In the general reunification section visitation was discussed in detail. Additionally the reader of this guide is also referred to Department Rule and Procedure 301 which includes a practice guide that covers all aspects of visitation. When children are placed with relatives, visitation must still follow the general timeframes and principles outlined earlier.
Placement with relatives generally facilitates visitation and allows parents to have more contact with their children. Staff need to: (1) recognize the positive aspects of visitation when children are placed with relatives, and (2) use these positive aspects to facilitate contact and permanency, provided that the child's safety can be assured.
Positive factors associated with kinship care include:
· Longer and more frequent visitation may be possible.
Parents are usually allowed, and in many cases welcomed, into the relative caregiver's home. Visitation is more relaxed and natural. The parent, caregiver and children can all benefit from this level of contact and the relationship and bond between parent and child can often be maintained and enhanced. Contrast this to the formal visitation which often occurs in non-relative care which tends to be very time limited, structured and not as frequent.
· There are more opportunities for assisted parenting and co-parenting.
Parents, because they are in the home for extended periods of time, often have the opportunities to participate in more of the child's everyday life. Cooking meals, bathing children, doing hair and tending to a sick child are more likely to occur in kinship care than in non-relative care.
· If visits are more frequent and longer in duration, trauma to the child is reduced.
The natural handoff between the parent and kinship caregiver can be a factor in reducing the trauma to the child. In many kinship situations the child already has a strong connection to the caregiver and while they may be dealing with separation from their parent, they do not have to develop a connection or a bond with the caregiver as they do in non-related foster care.
· Often these children have spent extended periods of time with the caregiver.
This factor may lessen the separation difficulties that children often have when their parents leave a visit.
· Visitation often occurs in the relative's home or the home of the parent.
This is more natural and relaxed and assists all parties in feeling at ease. Parents and children can get right down to the business of visitation and not waste time figuring out what they can do in an office or other neutral setting. The fact that children are at the visits in a home setting promotes more natural family-like parent/child activities. The child is often surrounded by his or her belongings and toys which may be used during the course of the visits.
The key to maximizing the benefits of visitation which occur in the relative caregiver's home and supervised by the relative lie in the worker's preparation for these visits. Once again the worker must convey to all parties that: (1) visits have a purpose, and (2) all parties must focus on the goals of visitation if permanency, safety and well being are to be achieved.
The worker should use the family meetings and the child/family team as the venue for developing comprehensive visitation goals and specific plans. Assessment of child safety issues determines the degree of visitation and the type and level of contact. With all visitation the worker must first completely assess safety and determine the visitation plan.
· The worker must actively work with the parents, relative caregivers, children and other relevant members of the Child and Family Team around specific visitation expectations and goals. Preparation for visits should include setting the stage with all parties for the visitation and developing appropriate visitation activities based on the individual needs and development of the child. The visit should be followed by a debriefing of all parties which should then be used to develop plans for subsequent visits.
· The agreements and the goals of visitation should be detailed in the comprehensive family service plan. The caregiver and parents should each maintain a log or report of the visit from their perspective which should specify the date, time, place and activities done during the visit. These should be reviewed by the caseworker and discussed with the participants.
· Specific assisted and co-parenting activities should be formulated and implemented.
Co-parenting provides the parents the opportunity to demonstrate their care of the child. This is practice for the future and opportunity for the parent to demonstrate to the child, to themselves, to the caregiver and to the worker that they are learning the necessary skills to successfully care for their child. Activities should be developed that specifically relate to past parenting deficiencies so that the parent can work on improving these areas. Parents should be assisting the caregiver in meeting the child's everyday needs, participating in the child's school program, assisting with homework, attending medical visits, obtaining necessary medical skills to meet any special needs and participating in developmentally-indicated play and other activities. These are but a few of the opportunities that are expected and can be facilitated if contact is frequent.
The worker must observe visitations monthly throughout the life of the child welfare case so that he or she can assess the quality of the bond and relationship that exists between the parent and child, the quality and the improvement in the parent's ability to care for the child. The worker must also determine whether the parent is making progress in resolving the abuse/neglect issues that brought the child into care.
The caseworker must also explain all child protection concerns to parents, child and caregiver. The caregiver must be able to demonstrate their cooperation with the child protection plan and be able to maintain the appropriate boundaries between the parent and child. Involved in the discussion with all parties should be full disclosure of any court orders and how these orders need to be carried out. The consequences of violation of any court orders or visitation arrangements also need to be discussed. The caseworker must be clear on this point and spell this out in the discussions with the parties and in the comprehensive family service plan. It should be noted that the behaviors that brought the children into care are the same behaviors that can often cause problems for the caregiver. Thus a parent who neglected their child because of a drug or alcohol problem may, if still using, create chaos and problems for the caregiver. The safety concerns that require visits to be supervised should be clearly explained to the caregiver in order to enlist their support and compliance.
In establishing visitation when children are placed in the care of a relative, the worker must take advantage of the flexibility that exists in the informal system of care. Increased contact and the opportunities for parental participation in multiple areas of the child's life create situations that maintain bonds between parent and child, allow parents to practice positive and caring parenting, and reduce trauma to the child. Rule, procedure and practice maintain that parent-child visitation, when reunification is the goal, occur at least weekly but ideally, visits should occur more frequently. Visitation, coupled with other services, can promote safety, well-being and permanency for the child. Caseworkers must be aware that relatives and parents who disagree with the Department's visitation plan may attempt to circumvent it. Caseworkers must have frank discussions with caregivers and parents and pay close attention to visitation to ensure the child remains safe.