Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) The
Department has an administrative case review system for all the children in
placement and their families. Administrative case reviews are conducted for
children living in foster family homes, relative homes, group homes, childcare
institutions, youth emergency shelters, or detention, correctional, mental, or
physical health related facilities. In addition, the Department may elect to
conduct administrative case reviews on other groups of children as fiscal and
staffing resources permit.
b) Case
reviews are conducted in order to:
1) assure
that parents and the children or youth (if participating in the planning) are
involved in and collaborating with developing the case plan, understand and
discuss the plan, and know what is expected of them;
2) review sibling placement by ensuring:
A) siblings are being placed together
whenever possible;
B) when siblings
are placed apart, efforts continue to locate a placement that will accept all
of the children;
C) contact and
visitation between siblings is taking place as required and occurring in
accordance with the Visitation and Contact Plan;
D) efforts are made to support contact
between siblings in substitute care with siblings who are not in substitute
care (e.g., because of adoption, legal guardianship, emancipation, or
adulthood);
3) review
whether the Department's continuing intervention is necessary;
4) review whether services, including
placement services, are necessary, relevant, coordinated, and appropriate and
address the health and safety needs of the child or youth;
5) identify services needed but that are not
being provided to the child, family or foster parents and the reasons why they
are not being provided;
6) review
the disability status of a child or youth to determine the need for and/or
appropriateness of specialized services;
7) review the appropriateness of the child's
educational placement and the child's educational progress and recommend
changes to the caseworker;
8)
review health information regarding the child or youth and family;
9) review any special physical,
psychological, educational, medical, emotional, or other needs of the child or
youth or /the family that are relevant to a permanency or placement
determination;
10) review, for any
youth age 16 or over, programs or services that will enable the youth to
prepare for independent living;
11)
review whether the Department, the child welfare contributing agencies, the
family, the substitute care provider, if any, and the child or youth are
complying with the case plan and, if they are not complying, whether changes in
the case plan or goals are needed;
12) review whether there is progress in
resolving the child's or youth's and family's issues, whether the progress is
satisfactory, and whether the child can safely return home;
13) review whether the projected month for
achieving the permanency goal should be changed;
14) review the appropriateness of the
permanency goal and recommend changes to the goal (if appropriate);
15) review and finalize the case plan for the
next period, including an analysis of:
A) the
appropriateness of the services contained in the case plan and whether those
services have been provided and, if not, why;
B) whether reasonable efforts by the
Department, and reasonable progress by the family, have been made to achieve
the goal;
C) whether the plan and
goal have been achieved;
16) refer the case for a child and family
team meeting when one has not been conducted. (See 89 Ill. Adm. Code 315.120 (Family Meetings)); and
17) report
findings and make recommendations.
c) The Department shall provide training for
all Administrative Case Reviewers, supervisors, and managers regarding the
importance of maintaining sibling relationships and the child's or youth's
sense of attachment to /the siblings, the importance of maintaining sibling
relationships over the child's lifespan, and the impact on the child and youth
if those relationships are severed.