Case Management Services by the Adoption Program

 

PURPOSE:

To ensure that case management services for children under the care of the Adoption Program comply with all applicable requirements, including child specific case assessment, planning and evaluation.

1. At the time of a legal risk adoptive placement or if a foster family completes an Adoptive Family Assessment and is approved as an adoptive resource for their foster child, the adoption social worker will be assigned as a consultant to both the child’s case and the adoptive family’s case. As a consultant, the adoption social worker will receive a secondary assignment to the child’s case in WiSACWIS. The consultation role requires the adoption social worker to maintain contact monthly with the prospective adoptive family.
2. The purpose of these contacts is to develop a relationship with the family and to assist in identifying any specific needs of the family relating to the care of the child. If the family has been approved for adoption the consultant will develop a plan and time frames to address the needs of the prospective adoptive family using the Adoptive Family Support Plan. This plan is accessed through the Home Provider window in WiSACWIS. The effectiveness of this plan will be reviewed every six (6) months. Post TPR, the adoption social worker will receive the primary assignment to the child’s case in WiSACWIS.

1. As a case manager with the primary assignment to a case, the adoption social worker is responsible for completing all case management functions. This shall include maintaining complete case records, ensuring that children receive appropriate care in out of home placement, completing permanency plan requirements and completing the court work required to finalize the adoption.
2. If the child does not have a commitment number at the time the case is assigned to the worker, the adoption social worker will call the Central Adoption Records program at 608-266-0626 to obtain a commitment number. The adoption social worker will need to provide the names and date of birth of the birth parents, the date and county of the TPR.
3. The initial face to face contact by the adoption social worker with the child shall occur within five (5) working days of the case assignment. There must be a minimum of two face to face contacts monthly in the first two (2) months after assignment to the case. These contacts will provide for the safety of the child and provide services related to preparing the child for adoption. These required visits apply to a child in need of a new adoptive placement and a child in a foster home where a foster home conversion is planned.
4. After the initial two (2) months a minimum of one face to face contact shall occur each month.
5. The adoption social worker shall update the child’s permanency plan, accessed from the outliner or the Case>CaseWork>Planning window in WiSACWIS, within thirty (30) days of the child’s TPR. The permanency plan must be approved by the adoption social worker’s supervisor and submitted to the court.
6. The adoption social worker must complete an Adoption Case Plan, accessed from the Create>CaseWork>Adoption window in WiSACWIS, for the child within thirty (30) days of the child’s TPR. The Adoption Case Plan must be approved by the adoption social worker’s supervisor, and must include:

• Elements of any existing treatment plan developed by the previous case manager to ensure the success of the placement;
• Additional steps that are required to accomplish the permanency plan goal;
• Additional assessments and background records needed in order to determine the child’s needs;
• Additional services that are needed to assist the child and/or the adoptive family adjust to the adoptive placement;
• Steps taken and activities planned to prepare the child for adoption;
• Steps that will be taken to obtain copies of any required missing child records or legal documents, and;
• A copy of the revised permanency plan.

7. The adoption social worker shall evaluate the Adoption Case Plan every ninety (90) days. The plan evaluation will review each service type, the goal of the service and document the level of attainment of each goal. The outcome of the plan evaluation may vary with additions of new services and goals. This evaluation will be documented using the Adoption Case Plan Evaluation, accessed from the Create>CaseWork window in WiSACWIS, and must be approved by the adoption social worker’s supervisor.
8. It is the adoption social worker’s responsibility to ensure timely administrative and judicial review of the permanency plan. By selecting Create>CaseWork>Planning>Administrative Review in WiSACWIS, the adoption social worker is able to document the Permanency Plan Review meeting, send notifications to the meeting participants and document the meeting session.
9. The adoption social worker must ensure all new assessments of the child or new background information on the child obtained during an adoptive placement is provided to the prospective adoptive parents in writing.
10. If the adoption social worker believes that the child has been the subject of maltreatment, they shall immediately report the suspected maltreatment to the intake unit of the county social/human service department in the county where the maltreatment occurred. If the child is found to be unsafe by the investigation conducted by the county department, the adoption social worker must locate an alternative placement resource for the child. The adoption social worker shall cooperate with the social worker assigned to the investigation/assessment.
11. Excluding BMCW, if the child has been in the guardianship of DCF for two (2) years and is not in an adoptive placement, the adoption social worker shall initiate court action to transfer custody back to the county of TPR. This action is taken in connection with the request for a court review after the child has been in DCF guardianship for 23 months. If the child was in an adoptive placement at 23 months, but that placement subsequently disrupts or if that child is not yet adopted after an additional 12 months in DCF guardianship, the request will be initiated at that time. A private partner outside BMCW shall take appropriate steps to transfer guardianship roles to a BPP adoption social worker when the custody of the child and case management roles are returned to the county of TPR.
12. In BMCW, if adoption is no longer the permanency plan the adoption social worker must initiate actions to transfer the responsibility for case management to ongoing services within five (5) days of the court’s approval of the new plan. The case will be transferred to the site from which the child came, or to another site if the child has siblings and they may eventually be placed together. A case transfer staffing shall be held between the adoption social worker and the ongoing social worker before the ongoing social worker can assume the case management responsibilities for the child. By selecting Create>CaseWork>Administration>Case Transfer Staffing in WiSACWIS, the adoption social worker can document the Case Transfer Staffing meeting, send notifications to the meeting participants and document the meeting session results.
13. In BMCW, if a child has been in care for two (2) years or more and is not yet in an adoptive placement at the time of the plan evaluation, the adoption social worker must initiate actions to transfer responsibility for case management to the ongoing services site. This shall take place within five (5) days after completion of the Plan Evaluation.
14. Effort to seek an adoptive family resource for a child in the guardianship of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) shall continue even when case management responsibilities have been returned to an ongoing service worker in the TPR county. The adoption social worker will continue as a secondary worker to seek the adoptive placement and fulfill guardianship responsibilities.
15. If a decision is made in the Plan Evaluation that sustaining care, rather than adoption, is the most appropriate plan for a child and the child’s foster parents are willing to accept a sustaining care relationship, the adoption social worker must initiate efforts to have the court order sustaining care. When the court orders sustaining care, the adoption social worker shall arrange to transfer case management responsibilities to the ongoing service site in Milwaukee or the county of TPR in the remainder of the State of Wisconsin. A case transfer staffing shall be held between the adoption social worker and the ongoing services social worker before the ongoing services social worker can assume the case management responsibilities for the child. A private partner outside BMCW shall take appropriate steps to transfer guardianship to a BPP adoption social worker when custody of the child is returned to the county of TPR. The adoption social worker will provide guardianship responsibilities (such as approval of military service, marriage, driver’s license or emergency medical care) and also adoption services if the sustaining care family subsequently becomes interested in adopting the child.
16. If a child, that is legally free for adoption, is placed for temporary care in a residential care facility, group home, or a treatment foster home with a permanency plan for adoption after placement, the case management responsibilities shall remain with the Adoption Program. If after nine (9) months in one of these placements the child is not ready to move into an adoptive placement the adoption social worker shall take appropriate steps to transfer the custody for the child back to the county of TPR.
17. All children in the guardianship of DCF must be referred to the independent living skills program in the county where the child resides. When the child reaches the age of 18 without being adopted, the adoption social worker shall close the case record like a completed adoption record and send the record to the Adoption Search Program. This shall be completed within thirty (30) days after the date the child reaches age 18 or when the foster care case is closed, whichever is later.

FORMS REFERENCED

Adoption Case Plan (CFS-2104T)

Permanency Plan (CFS-2132)

Adoption Case Plan Evaluation

Adoptive Family Support Plan

Return to WiSACWIS Policies and Procedures Index Page

Return to Adoption in Wisconsin Index Page

Last Revised: June 19, 2008