Rule and Procedure Table of Contents
I. Purpose
These procedures detail the process to be followed when children are born at the Dwight Correctional Center as well as the process for providing special support services to children for whom DCFS is legally responsible whose mothers are incarcerated at the Dwight Correctional Center. These procedures apply to all Regions.
II. Services for Infants Born at Dwight Correctional Center
A. Dwight Correctional Center staff will coordinate arrangements for placing infants born to inmates.
B. DCFS will be contacted only when relative resources are not available or appropriate. The mother's residence for DCFS service purposes shall be the community in which she lived immediately prior to her commitment to Dwight.
C. The DCFS region serving the mother's residence has total case responsibility (opening, payment and planning). In those instances where the Juvenile Court serving the mother's residence refuses to take venue, the region serving the mother's residence continues to have total case responsibility.
D. The DCFS Peoria Region, through its Ottawa Office, will provide specific services at the request of the mother's resident DCFS Region. Services to be provided by Ottawa Office staff will be negotiated with them and entered in the service plan. They may include, but are not limited to, securing court ordered temporary custody through the LaSalle County Juvenile Court and attending the shelter care hearing. Ottawa Office staff will not remove the child from the hospital, transport the child nor place the child unless services were specifically agreed and recorded in the service plan.
E. Services to the child will be provided as they are for all other children for whom DCFS is legally responsible and shall include the special support services specified below.
F. The following process applies when DCFS becomes involved for placement of an infant born at Dwight:
1. Dwight Correctional Center staff shall contact (2-3 months prior to delivery whenever possible) the appropriate Field Services Supervisor (Administrator, Residential Care Program in Cook County) who has administrative responsibility for the mother's residence to obtain assistance in arranging for placement of the unborn child;
2. The Field Services Supervisor (Administrator, Residential Care Program in Cook County) will assign the appropriate child welfare staff/unit to follow up on the referral. The assigned child welfare worker shall:
· notify the Ottawa Office supervisor of the impending birth and approximate delivery date. Ottawa Office staff will notify the LaSalle County State's Attorney of the impending birth.
· make the necessary plans for placement prior to the child's birth.
3. Dwight Correctional Center staff will immediately notify the worker of the child's birth;
4. Upon receiving notification of the child's birth, the worker shall contact the Ottawa Office which in turn will petition for temporary custody of the child through the LaSalle County Juvenile Court, attend the shelter care hearing, and present the court order to the hospital;
5. The assigned worker shall make arrangements to pick the child up from the hospital, secure the temporary custody order from the hospital, and place the child as appropriate;
6. The LaSalle County State's Attorney will be asked to process a "change of venue" to the county of the mother's residence or, where that is not possible, to the county where the child is placed; and
7. The assigned worker shall notify the State's Attorney in the county of the mother's residence or, where applicable, the county where the child is placed, of the temporary custody order and arrange for an appropriate hearing.
III. Special Support Services for Incarcerated Mothers
When children meet the following requirements, the children and their mothers are eligible for special support services:
· children under age 18 for whom the Department is legally responsible, and
· whose mother is currently incarcerated at Dwight, and
· whose permanency goal is RETURN HOME TO THE MOTHER upon her release from Dwight.
A. Special Support Services Available
The following services are available to children and their mothers who meet the above criteria.
1. Monthly updates to inform the mothers how their children are progressing in substitute care.
2. One visit per month between the children and their mothers.
The services to be provided to the incarcerated mothers and children (phone calls and visits) shall be recorded on the CFS 497, Client Service Plan, Part II, Task/Objective Statement.
B. Support Service Implementation
1. Telephone Calls From DCFS Workers to Incarcerated Mothers
DCFS workers shall call incarcerated mothers once per month if they do not accompany the child on their visits. DCFS workers shall call the Dwight Correctional Center's Clinical Services Supervisor, Jean Fairman, who will schedule a time for the workers to speak to the mother. Ms. Fairman can be reached at (815) 584-2806. The purpose of these calls to the mothers will be to:
o update the mother on how her children are doing in substitute care.
o make advance plans for family reunification--especially as the mother approaches her release date.
2. Visitations By Children To Their Incarcerated Mothers
DCFS workers shall offer to assist in arranging visitations. DCFS shall pay for one visit per month by the eligible children to their mothers at Dwight. The mother, or the child if the child is 12 years old or older, may decline to receive or to make visits. When this occurs, the DCFS worker shall verify the reason for non-participation and shall document that reason in the case record. In some situations the worker may wish to reevaluate the permanency goal.
Each Region can develop its own approach to arranging and paying for these visits.
a) Supervisors or Supervisors of Field Services will decide the type of responsible adult who shall accompany the eligible children on the visits. Individuals include:
Foster parents
Homemakers
Advocates
Volunteers
DCFS workers
b) CFS workers will ensure that an adequate number of responsible adult(s) accompanies each DCFS child or group of DCFS children visiting Dwight to ensure that the children's physical and personal needs are met during the travel time and during the visit itself.
c) CFS workers will telephone both the caretakers and the mothers and inform them that this special visitation support service is available. DCFS workers shall assist mothers and caretakers in making visitation arrangements as requested.
3. Visitation Travel Expenses
a) When wards are transported on these visits by DCFS workers or by advocates or homemakers working under individual contracts, their regions shall pay for the visits from their travel lines.
b) When wards are transported on these visits by advocates or homemakers working under agency contracts, then travel is part of the agency contract.
c) When wards are transported on these visits by public transportation, then regions shall pay for these visits out of the children's personal and physical maintenance line.
d) Under the terms of a special service contract with DCFS, the CAUSES (Child Abuse Unit for Studies, Education and Services) is currently providing direct services to Dwight mothers--especially those whose children are in placement with DCFS. The coordinator can be reached at (312) 883-7169.
C. Record of Visits and Telephone Calls
Staff are to maintain a record of parent-child visits on the CFS 497, Part V, Visiting Record and telephone calls to the mothers on the CFS 492, Case Entry.