Current through Vol. 42, No. 1, September 16, 2024
(a)
Kinship
care. Per Section
1-9-106 of Title 10A of the
Oklahoma Statutes (10A O.S. § 1-9-106), OKDHS establishes standards for
kinship foster care.
(1) Per 10A O.S. §
1-4-204, when determining the placement of a child in OKDHS custody, a
preference is given to relatives and persons who have a kinship relationship
with the child. OKDHS makes diligent efforts to place the child accordingly
and, per 10A O.S. § 1-4-704, reports to the court the efforts made to
secure a placement for the child in the least restrictive, most family-like
setting, in reasonable proximity to the child's home, and where the child's
special needs may be met.
(2) When
the child is not placed with a relative who was considered for placement, OKDHS
notifies the court in writing the reasons the relative was denied placement and
becomes part of the court record, per 10A O.S. § 1-4-204.
(3) When the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
applies, ICWA placement preferences are followed. The Indian child in foster
care is placed in the following order of preference, absent good cause to the
contrary, with:
(A) a member of the Indian
child's extended family as specified by the child's tribe;
(B) a foster home licensed, approved, or
specified by the Indian child's tribe;
(C) an Indian foster home licensed or
approved by an authorized non-Indian licensing authority; or
(D) an institution for children approved by
an Indian tribe or operated by an Indian organization that has a program
suitable to meet the Indian child's needs. If the Indian child's tribe has
established by resolution a different order of preference, the tribe's
placement preferences must be applied.
(b)
Kinship relationships.
Kinship relationships are identified in (1) through (5) of this subsection.
(1)
Related by blood. Maternal
and paternal blood relatives considered as kinship, including half-blood
relatives, are:
(A) siblings;
(B) grandparents including those denoted by
prefixes of great and great-great;
(C) aunts and uncles including those denoted
by prefixes of great and great-great or by degree of relationship;
(D) nieces and nephews including those
denoted by prefixes of grand and great-grand; and
(E) cousins.
(2)
Related by marriage.
Relationships created by marriage, as described in (1) of this subsection,
whether by common-law or ceremony include:
(A)
step-relations; and
(B) the
previous relationship designation prior to the termination of the marriage by
death or divorce.
(3)
Related by adoption. Relatives by adoption as described in (1) and
(2) of this subsection are considered kinship.
(4)
Related by emotional tie or
bond. An emotional tie or bond exists when a child or the child's parent
acknowledges and accepts a person as part of the extended family or in the
family's close network of friends and relationships. The family or child
relationship role must exist prior to the necessity for the child's initial
out-of-home placement. Individuals with whom a child in OKDHS custody
establishes a relationship after the child's out-of-home placement may be
considered as a non-relative kinship placement after an assessment of the
child's case and an exception to kinship placement is granted.
(A) When the child is in protective or OKDHS
emergency custody, OKDHS gives priority to the child's noncustodial parent for
placement, unless the placement is not in the child's best interests.
(B) When the child cannot be placed with the
noncustodial parent, the child's placement is made, per 10A O.S. §
1-4-204.
(5)
Parent
not considered kinship. A kinship placement does not include:
(A) the child's custodial or noncustodial
parent with whom the child is placed or to whom the child is returned;
or
(B) a parent whose parental
rights are terminated.
(c)
Residence requirement for kinship
applicants. For kinship applicants or adult household members who have
not lived continuously in Oklahoma for the past five years, OKDHS must obtain
the child abuse and neglect registry checks from the previous state(s) of
residence, when a registry is available, prior to the child's placement in a
kinship resource home, per 10A O.S. § 1-7-111.
(d)
Initial kinship placement.
Per 10A O.S. § 1-9-106, a child may be placed in the kinship resource home
prior to completion of the resource family assessment, a national criminal
history records search, and pre-service training provided:
(1) Form 04AD003E, Request for Background
Check, is completed, signed, and results are received for the applicant and
each adult household member, other than a foster child, per Oklahoma
Administrative Code (OAC)
340:75-7-15;
(2) an OKDHS records search, including Child
Welfare Services records, is completed and documented for the applicant and
each adult household member on Form 04AF007E, Records Check Documentation. When
an applicant or adult household member has not lived continuously in Oklahoma
for the past five years, the resource specialist gathers all child welfare (CW)
histories from other states where the applicant or adult household member lived
within the past five years. The applicant or adult household member submits
fingerprints for a national criminal history records search to expedite the
initial placement approval process.
(3) Form 04FC001E, Initial Kinship Placement
Agreement, is completed and signed;
(4) Form 04AF001E, Resource Family
Application, is completed and signed;
(5) Form 04AF004E, House Assessment, is
completed;
(6) Form 04MP061E, Water
Safety Agreement, is completed and signed;
(7) Form 04AF021E, Verification of Receipt of
OKDHS Rules, is completed and signed;
(8) Form 04AF052E, Initial Kinship Safety
Evaluation and Assessment Tool, is completed and signed; and
(9) three personal references, only one of
whom is a family member, are interviewed.
(e)
Kinship resource applicant criminal
history records searches after normal business hours or on holidays. In
determining the suitability of the prospective kinship home, OKDHS uses the
OKDHS Office of Background Investigations (OBI) to perform a name-based state
criminal history records search, per procedures set forth in Section
901 et seq. of Title 28 of the
Code of Federal Regulations. When OKDHS OBI is not operational, OKDHS may elect
to contract or otherwise collaborate with local law enforcement agencies to
perform a name-based state and federal criminal history records search followed
by fingerprint verification, per 10A O.S. § 1-7-115.
(f)
Kinship maintenance payment
option. The kinship applicant may opt for:
(1) an OKDHS foster care maintenance payment;
or
(2) a money payment that the
child is eligible for, instead of the foster care maintenance payment, when the
child lived with the kinship applicant continuously for at least twelve months.
(A) The foster care maintenance payment is
reduced by the amount of the money payment when the money payment is less than
the foster care maintenance payment. Refer to OAC
340:75-7-52.1 for Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits received
for a parent who is deceased or disabled.
(B) Payment may include:
(i) other financial resources, per OAC
340:75-13-28; or
(ii) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) benefits, per OAC 340:10-9.
(g)
Kinship and traditional resource
home requirements the same. Each kinship resource home, whether paid or
non-paid, meets the same requirements as the traditional non-related resource
home.
(h)
Kinship start-up
and training stipend. The kinship resource family that has not been
approved within the preceding five years is entitled to receive, per OKDHS
Appendix C-20, Child Welfare Services Rates Schedule, a:
(1) one-time kinship start-up stipend to
assist with initial expenditures for each child placed in the home for
14-consecutive days; and
(2)
training stipend. Half of the total stipend is paid to the kinship resource
family after the kinship resource parent(s) enrolls in the pre-service training
and the second half of the total stipend is paid to the kinship parent(s) after
the kinship resource parent(s) completes the pre-service training when:
(A) a child is placed and residing in the
home at the time the kinship resource parent enrolls in training; and
(B) the child remains in the home until the
kinship resource parent completes training.
(i)
Foster care maintenance payments
begin when requirements satisfied. Per 10A O.S. § 1-9-106, the
kinship resource parent is not entitled to any payments for providing foster
care until the resource parent receives final approval from OKDHS. Foster care
maintenance payments for kinship resource homes begin at the time requirements
are met, per OAC
340:75-7-18 and are not
retroactive. On a case-by-case basis, the kinship resource parent may be
approved for maintenance payments based on an exception to a non-safety
requirement, per OAC
340:75-7-10.1.
(j)
Kinship resource family transfer to
a resource family partner (RFP). When a kinship resource family is
already approved as a supported foster home or is in the approval process with
an RFP, the RFP may request the kinship resource family case be transferred to
the RFP agency.
Added at 21 Ok Reg
2385, eff 6-25-04; Amended at 22 Ok Reg 1242, eff 5-26-05; Amended at 23 Ok Reg
1024, eff 5-11-06; Amended at 24 Ok Reg 1323, eff 6-1-07; Amended at 25 Ok Reg
1335, eff 6-1-08; Amended at 26 Ok Reg 413, eff 11-20-08 (emergency); Amended
at 26 Ok Reg 884, eff 5-15-09; Amended at 27 Ok Reg 1092, eff 3-26-10
(emergency); Amended at 27 Ok Reg 1865, eff 7-1-10; Amended at 29 Ok Reg 635,
eff 6-1-12; Amended at 30 Ok Reg 839, eff
7-1-13
