Child Welfare Day Care. Day care as a child welfare service includes protective day care and family maintenance day care provided to families the Department is serving. Both are described in Rules and Procedures 303, Access to and Eligibility for Day Care Services. Day care for protective and family maintenance reasons is provided through the Region's purchase of service funds. A case must be opened prior to initiating services (refer to AP#5, Child Welfare Case Record Organization and Uniform Recording Requirements and Procedures 304, Appendix A. Case Opening Instructions). Child welfare day care services shall be provided in relation to an identified service objective on the CFS 497, Part II. In accordance with Procedures 305, Client Service Planning, the appropriateness, effectiveness and necessity of continuing or terminating day care services shall be documented on the CFS 497 form series by the worker and supervisor during the six month case review (administrative or non-administrative) process.
Requirement for Counseling. Child welfare day care (protective and family maintenance) may be provided only when counseling/casework services are also provided. The family circumstances must be of sufficient gravity to necessitate care of the children away from the home for part of the day. DCFS
legal responsibility for the child is not necessary for the provision of day care services. However, day care may also be provided to children in foster care.
Resource Selection. The selection of the day care provider should be made by the family with Department assistance when indicated. Prior to placement in a day care facility a child is to have a physical examination to determine that he has no contagious or infectious diseases. The examination is to be recorded on a CFS-600, Certificate of Child Health Examination. Refer to Procedures 359, Authorized Child Care Payments, for information concerning payment rates and to Rules and Procedures 352, Financial Responsibility of Parents or Guardians of the Estate of Children, for information concerning parental liability for reimbursement to the Department for Department purchased day care services.
// In selecting a day care provider for a child who is hearing impaired or non-English speaking, efforts shall be made to select a day care provider who can accommodate the communication needs of the child. Such efforts shall include contacting day care centers, group day care homes, day care home providers known to be able to accommodate hearing impaired children or who are fluent in the child's primary language, child welfare agencies, churches, universities, schools, local community organizations and local centers for independent living.
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