Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) recognize that any child who is legally
free, is adoptable;
(b) register
each legally freed child with the State Adoption Service, in accordance with
Part 420 of this Chapter;
(c)
consider each legally freed child's eligibility for adoption subsidy, in
accordance with section
421.24 of
this Part;
(d) keep the length of
interim foster care placements of children free for adoption to a minimum,
placing such children in adoptive homes as early as practicable;
(e) arrange a medical examination for each
child for whom adoption is planned in order to determine the state of the
child's health, significant factors that may interfere with normal development,
and the implications of any medical problems. The medical report shall be filed
with the child's record;
(f)
provide casework services to each legally free child, obtain a current
understanding of his or her needs and encourage his or her participation in
planning, according to his or her age and capacity; and
(g) provide or arrange for all services
necessary to ensure that siblings and/or half-siblings are placed together,
unless contraindicated, in accordance with sections
421.2(e)
and
421.18(d)
of this Part; and
(h) provide each
legally free child with adoption services, directly or through purchase of
service. The following services are to be provided:
(1) In the case of a child who has not been
placed in an adoptive home, evaluation of placement needs, preplacement
planning and preparation with reports thereon at intervals as required by the
department, and recruitment, adoption study, training and placement planning
for prospective adoptive parents.
(i)
Parent training is activity designed to increase parents'
understanding of the dynamics of parent-child relationships, including
providing such parents with the information, skills and attitudes needed to
integrate an adopted child into the family by responding constructively to the
patterns of behavior the child brings from previous homes and uses to test
parent commitment, or to ward off closeness and emotional dependency.
(ii) These training activities may be carried
out by the family's adoption worker, other agency personnel or through
subcontract. This may be carried out in a group process involving and training
other applicants or families with whom a child has been placed.
(2) In the case of a child who is
already placed in an adoptive home, parent training, for the parents with whom
the child has been placed, supervision and post-adoption services, with reports
thereon as required by the department.
(i)
Supervision is a process involving individual and group
interviews to support the mutual adjustment of the child and family, to enable
the agency to keep informed on the progress and well-being of the child in the
adoptive home, and to help the family and child to obtain services that may be
needed. Supervision begins on the date a child is placed in a home and
concludes on the date of the adoption decree.
(ii)
Post-adoption services
means counseling, training parents on how to care for children with special
needs, providing clinical and consultative services, and coordinating access to
community supportive services for the purpose of ensuring permanence of the
placement. Such services may be designed to treat problems which developed
after the date of the adoption decree. Post-adoption services may extend for
three years from the date of the adoption decree.
(3) In the case of a child who is not photo
listed because the child is age 14 or older and refuses adoption, or the child
is placed with a relative within the third degree of consanguinity of the
parents of the child and does not have a goal of adoption, evaluation of
placement needs, with reports thereon at intervals as required by the
department.
