Current through Register Vol. 57, No. 6, March 17, 2025
(a) The written
case plan for a family with the child living at home shall include:
1. The reasons for the Division's current
involvement and significant events with the family;
2. The family's perspective and understanding
of their involvement with the Division, and the family's personal
history;
3. The Division's history
with the family, including allegations, dates, concerns, findings, and length
of time;
4. The schedule for
contacts between the Division representative and the family members, pursuant
to N.J.A.C. 3A:12-2, In-Person Visits with Clients and Out-of-Home Placement
Providers;
5. The supports and
services offered to, provided to and used by the family since the last case
plan was developed, for each case plan after the initial case plan. If any
service is court-ordered, the case plan shall contain that service;
6. The behavioral and other changes expected
from each person;
7. The services
or activities that are intended to facilitate the changes and who will
accomplish or provide them; and
8.
Progress toward achieving the case goal for each family member receiving
services.
(b) The
written case plan for a child in an out-of-home placement shall include:
1. The legal authority for the out-of-home
placement;
2. The efforts made to
prevent placement, the reasons for making the placement or for continuing the
placement, all efforts made to reunify the family and the impact of those
efforts;
3. The case goal for each
child, the progress towards its achievement and any obstacles to reaching
it;
4. An assessment of the safety
and appropriateness of the current placement and the plan to assure that each
child receives safe and appropriate care;
5. The efforts made to find a missing mother
and father or relative, pursuant to
N.J.S.A.
30:4C-12 et seq.;
6. The schedule for contacts between the
Division representative and the family members, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 3A:12-2,
In-Person Visits with Clients and Out-of-Home Placement Providers;
7. The plan for visits between the child and
parents, siblings and other relatives (see N.J.A.C. 10:122D-1);
8. The views of the child, family, and
out-of-home placement provider concerning the placement and the case
plan;
9. The needs of the child,
the parent, and the child's out-of-home placement provider in order to meet the
case goal;
10. The behavioral and
other changes expected from each person;
11. The services or actions intended to meet
the identified needs and who is responsible to provide the services and
complete the activities, with projected time frames, as well as the
appropriateness of the services for the child. See N.J.A.C. 10:122D-2, Services
to Children in Out-of-Home Placement;
12. Any stipulations reflected in a court
order;
13. A description of the
type of out-of-home placement;
14.
How the placement is safe, near the parent's home, and the least restrictive
and most family-like setting available, consistent with the best interest and
special needs of the child;
15.
Why the child was placed a substantial distance from his or her parents or
out-of-State, when applicable;
16.
The child's health and education records, in accordance with
N.J.A.C.
10:122D-2.5(b) and (c) and
2.6(b) and (d); and
17. Programs
and services to help the child transition from out-of-home placement to
self-sufficiency skills, for a child age 14 or older, in accordance with
N.J.A.C.
10:122D-2.7.
(c) The written case plan for a child in an
out-of-home placement and whose case goal is either adoption or kinship legal
guardianship shall include the steps the Division representative is taking to
place the child with:
1. An adoptive family,
including child specific recruitment efforts, such as the use of adoption
resource exchanges in accordance with
N.J.A.C.
10:121C-2.4 and 2.5, and to finalize the
adoption; or
2. A relative or
caregiver who is willing to assume care of a child, become a kinship legal
guardian and finalize the kinship legal guardianship, after steps are taken to
determine that reunification and adoption are neither feasible nor appropriate
and the child meets the eligibility requirements for kinship legal
guardianship.
(d) The
case plan for a child in out-of-home placement shall include documentation of:
1. The appropriateness of the child's current
educational setting; and
2. A
child's inability to attend school on a full-time basis due to the child's
medical condition.
(e)
When the Division is not required to file a petition seeking termination of
parental rights pursuant to N.J.S.A. 30:4C-15.3b, the Division representative
shall document in the case plan a compelling reason for determining that filing
the petition is not in the best interests of the child.