Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) The
service plan review must be conducted in accordance with the requirements of
section
430.12
of this Title and must be documented in the uniform case record for any child
in foster care or any child who was placed by a court in the direct custody of
a relative or other suitable person pursuant to article 10 of the Family Court
Act. The term foster care case includes children who are
legally free for the purpose of adoption and children not in the care and
custody or custody and guardianship of the local commissioner of social
services who reside with their minor parents in the same foster family home or
residential facility.
(b)
(1) Unless such service plan review will
occur within 60 days of the date certain for a permanency hearing, a case
consultation must be held for each child defined in section 1087 of the Family
Court Act in preparation for each permanency hearing held in accordance with
article 10-A of the Family Court Act including in those cases where the
permanency hearing will constitute the service plan review. Such case
consultation must be documented in the progress notes and the decisions and
outcomes must be incorporated into the permanency hearing report. Such case
consultation must be conducted no earlier than 60 days prior to the date
certain of the permanency hearing and must be completed with sufficient time to
finalize and submit the permanency hearing report at least 14 days before the
date certain for the permanency hearing. Participants in the case consultation
must include:
(i) the case planner and/or the
child's caseworker;
(ii) the
child's parent(s), unless the parent has had his or her parental rights to the
child terminated or unless it can be documented that one or both of them are
unwilling or unable to attend;
(iii) each child who is at least 10 but less
than 14 years of age, unless it can be documented that the child is unwilling
to attend, or it can be demonstrated that such attendance would not be in the
child's best interests;
(iv) each
child 14 years of age or older in accordance with the standards set forth in
section
428.3(i)
of this Part;
(v) members of the
case planning team chosen by the child who is 14 years of age or older in
accordance with the standards set forth in section
428.3(i)
of this Part; and
(vi) the child's
foster parent, if the child is in placement in a foster boarding home; the
child's pre-adoptive parent, if the child is in such placement; or the relative
or other suitable person with whom the child has been placed directly by a
court order.
(2)
Wherever practicable, the case consultation participants must meet together at
the same time, however, at a minimum a face-to-face case consultation must be
held separately with each of the required participants.
(3) Efforts must be made to also consult with
the case manager; the permanency discharge resource; key providers of service
to the child and family; the child's school; in the case of an Indian child,
the child's tribe, if known; and any other person identified by the parent(s),
however, efforts to involve such additional person(s) must not delay the case
consultation or preparation of the permanency hearing report.
(c) The purpose of such case
consultation described in subdivision (b) of this section is to assist with the
development of the permanency hearing report and to address the following:
(1) review the progress and the status of the
child who had been removed from his or her home, including the child's health
and education;
(2) review the
safety of the child in his or her current environment;
(3) review the appropriateness of the current
placement, including whether such placement is the least restrictive
environment that can meet the child's needs;
(4) assess whether it would be safe to return
the child to his or her home, and assess the level of risk of the likelihood of
abuse or maltreatment such return would entail;
(5) review the progress made by the each
parent toward successful implementation of the service plan and the child's
permanency planning goal, unless the parent has had his or her parental rights
to the child terminated;
(6) review
the reasonable efforts made to assist with the achievement of the child's
permanency planning goal;
(7)
assess the need for modification or continuation of the current permanency
planning goal;
(8) review the
current service plan and any barriers to service delivery and assess the need
to make modifications to support the safety, permanency and well-being of the
child;
(9) review the current
visiting plan and assess the need to make modifications to support family
relationships;
(10) for a child who
is not free for adoption, review the status of the concurrent permanency plan
for the child, in the event the child is unlikely to be able to safely return
home;
(11) review the status of any
permanency discharge resource being considered for the child;
(12) develop a recommendation as to whether
the child needs to continue in placement or be discharged from such placement.
If the child will be discharged from placement within the upcoming six months,
develop a recommended discharge plan;
(13) for a child completely free for adoption
with a goal of adoption, review the status of each adoption milestone, and
assess progress toward achievement, as appropriate, including but not limited
to recruitment efforts, adoption assistance/subsidy approval and overcoming any
other barriers to finalization of the adoption; and
(14) for a child in foster care for whom the
permanency planning goal is discharge to another planned living arrangement
with a permanency resource, address the steps taken by the authorized agency to
ensure that the child's foster parent(s) or the child care facility with whom
or in which the child is placed is following the reasonable and prudent parent
standard as set forth in section
441.25
of this Title and to ascertain whether the child has regular, ongoing
opportunities to engage in age or developmentally appropriate activities,
including by consulting with the child in an age-appropriate manner about the
opportunities of the child to participate in such activities.
(d) The permanency hearing report,
prior to filing with the court, must be developed by the responsible social
services district or voluntary agency in accordance with a purchase of services
agreement, and in consultation with appropriate district and voluntary staff,
including but not limited to the social services district and/or agency
attorney.
(e) The permanency
hearing report must be prepared in the form and manner as required by
OCFS.
(f) The permanency hearing
report must be filed with the court and mailed to those parties required by
section 1089 of the Family Court Act.
