4.12.1 Working with a CWS Referral | 4.12.2 Working with a Dependency | 4.12.3 Making a Disposition | 4.12.4 Service Identification | 4.12.5 Service Selection with the Family | 4.12.6 Overcoming Service Barriers | 4.12.7 Coordinating Services Between Agencies
The sections referring to Child Welfare referrals are applicable for Cook County only. The Permanency chapters will cover the practice for this category of cases as it applies to downstate regions.
Child welfare referrals consist of the following types of reports:
Please note that if the harm is so severe as to threaten the child's life or health, then a report will be called into the SCR. If a report is accepted, the CA/N report then will be investigated. If a CA/N report is not taken, the worker will proceed to assess the CWS referral.
After reviewing the child welfare referral and talking with the reporter, the worker makes an initial contact with the client by telephone. An in-person contact with the family will follow within 48 hours (2 business days) unless it is determined to be an emergency, in which case the contact will be made immediately. The initial contact must include the parents or guardians (or current caregiver), and the children who are involved in the report. The purpose of the initial contact is to make an assessment of current risk and safety, and to determine whether the family needs (and are willing to accept) services. If the children are not home at the time of the initial contact, the worker should interview the parent/guardian/caregiver. However, the children must still be seen within 48 hours (2 business days) of the CWS referral date in order to complete a safety assessment. The worker should make every effort to meet with the family at a time when all of the family members can participate and the meeting should be in the family home. Information to be received from the adults and the children should be discussed in the beginning so children won't get restless and bored during the process. The children may be excused after those sections are completed.
If the parent(s) are not willing to cooperate with an assessment, and there are concerns about not having seen the children, the worker must discuss the concerns with the supervisor and a decision made as to the safety of the children given the current information. The worker and supervisor should discuss available options, including whether the CWS referral needs to be converted to an abuse or neglect investigation. The criteria for determining whether to convert must be based on the safety and well being of the children. Other options include making another attempt at engaging the family, assigning another worker to make the attempt, screening with other providers who may already be involved with the family or a decision to close.
A dependent minor is defined in the Illinois Juvenile Court Act as
...any minor under 18 years of age:
In a dependency situation, the worker should first get information about the whereabouts of the parent(s) and attempt to contact the parent(s) so that he/she can make a care plan for the child. If the parents cannot be located, the worker must: 1) determine if the circumstance is temporary; 2) exhaust efforts to locate a suitable temporary or permanent caretaker; or 3) proceed to court. The worker may need to assist the caregiver in learning how to file a guardianship petition (where to go, how to obtain the forms, etc). Practice and procedures varies by county; however, generally if the parent is unable to make an adequate care plan or there are no responsible relatives willing or able to care for the child (including taking guardianship of the child, if necessary), the worker will need to call the police to take protective custody of the child so that the child can be placed. Only the police can take protective custody on a dependency. In Cook County, the police will make a Hotline call when protective custody is taken. After taking protective custody, the police will turn the child over to DCFS to place (DCFS will then have custody). A shelter care hearing should then ensue within 48 hours (2 business days) of taking protective custody. A face-to-face handoff with the permanency worker should be done at the shelter care hearing so necessary services and a permanency plan can be implemented for the child.
The worker-family partnership is the vehicle for change and is grounded in an effective working relationship. Therefore the family must be integrally involved in the assessment process and decision-making. The worker must gather sufficient information on which to base an assessment of the family's level of functioning, risk and safety factors and child well being. Once an assessment is completed, the worker makes one of the following dispositions:
The following checklist can be used as a guide to worker with child welfare services referrals:
The supervisor will be involved in the following ways:
The following forms must be completed during the initial phase of the assessment:
In identifying needed resources, consider the following services that may be available in the community:
This service refers to admission of a child and/or parent into a medical or psychiatric hospital. The admission is specifically based upon the medical and/or psychiatric needs of the child and the hospital's criteria for intake. The condition requiring admission must relate to identified safety or risk factors. Providers may include physicians, nurses, mental health personnel, hospital care personnel and SASS.
This service refers to the provision of medical care for a parent and/or a child that will assist is controlling or managing an identified safety or risk factor. This service should not be indicated for medical care services that are not related to the safety of the child. Providers may include physicians, nurses, public health nurses, and visiting nurses.
This service refers to the provision of mental health care (outpatient) for a parent and/or a child, which is necessary to control or manage a safety or risk factor. This service should not be indicated for mental health care services, which are not related to the safety of the child. Providers may include mental health personnel.
This service refers to provision of inpatient or outpatient services for the treatment of alcohol or drug abuse. This service should be indicated for situations in which the alcohol or drug abuse affects the safety of the child. Providers may include mental health personnel and hospital care personnel.
This service refers to a health related service that is provided in the home of the family. The service provided in the home must assist in controlling one or more of the identified and described risk or safety factors. Providers may include home health personnel, visiting nurses, and public health nurses.
This service, provided in the home, controls for conditions created by a parent reaction to stress, parents being inconsistent about caring for children, parents reacting impulsively and parents having detrimental expectations of children. The service provided is carried out by providers going into the home and observing the parent/child relationships, providing some level of supervision to the parent/child relationships, providing some level of supervision to the parent/child relationship or providing the similar service involving the family as a unit. This service provides an active, ongoing assessment of family stresses that affect safety and may result in necessary action. This emphasis here is that the provision of supervision/observation will assist in controlling one or more of the identified and described factors which place the child's safety in the home in question. Providers may include homemaker, caretaker, relative/friend, volunteer, home-based worker, department social worker, and other LANS members.
Day care services are provided in an approved day care program. This provision of day care service helps in controlling one or more of the identified and described factors that place the child's safety in the home in question. The service responds to conditions where the childcare responsibilities of the parents affect the child's safety. In addition to meeting the needs of the child, the service provides relief for the parent(s). Providers may include day care personnel, family day care providers, relatives/friends, volunteers, baby-sitters, caretakers, and Day Care Information line.
This service provides for temporary supervision/care of a child in a child care type program as needed in an effort to help control for one or more of the identified and described factors which place the child's safety in the home in question. The purpose of this service is to provide breathing space and room between the parent and the child. Providers may include respite care personnel, relatives or family friends.
This safety service involves the child in a child-oriented activity that has adult supervision. There is no limit to what those services might be. The service could be a traditional service such as Brownies, Boy Scouts, a craft program or a program developed/designed to assist in meeting the child's safety needs. The emphasis is that the child-oriented activity must assist in controlling one or more of the factors that affect the child's safety. In addition to meeting the needs of the child, the service provides relief for the parent(s). Providers may include relatives/friends, volunteers, child-oriented activity personnel, home-based social workers, and mentors.
This service is provided to the parents. The purpose of the service is to control the parents' inability to perform basic life skills that places the child's safety in question. Examples may include situations where the parents' are unable to maintain a livable home or to access necessary life services, e.g., medical care. The provision of basic home management/life skills is not appropriate for general home management and life skills functioning where the primary purpose is to bring about change rather than control for safety of the child. The services provided must have an immediate effect on controlling the factors that affect safety. Providers may include homemaker, parent aide, relative/friend, volunteer, home-based worker, or protective payee.
This service assists in controlling the parents' lack of basic parenting skills that affect the child's safety. The service focuses on very basic parenting skills such as feeding, bathing, basic medical care and basic physical/emotional attention and supervision. The lack of these basic parenting skills must affect the child's safety. The services provided must have an immediate effect on controlling the factors that affect safety. Providers may include homemaker, caretakers, mentors, parent aide, relative/friend, volunteer, home-based worker, or 0-3 programs.
This service provides basic social connections and emotional support to parents. The lack of this support must affect the child's safety. The services provided must have an immediate impact on controlling the factors that affect safety. Providers may include homemaker, caretaker, parent aide, relative/friend, volunteer, self-help group, mentors, or home-based workers.
These services are aimed at controlling only crisis situations that affect the child's safety. The factors being controlled have put an individual family member or the family as a unit in crisis. Crisis is defined as a situation that involves disorganization and emotional upheaval. Further, the situation has resulted in an inability to adequately function and problem solve. This service differs from traditional individual or family counseling in that the emphasis is on providing immediate relief and support. Providers may include mental health personnel, home-based worker or parent aide.
This service provides financial assistance to the family to assist in meeting the child's safety needs which result from the lack of finances. Providers may include economic support personnel, Section 8, Norman contractors and DHS liaison.
This service provides for the securing of housing or the securing of more affordable housing for a family where the lack of housing affects the child's safety. Providers may include housing/shelter personnel, Section 8, Norman contractors and DHS liaison.
Chore services are general household tasks that the parents are unable to do. These include in-home tasks associated with home management, meal preparation, etc., and home management tasks outside of the home such as grocery shopping. The emphasis here is that chore services are needed in the family, the family is unable to financially afford the service on their own, and the failure to perform these tasks affect the safety of the child. Providers may include homemaker, relatives/friends, and volunteers.
This service provides transportation to the family or members of the family to secure necessary life functioning services. The emphasis is that the lack of transportation to secure necessary life functioning services affects the child safety. Providers include volunteers, relatives/friends, home-based worker, transportation advocate, DHS liaisons.
This service is concerned with a child who has a specific physical/emotional condition that, in and of itself creates a safety concern for the child. The provision of the service is required because the family does not have the financial resources to provide the service on their own. Consider this example: The child is developmentally disabled. The child requires physical rehabilitation services, speech and hearing services, and lung functioning services. The family is unable to provide these services and it is the need for the services and the families' inability to financially provide the services that affect the child's safety. Providers may include special child service personnel, clinical division and Division of Specialized Care for Children (DHS).
The child does not have adequate food and/or clothing and the lack of these life necessities affects the child's safety. The family cannot afford to provide these necessities to the child. Providers may include volunteers, relatives/friends, food/clothing service personnel, DHS liaison and Norman contractors.
In determining which service may be appropriate for the family, consider the following guide:
Information-Sharing: Inform the family about the service. Broker the service. As a broker, the worker may directly or indirectly (e.g., through Family Enhancement or LANs) link a family to the appropriate service provider by making appointments, making transportation arrangements, arranging for payment, etc.
Advocate for the Service: Advocacy is necessary when other traditional routes of accessing services have not worked. The worker may advocate for the family when services are scarce or there is a breakdown in the collaborative network of service provision. As an advocate, the worker helps to access services for the family.
Selection of specific services and service providers is based on several factors:
Workers may encounter barriers to delivering adequate services. The following are some suggestions to overcome these barriers:
If services are provided by community agencies, the CPSW or permanency staff (if a CWS referral) coordinates these in the short-run in order to ensure immediate implementation and to assess effectiveness in protecting the child. Coordinating services involves completing the referral, linking the family with the community agency, securing requested consents, attending staffings, etc. Initial coordination will entail a joint visit between the CPSW, permanency worker or other service provider and the family.
Coordination is important because:
4.12.1 Working with a CWS Referral | 4.12.2 Working with a Dependency | 4.12.3 Making a Disposition | 4.12.4 Service Identification | 4.12.5 Service Selection with the Family | 4.12.6 Overcoming Service Barriers | 4.12.7 Coordinating Services Between Agencies