
The new assessment and action planning policy creates a framework from
which DCF social workers should be working with families. It lays out
the Department’s desired goals and outcomes. A few are highlighted
below.
Under the new policy, what should DCF social workers do to gather
information in the assessment process?
Social workers should be meeting face-to-face with the families and
children during the assessment, at least twice in the home. (pg. 11).
The social workers will use the assessment tools appended to the
policy to interview family members and identify the family’s areas of
needs.1 According to the policy, parents will be given a score of 1-5
based on their level of need in each area. DCF must also contact
collaterals for assessment information. Attorneys for parents and
children will want to provide contact information for positive
collaterals or possibly submit letters of support to better fill out
the family’s assessment and to document the family’s participation in
services. (see pg. 11).
However, it is important to note that social workers should only be
contacting collateral resources during the assessment if the family
signs a release permitting DCF to do so. (pg. 12). Parents and
attorneys should also be aware that social workers will document “if
the family is not willing to sign releases.” Limiting releases will
enable your client to cooperate with the assessment process but also
protect their confidential and privileged communications. (pg. 12).
Attorneys should provide collaterals with clear written instructions
about what the client has or has not authorized them to discuss. It is
also good practice to interview any collateral in order to understand
the information that they will provide—and to explain any limitations
your client is making to their communications—before signing releases
for DCF social workers.
Practice Tip: Advising Clients on DCF Social Media Searches
As part of DCF’s initial response, assessment, and during their
ongoing case, social workers are now supposed to conduct internet
searches to obtain information. (See pg. 11). DCF social workers will
be searching through our client’s social media and other online
sources throughout the life of their case. For this reason, attorneys
representing parents and children will need to advise their clients on
whether to use social media and if so, how to do so in a way that
won’t negatively impact their case.
The policy also requires the assessment social worker to confer with
the previous social worker and review any previous DCF case
information. (pg. 10). Along with their own internal DCF history
check, social workers will be doing mandatory criminal record (CORI)
checks for adults in the home and inquiries at local police
departments about police responses to the house. Social workers will
reach out to other state child welfare agencies if there is a reason
to believe that the family may have been involved with another state’s
agency. (pgs. 10-11). DCF social workers should also be formally
reviewing the family’s progress on an ongoing basis. It will remain
good practice for attorneys to provide social workers with ongoing
information of a client’s growth and progress throughout the case.
(pg. 9).
How is DCF making its clinical assessment about the strengths and
weaknesses of the family?
In Appendixes A and B of the new policy, DCF outlines exactly what
clinical factors the agency is taking into consideration when
assessing families and directs what types of questions the social
workers should ask. The tools also tell us what specific areas of
focus the social workers are evaluating. The list is wide-ranging.
Social workers will be delving into many topics including things like:
the parent’s ability to understand the child’s needs, a parent’s
ability to provide safety, whether parents can manage conflict, or if
they can provide developmentally appropriate supervision. (See pg. 14,
20-38). It is therefore important for attorneys to read these
appendixes. Becoming familiar with DCF’s assessment tools will help us
to provide the appropriate information to the social workers but also
help parents find resources that allow for growth in those areas.
These tools can be used to prepare clients for social worker
interviews. The assessment tools may also be used to develop social
worker cross examination on things like information they did or did
not gather or the reasonableness of their assessment.
There will be times where attorneys may wish to challenge the use of
some parts of the clinical assessment tools. For example, the clinical
assessment tools suggest questions about a parent’s “adequate,
sustainable financial resources to meet the needs of the child and
family.” (pg. 25). Attorneys need to be diligent to ensure that social
workers are not faulting a parent because they are poor. Or, attorneys
may wish to deter the unfair use of the interview models, such as any
questioning of a child in a way that is leading or reinforces
coaching. (see e.g. “Does a young child understand concepts of good
and bad touch?”)(pg. 26). To correct these issues during a family
assessment, attorneys may want to be present during interviews,
instruct the social workers if certain questions are off-limits, or
simply explain to DCF why you are concerned about certain aspects of
the assessment. Having those types of conversations up front during
the assessment can help shape the tenor of the case. If you are
appointed to represent a parent after the assessment has been made,
motions in limine might be warranted to exclude information gained
from erroneous or unreliable assessment techniques.
Also, attorneys should be aware of opportunities in the assessment
policy for social workers to confuse the child’s emotional response
from the trauma of removal with possible signs of abuse or neglect.
(see pg. 36)(identifying behaviors of children exposed to violence).2
Correcting those misconceptions about the source of a child’s trauma
might be an important advocacy point.
Social workers are also asked to observe parents and look for how a
parent’s “physical appearance raises concerns about the child’s safety
and well-being” and whether parents seem “disengaged, numb, or
enraged.” (pg. 33). This is another time where assessment social
workers may confuse a parent’s normal emotional response caused by the
state’s removal of their child with a sign of poor parental capacity.
Additionally, a social worker’s implicit bias can affect the way in
which they perceive our client’s appearance, behaviors or responses.
As advocates, we should be looking for a social worker’s bias—or
preconceived opinions--due to our client’s personal, cultural,
religious and ethnic background during the assessment process and then
challenging those biases. DCF should be held to their position that
“families are diverse and have the right to be respected for their
cultural practices, norms, attitudes and beliefs.” (pg. 3).
How long will the assessment take?
In the past, these comprehensive initial assessments have commonly
been called the 45-day assessment because 110 CMR 5.03 requires the
full assessment to be done within “45 days after the initial contact
event/case opening.” However, the new policy requires that the full
assessment and action plan be done within 60 working days after DCF
assigns the case. (pg. 8). Because DCF is in the process of rewriting
its regulations, it is expected that the new regulations will reflect
this 60 day time frame, as well. This means that the whole assessment
process could take much longer. The extended time frame is problematic
because under this policy, the assessment will not be done before the
6 week clinical review meeting. This seems at odds with the policy’s
intent to revise the action plan at the six week placement review.
(pg. 17; see infra pg. 5). Depending on your cases, attorneys may be
advocating for an expedited assessment process. At any case, the
social worker should not wait until the assessment is complete to
initiate services. (pg. 8).
How should DCF address parents or children who have special needs or a
disability in their assessment?
Social workers should be actively identifying the parents’ or
children’s disabilities and what “natural supports” are in place that
may help the family. (pg. 26; see pg. 33, where social workers are
asked to consider how a parent’s disability contributes to their
presentation or raises a concern).
Similarly, attorneys can hire experts to assess a client’s parental
functioning and independently evaluate the conclusions reached by DCF
social workers. Attorneys can provide this information on an ongoing
basis. Doing so will also ensure that the action plans are designed to
accommodate our clients’ needs and also are being developed and
communicated in a way that takes their needs into consideration.
What if new information comes out during the assessment process?
There is an opportunity for the assessment social workers to review
the original response decision to support or substantiate the
allegations in a 51A report. (pg. 14). If during the assessment,
social workers are presented with information that would change
whether to support the original 51A report, the area office can
conduct a review and overturn that initial decision. (pg. 14). This
makes it especially important for attorneys to present exculpatory
information to assessment social workers.
How should action plans be created?
The assessment process and action planning process should go
hand-in-hand. A well informed assessment helps the social workers, and
the family, design the best action plan.
Action planning should indeed be a collaborative process with the
family. (e.g. pg. 20, Appendix A) (“Family Assessment and Action
planning is an integrated and dynamic process of gathering and
analyzing information over time, and developing and refining Action
plans WITH the family to address identified concerns. . . ..”)
(emphasis in the original). Planning should continue to be strength
based, trauma informed and culturally sensitive. (pg. 20).
Practice Tip: Meeting the Needs of Linguistic Minorities
DCF should arrange for the family assessment and action planning to
“be conducted in the family’s preferred language using staff and
contracted translation services, as available.” (pg. 9). If you have a
client whom DCF cannot accommodate with an interpreter, you can
request that DCF contract with the appropriate translation services.
Ensuring our client’s ability to understand what is being said to them
or what they are signing is an important part of our advocacy.
Also, if you have a client whose whereabouts are unknown, and
therefore unable to participate in the process, you can consider
asking DCF to abide by their “missing parent/caregiver checklist.”
This checklist is attached as an addendum to the new policy and allows
social workers to access statewide databases. This request to search
for missing parents may be something that a child’s attorney will
make.
When will action plans be made?
An action plan will be created at the beginning of each case and
throughout the case as circumstances change. If there is an emergency
or the child is removed, social workers will create an “interim plan,”
formerly called the “emergency service plan.” (pg. 16) From there, the
social workers will do the more thorough initial assessment to create
a longer term action plan for the family.
The action plans will be updated as need-be but no less than every 6
months. (pg. 17). Also, an update will occur when significant changes
to the family happen (e.g. birth, death, divorce, or the family
becoming homeless). (pg. 18). The assessment, and therefore the
planning, should be an ongoing process. Keeping social workers
informed about a parent’s success, growth and service compliance will
be important. Additionally, identifying “observable changes” in
parental competency is highlighted throughout the policy so a parent
will need an opportunity to demonstrate those observable changes. (See
e.g. pgs. 3, 7, 14, 15). Opportunity for quality visitation may be
necessary for parents to demonstrate changes.
Also, the action plan can be updated after formal clinical reviews and
when recommendations flow from those meetings. (pg. 17). For example,
an updated action plan might be made after the 6 week placement
meeting, which is a clinical review that happens at the DCF office.
The 6 week placement meeting is an important opportunity for the
family to come together with the social workers and collaterals to
talk about the child’s needs and other important factors. It is also
is a chance to ensure that the action plan is addressing the actual
reasons why the child came into foster care. Recommendations are made
that can be incorporated into the action plan. Counsel can be present
for that meeting. Similarly, the recommendations made at the court
permanency hearing or the foster care review can also be incorporated
into the action plan.
What should be included in the action plan?
Action plans are intended to identify areas of focus, observable
changes, actions/tasks/services/supports, and “placement required
information” like visitation plans. (pg. 15). The areas of highest
need are to be identified and given first attention in the action
planning. (pg. 14). The assessment should make clear what areas of
change the family and DCF should prioritize to safely reunify the
family and this should be reflected in the action plan to “keep
families from becoming overwhelmed.” (pg. 31). The social workers are
expected to take a holistic approach that develops the most “effective
interventions, services and supports to meet the child and family’s
needs.” Moreover, the action plan must “address with specifically
tailored tasks, services and supports and the desired observable
changes to be achieved.” (pg. 30-31).
Action plans should therefore not be one-size-fits-all but should be
tailored to address the specific needs of each family. When areas of
change are achieved, DCF should not unreasonably add new tasks or move
the goal posts. Not every issue requires attention by DCF. For
example, it is noted that mental health problems are common and often
parents can get better (pg. 34) and not every domestic violence case
requires state intervention. (pg. 35). Holding DCF to those policy
points may be part of our advocacy.
Indeed, even if DCF’s permanency goal for the child becomes adoption,
DCF still must make reasonable efforts towards “concurrent planning.”
(pg. 7). Concurrent planning is when ongoing DCF staff “continue to
work with the parents and extended family on clinical issues relating
to reunification” and, concurrently, the adoption social worker works
with the child and pre-adoptive family on clinical issues relating to
adoption. (See DCF Permanency Planning Policy # 2013-01)(addressing
newborn concurrent planning).
There is also significant clinical and personal information related to
the child that should be included in each action plan. These
requirements are to ensure that individualized, child-specific factors
were adequately considered in the planning. For example, if the child
is in placement, DCF must consider the child’s racial and cultural
identity, whether the child is in their school of origin, and the
plans around visitation. (pg. 7). In its action plan, DCF must also
detail the child’s Indian tribal affiliation or ICWA status. (pg. 7).
Are their special considerations for older youth?
Under federal law, a child over 14 should be part of the team that is
developing their case plan and the child should be permitted to choose
up to two adults to join them in doing so. (See Preventing Sex
Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, P.L. 113-183 (2014)). A
child client can name you, their lawyer, as their advisor during their
own case planning meetings. The focus for older youth, over 14, may
also include integrating information from the Youth Readiness
Assessment that is meant to promote the development of life skills.
(pg. 7). For young adults, the new DCF policy promotes efforts towards
helping youth create relationships with caring adults and preparing
youth for adulthood. (pg. 3). Action planning for young adults should
not include parents except to the extent that the young adult wants
them included. (pg. 17).
How should action plans be used to maintain family relationships?
Dovetailing with existing state and federal law, DCF must try to
locate kinship resources for children. (pg. 7). If they cannot, social
workers should explain in the action plan why children are not placed
with kin and detail what efforts were made to try to find
family—specifically including what letters were sent and where. (pg.
7). This lines up with MGL c. 119 sec. 23(c). Also under that statute,
DCF must place siblings together in the same foster home unless it is
for some reason not in their best interest to do so. In the action
plan, social workers must explain why siblings are not placed
together, if they are not, and they must include a written sibling
visitation schedule. (pgs. 7, 16). Moreover, a grandparent visitation
schedule and also a visitation schedule for other kin (if relevant)
must be in the action plan. (pg. 16). Under the new policy, kin can
include any adult that is important to the child, not just family
members. If the action plan does not contain this information, you can
consider advocating to DCF in writing or through a motion to the
court, seeking that DCF create an action plan that conforms to its own
regulations & policy.3
Regardless of its permanency goal for the child, DCF should not
prevent a child from maintaining their connection to important people
like parents, siblings, grandparents and kin. (pg. 6). If DCF’s goal
is still reunification, the policy says DCF expects parents will
“maintain regular and frequent contact with their child and
involvement in their child’s educational, physical/mental health and
social activities.” (pg. 6). Parents should be provided the
opportunity to do so.
Practice Tip:
Securing Parent’s Involvement in Child’s Activities, Meetings &
Appointments
In both the DCF permanency policy (DCF Policy # 2013-01 pg. 27) and
this new assessment and action planning policy, DCF recognizes that
parents should remain involved in their child’s education, health and
activities. (pg. 6). As attorneys, we should be making formal written
requests for social workers to notify our clients of such appointments
and activities and also permit them to attend. This can include
permission to attend school meetings, doctor’s appointments, a child’s
services or extra-curricular activities. If a parent is unreasonably
being denied the opportunity to remain involved in their child’s
activities and appointments, attorneys can file motions to challenge a
social worker’s refusal to comply with DCF’s own policies.
Moreover, DCF should include complete parent-child visitation plans,
detailing a specific schedule that involves other forms of contact
like telephone calls and letters, in each action plan. (pg. 16). While
the policy specifically identifies phone calls and letters, parents
can certainly request other types of contact like Skype or email, as
well.
The new policy also focuses on the importance of preserving a child’s
cultural and racial ties. (pgs. 3, 7, 13). If you have a case where
you are seeking a kinship foster care placement—or even third party
custody to a family member—the new policy is a helpful reference. It
notes that “[t]he kinship family reinforces the child’s racial,
ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious heritage and strengthens
and promotes continuity of familial relationships and will establish
permanency for the child.” (pg. 7).
How should action plans be used to provide tailored and appropriate
services?
DCF must assist the family in obtaining
“Actions/Tasks/Services/Support.” This can come by way of contracts
with private provider agencies or through DCF’s resources. DCF social
workers can also refer families directly to providers that are not
contracted with the agency. (pg. 8). The referrals should be made as
soon as possible, but certainly within 10 days of the service need
having been identified. (pgs. 8 and 12). The social worker should not
wait until the assessment is complete to initiate services. (pg. 8).
According to the new policy, DCF should also consult with internal
specialists when appropriate. DCF specialists include: substance use,
domestic violence, mental health, health care, housing or others. If
it is helpful to your case, you may be advocating for a clinical
consultation to be included in the action plan in order to hone in on
the best types of services for your client’s family. (pg. 9).
If a termination of parental rights decision is appealed, DCF will
meet and decide whether to keep the clinical case open and whether to
keep providing services to the family. An attorney may be advocating
for continued services pending the appeal, depending on the case. (pg.
19) .
If DCF is having trouble identifying or locating services to
accommodate your client due to a disability or a language issue, the
social worker should be consulting with a manager at the area office.
(p. 18). This could trigger the convening of an area clinical review
team. (p. 18). Attorneys who have clients—children or parents—with a
disability, will need to be vigilant to ensure that the services
provided by DCF accommodate their family’s needs. The social workers’
efforts to identify services that accommodate parents and children
should also comport with requirements in the Americans with
Disabilities Act, DCF’s own regulations, and state case law.
DCF’s new policy also calls for a clinical meeting between supervisors
and staff to identify reasonable casework in special circumstances.
Attorneys will need to be watchful about how DCF determines what
“reasonable casework activities are necessary” when certain factors
exist, like the parent is incarcerated. (pg. 9).
How should the action plans be signed?
As noted above, action plans should be created in collaboration with
the family. Once the action plan is approved by the supervisor, the
supervisor and social worker must sign the plan. (pg. 15). The new
policy requires social workers to review the action plan with the
family within 30 days, or at their next home visit. (pg. 15).
The parents, and children over 14, can make comments noting any
disagreements before signing the action plan. (pg. 15). If a family
disagrees with DCF’s descriptions of the family’s needs, for example,
those disagreements should be noted in writing on the action plan.
(pg. 15). At that point, if the parents or child over 14 is only in
partial agreement with the plan, they may sign the agreement to show
they have reviewed the action plan but should also exercise their
ability to note any disagreements. There is no limit as to how much
the parent can write as comments and they can even attach typed pages.
If the parent or child over 14 is unwilling to sign the action plan,
the social worker will write down in the comment section why the
signature is missing and document the date in which the action plan
was presented. (pg. 15).
Practice Tip: Relying on the Original Action plan
DCF should provide the family with the entire signed action plan—not
just the typed version in their Family Net system that omits all of
the handwritten comments and signatures. (See pg. 16). It is this
actual signed version of the action plan that should be treated as the
original and provided to the court or collaterals. Parents and
children should request copies of the signed original action plan as
soon as it is submitted.
What if the parent or child disagrees with the terms presented in an
action plan?
DCF social workers should be engaging with families directly to try to
resolve any disputes about the action plans. (pg. 15). If an open
consumer disagrees with the services that are to be offered or any
part of the action plan, that person can seek review through the DCF
grievance policy or through a fair hearing. (see 110 CMR 5.15).
Grounds for a fair hearing can include if DCF suspends, reduces or
terminates a service, or if DCF violates any of its regulations
resulting in prejudice to your client.
Given the mandates under the new policy around what needs to be in a
family’s action plan, a parent might seek administrative review of
visitation plans, placements, school choice decisions, and other
action planning requirements. (pg. 15). Indeed, the new policy
requires all sorts of things to be included in the action plan that we
may potentially challenge through the grievance process, a fair
hearing, or in the courts. In court, for example, you may be seeking
for an order directing DCF to create an action plan that comports with
their regulations and policy. These challenges could include:
*
Whether there are complete visitation plans for children in
out-of-home placement and their families, including parents,
siblings, grandparents and kin
*
Appropriate Actions/Tasks/Services/Supports
*
Steps taken by the social workers to identify kinship or sibling
placements and to whom written notice was sent
*
Whether the school aged children will go to their school of origin
and what options were considered to support the child’s
educational best interests
1 Certain portions of the assessment tools recommend interview
questions that ask people to provide information that can be used
against them in a criminal investigation. For example, they may be
asked to give “information about any pattern of criminal offenses
associated with domestic violence.” (pg. 35). Attorneys should be
advising clients how or whether to answer such questions.
2 Later, the policy acknowledges that there is greater risk for
children who have adverse life experiences and DCF includes separation
from their family and placement instability as examples of adversity
that children face. (pg. 37).
3 Similarly, DCF should be ensuring that the child has supports in
their home to ensure progress academically. (pg. 29). If DCF is
failing to ensure such supports, an attorney can advocate for DCF to
comply with its own planning policy.
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