Child protection, foster care, adoption: Policies and procedures

Here you'll find links to documents to help you get things done. It's not a comprehensive list. Much more detail can be found in various manuals, bulletins and statutes, to which there are links below, plus PartnerLink, our site for county and tribal agency partners.

Help with

Child welfare

• Northstar Care Practice Guide DHS-7024 (PDF)
• Minnesota Assessment of Parenting for Children and Youth (MAPCY) Practice Guide DHS-7060 (PDF)

Child protection

• Improves assessments of family situations to better determine the protection needs of children
• Increases consistency and accuracy in case assessment and case management among child abuse and/or neglect within a county and among tribes
• Increases the efficiency of child protection operations by making the best use of available resources
• Provides management with needed data for program administration, planning, evaluation and budgeting.

• Minnesota Child Maltreatment Intake, Screening and Response Path Guidelines, DHS-5144 (PDF)
• Engaging Families in Voluntary Child Welfare Service Practice Guide, DHS-5881C (PDF)

Foster care

• Six steps to becoming a foster parent.
• Information on required background studies
• Minnesota's Adoption and Child Foster Care Application, (DHS-4258A) (PDF)
• Form used to initiate Home Study Assessment, DHS-4258E (PDF)

• Identify, locate, and continue availability of services for children under state care or supervision who are displaced or adversely affected by a disaster
• Respond, as appropriate, to new child welfare cases in areas adversely affected by a disaster, and provide services in those cases
• Remain in communication with caseworkers and other essential child welfare personnel who are displaced because of a disaster
• Preserve essential program records, and coordinate services and share information with other states. [Section 422 (b)(16) of the Social Security Act]

County and tribal staff should work with contracted providers to identify roles and responsibilities and include these provisions in their contract for services.

Background on this requirement

Across the country, natural disasters, man-made crises, or medical events can affect the routine ways child welfare agencies operate and serve children, youth and families. It is especially important for agencies caring for vulnerable populations, such as abused and neglected children, to prepare for these disasters. Federal statute, under the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006, now requires states, counties and tribes to develop and maintain plans in preparation for a disaster.

Create a Disaster Plan

• Assess the types of disasters the agency might face.
• Develop a child welfare disaster preparedness plan (coordinate with department-level and statewide disaster plans, assign person responsible, consult with stakeholders, identify expectations for providers, write the plan—how to manage, build critical infrastructure, prioritize).
• Conduct or participate in drills at all levels
• Update the plan regularly.

Prepare to Manage

• Designate managers in charge and their backups
• Identify essential functions; designate staff and their backups to oversee these functions, provide training; plan for communication
• Assign other critical roles (media, volunteers, liaisons to other states, liaisons to contract agencies, federal partners and courts)
• Stress leadership
• Consider post-disaster workload demands and resources
• Identify locations for operations (prepare buildings, consider generators, determine possible alternative locations)
• Prepare disaster supply kits
• Consider cash flow.

Enhance Critical Infrastructure

• Coordinate with key partners
• Work with emergency management agencies
• Establish liaisons with other states/counties to coordinate services and share information
• Build collaborations with other relevant county agencies and programs Collaborate with service providers
• Coordinate with courts
• Establish liaisons with state partners
• Identify potential volunteers and their tasks

Develop communication systems:

• Establish toll free numbers
• Establish and use internal communication systems
• Designate Web sites for disaster information
• Arrange for and use communication technology.

Strengthen information systems:

• •Build on existing plans
• Store critical information in statewide automated systems
• Provide access to automated systems
• Protect vital records (e.g., off-site backup, protect computers)
• Protect equipment
• Assess paper records.

Prepare staff and contractors:

• Encourage staff to develop personal disaster plans and keep them updated; store plan information so it is accessible during a disaster
• Require staff to check in after disasters and provide information on how to do so
• Keep emergency supplies in offices
• Train all staff on agency disaster plan; participate in drills
• Establish support services for staff
• Develop expectations and support for contracted staff.

Prepare families, providers and youth:

• Require foster families, families in the process of adopting state wards, and providers to develop disaster plans and keep them updated; store plan information so it is accessible during a disaster
• Require families, providers and youth to check in after disasters
• Provide families, providers and youth with information on emergency preparedness
• Prepare birth families and families receiving in-home services
• Collect critical identifying information for birth parents when possible; store contact information so it is accessible during a disaster
• Offer training.

Child Welfare Disaster Preparation Plan: Minimum Criteria

Foster parents, relative caregivers, adoptive families, group homes, residential treatment centers, other facilities serving children in the care of child welfare agencies (e.g., psychiatric hospitals), and all children in the child welfare system, must be included in disaster preparedness planning. They need to know what to do during a disaster, and that the agency needs to locate them. In case of a natural or man-made disaster:

• How will the child welfare agency identify, locate, and continue service availability for children in out-of-home placement who are displaced or adversely affected by a disaster?
• How will the child welfare agency respond to new child welfare cases in areas adversely affected by a disaster, and provide services in those cases?
• How will the agency remain in communication with caseworkers and other essential child welfare personnel who are displaced because of a disaster?
• How will the agency preserve essential program records?
• How will the agency coordinate services and share information with providers and states/counties? (e.g., children placed out of state, counties who may need to use resources across state/county borders)

Resources

• Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
• Guide to the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
• Regulation Number 7 – Expedited Placement Decision
• Recommended Time Lines for Placements
• Placement Type Checklist
• Finding Permanency for Children in Foster Care: Transfer of Permanent Legal and Physical Custody to a Relative DHS-7591 (PDF)

For more information, contact mn.icpc@state.mn.us or call 651-431-4727.