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8.8 Service Planning with Kin

A number of basic service planning assumptions and suggestions were offered earlier in this document. All of these are valid regardless of the client system or resource network. In kinship care it is essential that these principles be followed and integrated into how one does casework. Workers are encouraged to review the Service Planning Section of this practice guide.

Service planning is a process through which the findings of the assessment are translated into objectives and tasks that participants on the Child and Family Team use to achieve the desired permanency outcome. It is the road map for safety, well-being and permanency for children in the formal child welfare system. It is imperative that not only the parents but also the kinship network understand what direction is being taken and what is expected. Service planning becomes the bridge between the formal child welfare system and the kinship network. It helps each understand what is going to happen and helps clarify who needs to do what tasks.

Inclusive service planning results in participants developing ownership of the plan. The comprehensive family service plan should not simply tell people what to do but should be the result of a joint effort by the Child and Family Team that includes the family, caregivers, other kinship resources and professional staff. In this sense the process of working together to achieve safety, well-being and permanency is vital to the success of the plan.

The plan should represent the best thinking of the Child and Family Team.

Service Planning Process

When developing the comprehensive family service plan, the worker should keep the following points in mind:

• Collaborative and inclusive: The plan should represent the best thinking of all participants and be based on the strengths of the participants.
• Create understanding and facilitate communication: Developing the comprehensive family service plan is an opportunity to build bridges between participants. It is an opportunity to develop trust and a working relationship within the Child and Family Team.
• Foster ownership and cooperation: If the individual members of the Child and Family Team and the kinship network have worked together and developed the plan, there is a better chance that they will believe in it and work to make it happen.
• Be flexible enough to meet formal and informal systems needs: The plan represents an opportunity for the worker to reconcile the needs of the formal child welfare and juvenile court system with the resources of the informal kinship network. The strengths of each system must be used to secure safety, well-being and permanency.
• Utilize strengths of the kinship network: Well functioning kinship care has many strengths. Supporting the kinship network and nurturing it can have great benefits for children and families. Helping kinship caregivers improve their child care capabilities can pay off in the long run by improving well-being and fostering permanency.
• Support - not supplant - the kinship network: Don't underestimate the strengths and value of the kinship network. Work with it so that it can continue to grow and encourage it whenever possible.
• Assure safety, well being and permanency: There is no substitute for these three basic responsibilities of the child welfare worker.
• Pursue these in all dealings with all caregivers: keeping in mind that each one of these components can be met in multiple ways.

Service planning represents an opportunity to build relationships and develop solutions to complex family problems. It is the blueprint for pursuing reunification and if this is not possible, it lays the foundation for achieving alternative permanency through concurrent planning. In kinship care situations the participation of both the parent and the broader kinship network can create opportunities for children.

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