trial home visit foster care

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Updated OSRI Quality Assurance Guide

• The OSRI Quality Assurance Guide is recommended for use by reviewers and those conducting all levels of quality assurance (QA) to ensure that OSRI data are accurate, complete, and consistent. The first bullet under “Period Under Review” beginning on page 2 of the QA guide has been updated to ensure consistent understanding of the practice that reviewers should assess during the PUR. Previously, a new section was added, "Instructions for Foster Care Cases Involving a Trial Home Visit (THV)," to provide guidance when rating foster care cases in which the target child or their sibling(s) went home on a trial home visit during the PUR. The English version is available now. An updated Spanish version will be posted soon.

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45 CFR § 1356.21 - Foster care maintenance payments program implementation requirements.

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(a) Statutory and regulatory requirements of the Federal foster care program. To implement the foster care maintenance payments program provisions of the title IV-E plan and to be eligible to receive Federal financial participation (FFP) for foster care maintenance payments under this part, a title IV-E agency must meet the requirements of this section, 45 CFR 1356.22 , 45 CFR 1356.30 , and sections 472, 475(1), 475(4), 475(5), 475(6), and for a Tribal title IV-E agency section 479(B)(c)(1)(C)(ii)(II) of the Act .

(b) Reasonable efforts. The title IV-E agency must make reasonable efforts to maintain the family unit and prevent the unnecessary removal of a child from his/her home, as long as the child's safety is assured; to effect the safe reunification of the child and family (if temporary out-of-home placement is necessary to ensure the immediate safety of the child); and to make and finalize alternate permanency plans in a timely manner when reunification is not appropriate or possible. In order to satisfy the “reasonable efforts” requirements of section 471(a)(15) (as implemented through section 472(a)(2) of the Act), the title IV-E agency must meet the requirements of paragraphs (b) and (d) of this section. In determining reasonable efforts to be made with respect to a child and in making such reasonable efforts, the child's health and safety must be the paramount concern.

(1) Judicial determination of reasonable efforts to prevent a child's removal from the home.

(i) When a child is removed from his/her home, the judicial determination as to whether reasonable efforts were made, or were not required to prevent the removal, in accordance with paragraph (b)(3) of this section, must be made no later than 60 days from the date the child is removed from the home pursuant to paragraph (k)(1)(ii) of this section.

(ii) If the determination concerning reasonable efforts to prevent the removal is not made as specified in paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section, the child is not eligible under the title IV-E foster care maintenance payments program for the duration of that stay in foster care.

(2) Judicial determination of reasonable efforts to finalize a permanency plan.

(i) The title IV-E agency must obtain a judicial determination that it has made reasonable efforts to finalize the permanency plan that is in effect (whether the plan is reunification, adoption, legal guardianship, placement with a fit and willing relative, or placement in another planned permanent living arrangement) within twelve months of the date the child is considered to have entered foster care in accordance with the definition at § 1355.20 of this part, and at least once every twelve months thereafter while the child is in foster care.

(ii) If such a judicial determination regarding reasonable efforts to finalize a permanency plan is not made in accordance with the schedule prescribed in paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section, the child becomes ineligible under title IV-E at the end of the month in which the judicial determination was required to have been made, and remains ineligible until such a determination is made.

(3) Circumstances in which reasonable efforts are not required to prevent a child's removal from home or to reunify the child and family. Reasonable efforts to prevent a child's removal from home or to reunify the child and family are not required if the title IV-E agency obtains a judicial determination that such efforts are not required because:

(i) A court of competent jurisdiction has determined that the parent has subjected the child to aggravated circumstances (as defined in State , or for a Tribal title IV-E agency, Tribal law, which definition may include but need not be limited to abandonment, torture, chronic abuse, and sexual abuse);

(ii) A court of competent jurisdiction has determined that the parent has been convicted of:

(A) Murder (which would have been an offense under section 1111(a) of title 18, United States Code, if the offense had occurred in the special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the United States) of another child of the parent;

(B) Voluntary manslaughter (which would have been an offense under section 1112(a) of title 18, United States Code, if the offense had occurred in the special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the United States) of another child of the parent;

(C) Aiding or abetting, attempting, conspiring, or soliciting to commit such a murder or such a voluntary manslaughter; or

(D) A felony assault that results in serious bodily injury to the child or another child of the parent; or,

(iii) The parental rights of the parent with respect to a sibling have been terminated involuntarily.

(4) Concurrent planning. Reasonable efforts to finalize an alternate permanency plan may be made concurrently with reasonable efforts to reunify the child and family.

(5) Use of the Federal Parent Locator Service. The State agency may seek the services of the Federal Parent Locator Service to search for absent parents at any point in order to facilitate a permanency plan.

(c) Contrary to the welfare determination. Under section 472(a)(2) of the Act , a child's removal from the home must have been the result of a judicial determination (unless the child was removed pursuant to a voluntary placement agreement) to the effect that continuation of residence in the home would be contrary to the welfare, or that placement would be in the best interest, of the child. The contrary to the welfare determination must be made in the first court ruling that sanctions (even temporarily) the removal of a child from home. If the determination regarding contrary to the welfare is not made in the first court ruling pertaining to removal from the home, the child is not eligible for title IV-E foster care maintenance payments for the duration of that stay in foster care.

(d) Documentation of judicial determinations. The judicial determinations regarding contrary to the welfare, reasonable efforts to prevent removal, and reasonable efforts to finalize the permanency plan in effect, including judicial determinations that reasonable efforts are not required, must be explicitly documented and must be made on a case-by-case basis and so stated in the court order.

(1) If the reasonable efforts and contrary to the welfare judicial determinations are not included as required in the court orders identified in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, a transcript of the court proceedings is the only other documentation that will be accepted to verify that these required determinations have been made.

(2) Neither affidavits nor nunc pro tunc orders will be accepted as verification documentation in support of reasonable efforts and contrary to the welfare judicial determinations except for a Tribal title IV-E agency for the first 12 months that agency's title IV-E plan is in effect as provided for in section 479B(c)(1)(C)(ii)(I) of the Act .

(3) Court orders that reference State or Tribal law to substantiate judicial determinations are not acceptable, even if such law provides that a removal must be based on a judicial determination that remaining in the home would be contrary to the child's welfare or that removal can only be ordered after reasonable efforts have been made.

(e) Trial home visits. A trial home visit may not exceed six months in duration, unless a court orders a longer trial home visit. If a trial home visit extends beyond six months and has not been authorized by the court, or exceeds the time period the court has deemed appropriate, and the child is subsequently returned to foster care, that placement must then be considered a new placement and title IV-E eligibility must be newly established. Under these circumstances the judicial determinations regarding contrary to the welfare and reasonable efforts to prevent removal are required.

(f) Case review system. In order to satisfy the provisions of section 471(a)(16) of the Act regarding a case review system, each title IV-E agency's case review system must meet the requirements of sections 475(5) and 475(6) of the Act .

(g) Case plan requirements. In order to satisfy the case plan requirements of sections 471(a)(16), 475(1) and 475(5)(A) and (D) of the Act , the title IV-E agency must promulgate policy materials and instructions for use by staff to determine the appropriateness of and necessity for the foster care placement of the child. The case plan for each child must:

(1) Be a written document, which is a discrete part of the case record, in a format determined by the title IV-E agency, which is developed jointly with the parent(s) or guardian of the child in foster care; and

(2) Be developed within a reasonable period, to be established by the title IV-E agency, but in no event later than 60 days from the child's removal from the home pursuant to paragraph (k) of this section;

(3) Include a discussion of how the case plan is designed to achieve a safe placement for the child in the least restrictive (most family-like) setting available and in close proximity to the home of the parent(s) when the case plan goal is reunification and a discussion of how the placement is consistent with the best interests and special needs of the child. (FFP is not available when a court orders a placement with a specific foster care provider);

(4) Include a description of the services offered and provided to prevent removal of the child from the home and to reunify the family; and

(5) Document the steps to finalize a placement when the case plan goal is or becomes adoption or placement in another permanent home in accordance with sections 475(1)(E) and (5)(E) of the Act . When the case plan goal is adoption, at a minimum, such documentation shall include child-specific recruitment efforts such as the use of State , Tribal, regional, and national adoption exchanges including electronic exchange systems.

(h) Application of the permanency hearing requirements.

(1) To meet the requirements of the permanency hearing, the title IV-E agency must, among other requirements, comply with section 475(5)(C) of the Act .

(2) In accordance with paragraph (b)(3) of this section, when a court determines that reasonable efforts to return the child home are not required, a permanency hearing must be held within 30 days of that determination, unless the requirements of the permanency hearing are fulfilled at the hearing in which the court determines that reasonable efforts to reunify the child and family are not required.

(3) If the title IV-E agency concludes, after considering reunification, adoption, legal guardianship, or permanent placement with a fit and willing relative, that the most appropriate permanency plan for a child is placement in another planned permanent living arrangement, the title IV-E agency must document to the court the compelling reason for the alternate plan. Examples of a compelling reason for establishing such a permanency plan may include:

(i) The case of an older teen who specifically requests that emancipation be established as his/her permanency plan;

(ii) The case of a parent and child who have a significant bond but the parent is unable to care for the child because of an emotional or physical disability and the child's foster parents have committed to raising him/her to the age of majority and to facilitate visitation with the disabled parent; or,

(iii) the Tribe has identified another planned permanent living arrangement for the child.

(4) When an administrative body, appointed or approved by the court, conducts the permanency hearing, the procedural safeguards set forth in the definition of permanency hearing must be so extended by the administrative body.

(i) Application of the requirements for filing a petition to terminate parental rights at section 475(5)(E) of the Social Security Act .

(1) Subject to the exceptions in paragraph (i)(2) of this section, the title IV-E agency must file a petition (or, if such a petition has been filed by another party, seek to be joined as a party to the petition) to terminate the parental rights of a parent(s):

(i) Whose child has been in foster care under the responsibility of the title IV-E agency for 15 of the most recent 22 months. The petition must be filed by the end of the child's fifteenth month in foster care. In calculating when to file a petition for termination of parental rights, the title IV-E agency:

(A) Must calculate the 15 out of the most recent 22 month period from the date the child is considered to have entered foster care as defined at section 475(5)(F) of the Act and § 1355.20 of this part;

(B) Must use a cumulative method of calculation when a child experiences multiple exits from and entries into foster care during the 22 month period;

(C) Must not include trial home visits or runaway episodes in calculating 15 months in foster care; and,

(D) Need only apply section 475(5)(E) of the Act to a child once if the title IV-E agency does not file a petition because one of the exceptions at paragraph (i)(2) of this section applies;

(ii) Whose child has been determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be an abandoned infant (as defined under State or for a Tribal title IV-E agency, Tribal law). The petition to terminate parental rights must be filed within 60 days of the judicial determination that the child is an abandoned infant; or,

(iii) Who has been convicted of one of the felonies listed at paragraph (b)(3)(ii) of this section. Under such circumstances, the petition to terminate parental rights must be filed within 60 days of a judicial determination that reasonable efforts to reunify the child and parent are not required.

(2) The title IV-E agency may elect not to file or join a petition to terminate the parental rights of a parent per paragraph (i)(1) of this section if:

(i) At the option of the title IV-E agency, the child is being cared for by a relative;

(ii) The title IV-E agency has documented in the case plan (which must be available for court review) a compelling reason for determining that filing such a petition would not be in the best interests of the individual child. Compelling reasons for not filing a petition to terminate parental rights include, but are not limited to:

(A) Adoption is not the appropriate permanency goal for the child; or,

(B) No grounds to file a petition to terminate parental rights exist; or,

(C) The child is an unaccompanied refugee minor as defined in 45 CFR 400.111 ; or

(D) There are international legal obligations or compelling foreign policy reasons that would preclude terminating parental rights; or

(iii) The title IV-E agency has not provided to the family, consistent with the time period in the case plan, services that the title IV-E agency deems necessary for the safe return of the child to the home, when reasonable efforts to reunify the family are required.

(3) When the title IV-E agency files or joins a petition to terminate parental rights in accordance with paragraph (i)(1) of this section, it must concurrently begin to identify, recruit, process, and approve a qualified adoptive family for the child.

(j) Child of a minor parent in foster care. Foster care maintenance payments made on behalf of a child placed in a foster family home or child care institution, who is the parent of a son or daughter in the same home or institution, must include amounts which are necessary to cover costs incurred on behalf of the child's son or daughter. Said costs must be limited to funds expended on items listed in the definition of foster care maintenance payments in § 1355.20 of this part.

(k) Removal from the home of a specified relative.

(1) For the purposes of meeting the requirements of section 472(a)(1) of the Act , a removal from the home must occur pursuant to:

(i) A voluntary placement agreement entered into by a parent or guardian which leads to a physical or constructive removal (i.e., a non-physical or paper removal of custody) of the child from the home; or

(ii) A judicial order for a physical or constructive removal of the child from a parent or specified relative.

(2) A removal has not occurred in situations where legal custody is removed from the parent or relative and the child remains with the same relative in that home under supervision by the title IV-E agency.

(3) A child is considered constructively removed on the date of the first judicial order removing custody, even temporarily, from the appropriate specified relative or the date that the voluntary placement agreement is signed by all relevant parties.

(l) Living with a specified relative. For purposes of meeting the requirements for living with a specified relative prior to removal from the home under section 472(a)(1) of the Act , all of the conditions under section 472(a)(3), and for Tribal title IV-E agencies section 479B(c)(1)(C)(ii)(II) of the Act , one of the two following situations must apply:

(1) The child was living with the parent or specified relative, and was AFDC eligible in that home in the month of the voluntary placement agreement or initiation of court proceedings; or

(2) The child had been living with the parent or specified relative within six months of the month of the voluntary placement agreement or the initiation of court proceedings, and the child would have been AFDC eligible in that month if s/he had still been living in that home.

(m) Review of payments and licensing standards. In meeting the requirements of section 471(a)(11) of the Act , the title IV-E agency must review at reasonable, specific, time-limited periods to be established by the agency:

(1) The amount of the payments made for foster care maintenance to assure their continued appropriateness, and that the amount made to a licensed or approved relative or kinship foster family home is the same as the amount that would have been made if the child was placed in a licensed or approved non-relative foster family home;

(2) The amount of the payments made for adoption assistance to assure their continued appropriateness; and

(3) The licensing or approval standards for child care institutions and foster family homes.

(n) Foster care goals. The specific foster care goals required under section 471(a)(14) of the Act must be incorporated into State law or Tribal law by statute, code, resolution, Tribal proceedings or administrative regulation with the force of law.

(o) Notice and right to be heard. The title IV-E agency must provide the foster parent(s) of a child and any preadoptive parent or relative providing care for the child with timely notice of and the opportunity to be heard in any proceedings held with respect to the child during the time the child is in the care of such foster parent, preadoptive parent, or relative caregiver. Notice of and opportunity to be heard does not include the right to standing as a party to the case.

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• MA for Children in Foster Care

2.5.6.3 Medical Assistance for Children in Foster Care (MA-FC)

All children in foster care, regardless of Title IV-E eligibility, are eligible for Medical Assistance (MA-FC) the month the child enters foster care, without a health care application or financial eligibility requirements.

Children in foster care are required to enroll in managed care and receive the same MA covered services as other MA-eligible children. See DHS-3860 for a list of covered services. Children in foster care do not have co-pays or other cost sharing.

Overview of Foster Care

Foster care is temporary out-of-home care for children. Children who cannot safely remain with their family may be placed in a family foster home or group residential facility. This includes youth age 18-21 in extended foster care who move to supervised independent living settings, such as a dorm or apartment.

When a child enters foster care, the county or tribal social services agency is granted legal responsibility for the child. A social services case manager is assigned to the child to determine the need and appropriateness, authority, and funding for the child’s foster care placement. The case manager acts on the child’s behalf to ensure the child receives necessary services and benefits, including Medical Assistance (MA) eligibility, while in placement. The case manager collaborates with the health care eligibility worker to obtain information needed to approve MA immediately upon placement in foster care and to maintain MA eligibility for the child throughout placement.

The foster care placement begins the date the child is removed from their home by the authority of a 72-hour law enforcement emergency protective hold (i.e. 72-hour hold), court order, or voluntary placement agreement.

Children enter foster care in a variety of ways, such as:

• Child is court ordered into placement, under the placement responsibility of the county or tribal social service agency, through the juvenile court or tribal court as a child protection matter.
• Child's removal is initiated by a delinquency court petition and
• the county or tribal social service agency was given placement responsibility through a court action or by the signing of a Voluntary Placement Agreement, or
• the county/community corrections department has placement responsibility and there is a Title IV-E agreement in place between the social service agency and corrections department making them a designee of the social service agency, or
• the social service agency and corrections department are considered an umbrella agency (Umbrella Counties are Dakota, Nobles and Olmsted County).
• Child is removed under the authority of a 72-hour hold.
• Voluntary placement through an agreement between the parent and the county or tribal social service agency.
• Voluntary placement agreement between a youth, age 18 to 21 who is remaining in or re-entering extended foster care, and county or tribal social service agency.

Trial Home Visits

A child who returns home on a trial home visit (THV) remains in foster care and eligible for MA under the foster care basis of eligibility. Children on a THV are considered to be in foster care because the county or tribal social service agency has care and placement responsibility for the child during the THV.

72-Hour Hold

A child who is removed under the authority of a 72-hour hold is in foster care and is eligible for MA under the foster care basis of eligibility, regardless of whether a court order has been issued to transfer placement and care responsibility to the county or tribe.

This chapter includes policies that apply to MA for children in foster care.

MA-FC General Requirements

MA-FC Mandatory Verifications

MA-FC Non-Financial Eligibility

MA-FC Basis of Eligibility

MA County Residency

MA-FC Financial Eligibility

MA-FC Post-Eligibility

MA Medical Support

MHCP Change in Circumstances

MA-FC Health Care Delivery

MA-NAA, MA-NKA, and MA-FC Title IV-E and Medicare

MA Referral for Other Benefi ts

      Children in foster care are not required to apply for other benefits as a condition of MA eligibility.

MA-FC Renewals

Legal Citations

Code of Federal Regulations, title 42, section 435.145

Minnesota Statues, section 256B.055

Published: January 1, 2023

Previous Versions Previous Versions

Manual Letter #19.2, June 1, 2019

Manual Letter #16.1 June 1, 2016 (Original Version)

© 2019 Minnesota Department of Human Services

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2021 Minnesota Statutes Chapters 245 - 267 — Public Welfare And Related Activities Chapter 260D — Child In Voluntary Foster Care For Treatment Section 260D.12 — Trial Home Visits; Voluntary Foster Care For Treatment.

When a child is in foster care for treatment under this chapter, the child's parent and the responsible social services agency may agree that the child is returned to the care of the parent on a trial home visit. The purpose of the trial home visit is to provide sufficient planning for supports and services to the child and family to meet the child's needs following treatment so that the child can return to and remain in the parent's home. During the period of the trial home visit, the agency has placement and care responsibility for the child. The trial home visit shall not exceed six months and may be terminated by either the parent or the agency within ten days' written notice.

2014 c 291 art 11 s 35

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Ga :: child welfare policy manual :: chapter 9 eligibility :: section 9.10 special situations (trial home visits, runaway, parenting youth in foster care and out-of-state iv-e foster care).

CODES/REFERENCES  

Title 45 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1356.21(e)

REQUIREMENTS

The Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) shall:

• Notify the Revenue Maximization (RevMax) Specialist (RMS) via the Notification of Change (NOC) in Georgia SHINES anytime a child in foster care is placed on a trial home visit, runs away or has a child.
• Ensure that a trial home visit does not exceed six months in duration, unless the court orders a longer trial home visit  (see policy  10.24 Foster Care: Trial Home Visits ).  NOTE:  If a trial home visit extends beyond six months without authorization by the court, or exceeds the time authorized by the court, and the child subsequently returns to foster care, the placement must be considered a new placement. IV-E eligibility must be newly established including judicial determinations regarding contrary to the welfare and reasonable efforts to prevent removal .
• Provide foster care maintenance payments for a child, who is not in DFCS custody, but is placed together with their parenting youth in foster care.
• Maintain responsibility for initial and ongoing IV-E determinations for any Georgia child placed outside the state.  NOTE:  Any IV-E eligible child in foster care in Georgia who is placed in another state shall be eligible for medical coverage in that state.
• Provide medical coverage for any IV-E eligible child placed in Georgia from another state.
• Retain responsibility for medical coverage of any child not IV-E eligible placed outside of Georgia.  NOTE:  The sending state shall retain responsibility for medical coverage for a child not IV-E eligible in foster care placed into Georgia from another state.

Trial Home Visits or Runaways

The Social Services Case Manager (SSCM) will:

• Track the length of time a child is on a trial home visit or runaway status.
• Notify the RMS via a NOC in Georgia SHINES of the trial home visit or runaway episode.  NOTE:  The RMS will terminate IV-E reimbursability for a IV-E eligible child.
• New eligibility determinations are not required if the child returns to foster care within six months or prior to any court authorized extension of a trial home visit.
• New determinations of all eligibility factors, including judicial determinations of “contrary to the welfare” and “reasonable efforts”, are required if the child returns to foster care after six months or after the court authorized period for a trial home visit as this is considered a new placement episode.

Parenting Youth in Foster Care

The SSCM will:

• Notify the RMS via the NOC in Georgia SHINES when a youth in foster care gives birth, indicating whether the youth and child are in the same placement and whether DFCS obtained custody of the child.
• Request a Payment of Care waiver to add the child to the minor parent’s foster care per diem, if the child is placed with the minor parent and is not in DFCS custody.
• Fax the Medical Assistance Application to the appropriate RMS.
• Notify the RMS that the Medical Assistance Application is for the child of a parenting youth in DFCS custody.
• Complete the Person Detail for the child in the parenting youth’s case in Georgia SHINES.
• Complete an initial Medicaid and IV-E Foster Care Application on behalf of the child, if DFCS obtains custody of the child (see policy  9.2 Eligibility: Applying for Medical   Services at Initial Entry and Exit  and policy  9.3 Eligibility: Applying for Initial Funding ).

Out-of-State IV-E Foster Care

• Complete all required information in Georgia SHINES.
• Notify the RMS via the NOC in Georgia SHINES of the child’s placement out-of- state.
• Obtain verification from the RMS of the child’s continuing IV-E eligibility. The RMS will update the placement in Georgia Gateway and close the Georgia Medicaid case.
• Notify and provide verification to the receiving state of the child’s IV-E foster care status.
• Provide instructions to the out-of-state placement provider for obtaining Medicaid in the receiving state.
• Complete a Medicaid Application in a Non-Incident Foster Care Child (FCC) stage for the ICPC IV-E foster child (determined IV-E by the sending state).
• Submit the Medicaid Application to RevMax for processing in Georgia Gateway.
• Child is receiving IV-E foster care per diem from the sending state.
• Child is currently in Georgia in an approved foster care placement.
• Child is under the age of 18.
• Child’s social security number.
• Child’s foster home address.
• Complete all required information and updates in Georgia SHINES.
• Send a NOC via Georgia SHINES to the RMS to notify them of the child’s placement out-of-state.
• Notify the receiving state that the child is not IV-E eligible.
• Discuss medical options with the child’s placement provider and determine if there is an out-of-state medical provider willing to become a Georgia Medicaid provider.  NOTE:  The legal state of the child in foster care is responsible for any costs for a child that is determined to be not IV-E eligible.

The Social Services Supervisor (SSS) will:

• Compliance with trial home visit timeframes.
• Diligent efforts are being made to locate a runaway child (see policy  19.22 Case   Management: Missing Child ).
• Notification to RevMax via the NOC in Georgia SHINES of the trial home visit, runaway status, birth of a child by a youth in foster care or placement of a child out- of-state.
• Submission of a Medicaid Application for an out-of-state IV-E child placed in Georgia.
• Provide guidance to the SSCM, as needed.

PRACTICE GUIDANCE

Trial Home Visit

A trial home visit refers to the circumstance when a child in DFCS custody returns to the home from which he or she was removed for a time period designated by the juvenile court. A trial home visit should be less than six months unless extended by the court, in order not to adversely affect a child’s IV-E eligibility/reimbursability. DFCS retains legal custody for the duration of a trial home visit. Although a IV-E eligible child retains medical assistance during a trial home visit, the child is not eligible to receive IV-E payments. Parents cannot be paid a per diem for caring for their own children.

The Title IV-E program allows for states to claim reimbursement for the cost of an infant living in the same placement of the parenting youth in foster care without requiring DFCS to obtain custody of the infant (see policy  9.1 Eligibility: Foster Care Maintenance Payments ). The added cost of care for the infant is reimbursed through the parenting youth’s IV-E status. Only one payment is made to the placement provider. State funds may be used if the child remains in the custody of a parenting youth in foster care who is not IV-E eligible.

If the child of a parenting youth in foster care is ever removed and placed apart from his or her parent, judicial placement authority must be obtained by DFCS. The infant would be entered into Georgia SHINES as a foster child and a Medicaid Application and IV-E Application for Foster Care would have to be submitted to RevMax. If the issues requiring the removal from

the parenting youth in foster care are addressed and the court sanctions reunification, the child may be placed in the same placement as the parenting youth and not lose IV-E eligibility or reimbursability.

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Minnesota Statutes 260D.12 – Trial Home Visits; Voluntary Foster Care for Treatment

Terms used in minnesota statutes 260d.12.

• Trial : A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.

When a child is in foster care for treatment under this chapter, the child’s parent and the responsible social services agency may agree that the child is returned to the care of the parent on a trial home visit. The purpose of the trial home visit is to provide sufficient planning for supports and services to the child and family to meet the child’s needs following treatment so that the child can return to and remain in the parent’s home. During the period of the trial home visit, the agency has placement and care responsibility for the child. The trial home visit shall not exceed six months and may be terminated by either the parent or the agency within ten days’ written notice.

Fostering Idaho

Foster. serve. support..

What is Foster Care?

Foster care provides a home to children and youth who are temporarily separated from their families due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or the death of their caregivers. A safe return to the child(rens) biological home is the primary goal. Foster care is an opportunity to care for children who will benefit greatly from your love and support. 

Who are the Children?

• Range in age from 0-18.
• May be part of a sibling group (2 or more).
• Come from diverse ethnic and cultural populations.
• May have medical, mental and/or physical health issues.
• May have developmental delays.
• Have suffered trauma due to neglect or abuse.

All foster children are affected by the separation from their family. Sometimes this stress and worry shows up in their behavior. A supportive foster home makes all the difference in helping these resilient children thrive.

Who Can be a Foster Parent?

A foster parent provides a safe, nurturing temporary home for children in foster care. Every race, ethnicity, marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity/expression are needed to foster. To be considered for a foster care license, an applicant must:

• 21+ years old, no maximum age to foster
• Have sufficient regular income to maintain your own family without foster care reimbursement
• Pass a background check
• Complete training & home study/licensing process

Ready to learn more about the Foster Care Program?

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Adoption assistance for placing parents.

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More From Forbes

How we can prevent children from entering the traditional foster care system.

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Gary Ivory is the president and CEO of Youth Advocate Programs, Inc .

In the United States, many children enter the traditional foster care system—and find themselves living with strangers under an unfamiliar roof.

Consider data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which revealed that in 2021, 203,770 youths in the United States below the age of 18 moved into the foster care system, which is “a rate of 3 per 1,000.” The organization also found that children between the ages of one and five comprised the “largest share (29% in 2021) of children entering care.” Additionally, according to the foundation, “Black and Amer­i­can Indi­an and Alas­ka Native chil­dren con­tin­ue to be over­rep­re­sent­ed among those enter­ing fos­ter care. In 2021, Black chil­dren rep­re­sent­ed 20% of those enter­ing care but only 14% of the total child pop­u­la­tion, while Amer­i­can Indi­an and Alas­ka Native kids made up 2% of those enter­ing care and 1% of the child pop­u­la­tion.”

Some situations call for foster care, such as physical abuse. But even in those cases, traditional foster care shouldn’t be the default solution; kinship care should be the first resort. Moreover, some children are removed for neglect, and in certain situations, I’ve observed that what the government deems neglect stems from poverty, namely, families having to work several jobs to make ends meet and not having adequate supervision of their children. In such cases, foster care outside of the child’s family circle shouldn’t be the answer—by taking certain steps, we can prevent children in these situations from entering the traditional foster care system and keep families together.

Offering Community Support

Community support is one of the most effective ways to prevent children from entering the traditional foster care system. Community and faith-based organizations can work together to help low-income families and other families with complex needs get the childcare and financial support they need. Providing resources to licensed child care providers to extend services or making volunteers available to sit down with a family to help them enroll in a food assistance program are two ways of many that communities can work to prevent children from being placed in the traditional foster care system.

At my nonprofit, we use what we call our “YAP Wrap” model, which is the same model we use to lower youth incarceration and residential care placements . In our model, advocates (who are paid and trained employees with our organization) get paired with the program participants we serve. These advocates go into participants’ homes and provide individualized support—parenting guidance, connections to food and utility resources, rides to work and even respite care when needed to help families. Such services are especially important at the investigation level, where (usually) state government officials look into a child’s situation at home and make the decision to remove them. Through our model, families receive support for up to six months to prevent the investigation from escalating to the removal of a child. Other nonprofits providing economic, educational and emotional needs services that work with us in the communities we serve are key to the success of this approach.

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In the unfortunate event of an investigation leading to removal, I advocate for kinship care—placing a child with a family member, such as an aunt or grandparent, or with a trusted person who knows the family instead of in traditional foster care. There’s much progress to be made in this area. According to data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, between 2021 and 2023, only 3% of children were in kinship care in the United States.

There are adverse mental health effects of being in traditional foster care. Additionally, there can be serious long-term consequences, such as incarceration later in life. Findings from a 2012 study that examined the outcomes of people ages 23 and 24 who had been in the Texas foster care system, for instance, found that “rates of involvement with the criminal justice system among alumni were disturbingly high. One in ten interviewed alumni (11.1%) was currently incarcerated. Nearly seven in ten males (68.0%) had been arrested since leaving care, 55.2% had been convicted of a crime, and 62.3% had spent at least one night incarcerated.” The study also noted that while “the rates of criminal justice involvement were lower for females, these rates were all higher than for the general population.” I believe that the more children we can divert into kinship care versus traditional foster care, the more we can increase their chances of having positive, successful lives. However, to maximize children’s chances of thriving, we should strive to have more children in kinship care than traditional foster care by ensuring that kinship care providers are given the financial and other resources given to traditional foster parents. In addition, my team and I have found that providing adequate ancillary or “flex funds" is critical to meeting the unmet needs of young people and their caregivers. We can reduce the utilization of traditional foster care while keeping young people safe—and on a path toward permanency.

Providing Help To Youths Post-Foster Care

When children leave the traditional foster care system, either by being adopted or reunited with their families, they need support to adjust. Strong social programs are crucial. For example, through Oregon’s Guardianship Assistance Program , adoptive guardians can get financial help to assist with “adaptive equipment or therapeutic activities that support the child’s needs.”

Not every child who enters traditional foster care gets adopted or reunited with their family. Sometimes, youths end up aging out of the foster care system altogether. It’s crucial for states to have permanency plans in place to help youths navigate life post-foster care. For instance, in Texas, PAL (Preparation for Adult Living) assists older youths with getting ready to leave the foster care system. Specifically, the services they receive “include life skills assessments, life skills trainings, a transitional living allowance, aftercare room and board, and case management services.” Our nonprofit has worked with Texas and other states to help develop permanency plans. Other approaches that aren’t exclusively centered on youths who are leaving foster care are important, too. For instance, there are the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Thrive by 25 partnerships , which aim to help youths between 14 and 24 years old “build skills and enter the work­force while sup­port­ing their basic needs and rela­tion­ships with fam­i­ly and mentors.”

Ultimately, there are better ways this country can help children. Foster care with strangers shouldn’t be the default answer. Instead, when we all work together to prevent children from being removed from their homes and getting placed into the traditional foster care system, we can cultivate better futures for youths.

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Foster Care and Child Welfare

Readers discuss a guest essay about removing children from troubled homes.

To the Editor:

Re “ To Protect Kids, We Need More Foster Care, Not Less ,” by Naomi Schaefer Riley (Opinion guest essay, May 13):

Pieces like this express concern about the well-being of children while ignoring the daily harms caused by family separation. The trauma of being ripped away from their parents and placed in the foster system with strangers often results in children developing a host of challenges, including poor mental and physical health, low educational achievement, high rates of homelessness and early pregnancy, and involvement in criminal activities.

The overreliance on family separation for children who aren’t in any immediate danger destroys families who could have remained together with the right support. The parents we work with every day love their children, but they often lack access to vital resources like secure housing, child care, nutritious food, mental health care and transportation.

In New York, allegations of neglect — many times because of a lack of resources — account for the vast majority of complaints against parents. We know that Black and brown families are especially vulnerable to being separated during invasive and coercive investigations.

Rather than overfunding punitive systems that do more harm than good, we must invest in the health and stability of vulnerable families.

Tehra Coles New York The writer is executive director of the Center for Family Representation.

This essay cogently highlights the well-intentioned but often dangerous trend of keeping children in risky settings. Unfortunately, it’s not only keeping children out of foster care; it’s also how many child welfare officials now approach adoption — seeking to have children be with their birth family, even when it is unsafe or when reunification efforts have failed for years.

In 1997 Congress sought to solve the problem of children lingering in foster care by passing the Adoption and Safe Families Act to limit how long children spent in the child welfare system before initiating the adoption process. Shortly after the bipartisan law was passed, timelines for children in foster care significantly decreased. Now, this law is largely ignored .

The most recent child welfare data show that 20 percent of the nearly 370,000 children in foster care have been in the system for three or more years, which means children spending more time without the love of an adoptive family.

Ryan Hanlon Alexandria, Va. The writer is president of the National Council for Adoption.

I have worked in the child welfare system as an attorney representing foster youth in the Bay Area for 18 years. The greatest flaw of the system, in my view, is the child welfare agency’s failure to identify family or family friends immediately upon removal of a child from their parent(s), so the child can safely remain in the care of someone they know, whether temporarily or longer term.

The act of removing a child from their parent(s) and placing them in a foster home with “strangers” has documented and obvious damaging consequences to a child’s emotional, physical and psychological health. The time that child welfare agencies often take to identify, contact and clear a relative or family friend for placement is problematic. More emphasis and resources must be devoted to this stage of the case.

A society that unequivocally cares about children would eliminate barriers that child welfare agencies create to circumvent and delay placing a child who they determine must be removed from parental care with a familiar face. Those of us working in this field witness the traumatic impact of this flawed system on children and families daily.

Vicki Trapalis San Francisco

Naomi Schaefer Riley attributes children’s deaths to efforts by child welfare agencies to keep at-risk families together. However, she fails to account for the many cities and states where significant reductions in children entering foster care have not led to any uptick in child maltreatment fatalities, such as New York City, Texas and New Jersey.

Data shows that the two trends described — efforts to reduce family separation and increased fatalities — are not happening in the same places. Texas, for instance, has recently reduced both foster care placement and fatalities, while both have increased in Georgia.

Research published in the Children and Youth Services Review shows that horrific child fatalities like Phoenix Castro’s, cited by Ms. Riley, represent “extreme outliers,” and that sensationalized media coverage leads to “foster care panics,” when child welfare agencies make politically conservative decisions that separate families unnecessarily, traumatizing children.

It’s important that we understand the facts about these tragic but rare deaths and the policies that actually protect children.

Nora McCarthy New York The writer is the director of the NYC Family Policy Project, a think tank.

The author uses the age-old tactic of highlighting an outlier case where a child tragically dies in the care of their parent as justification for erring on the side of caution and removing children from their families.

The reality is that unlike the horror stories that are portrayed in the media, physical and sexual abuse accounted for only 17 percent of the children that were removed from their parents last year. Most removals are due to “neglect,” a nebulous and vague term because poverty is often conflated with neglect.

And for those children who are placed in foster care, safety is far from guaranteed. One study found that children in foster care were 42 percent more likely to die than those in the general population. Multiple studies show that foster children experience physical and sexual abuse at higher rates than the general population. Many children have died in foster care.

Our society continues to perpetuate the well-debunked myth that foster care ensures that children will live better lives. As Naomi Schaefer Riley admits, “Foster care is not a panacea.” That’s the one thing we can agree upon.

Shanta Trivedi Baltimore The writer is faculty director of the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts and an assistant professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Couple reunites with foster care children after nearly 20 years: ‘Like they were never gone’

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. ( WMBF /Gray News) - May is Foster Care Awareness month, and a Myrtle Beach couple is sharing their story about the joys of being foster care parents.

Gregg and Karen Oberlander said they spent years trying to have children without success until realizing they were called to a bigger mission.

“God had that plan when I was grieving not being able to have my own children; he was just preparing my heart to have over 100 kids,” Karen Oberlander said.

The couple first became foster care parents to two twin girls and their older sister in 2001 while living in Ohio.

Since then, 140 children have called the Oberlander house their home, something the couple said has been a dream come true.

“The whole fostering program is reaching out to others and helping other families,” Gregg Oberlander said. “I just can’t imagine what life would’ve been like without all of these kids that have come through.”

The two moved to South Carolina in 2017 and have since taken on a respite role, giving full-time foster parents some relief.

The veteran caretakers thought they had seen it all until some familiar faces phoned home.

“We get a phone call 17 years later from the twins,” Karen Oberlander said. “They asked us if they could come back and be a part of our family.”

The couple said the reunion with the very first children who were placed in their home is a moment they’ll never forget.

“When they came down the escalator and into our arms, it was amazing,” Karen Oberlander said.

Greg Oberlander added, “It was like they were never gone. There was a bond already there that never left.”

The two said they wouldn’t change a thing and encourage everyone who can to open up their home.

“We would tell them it’s a great way to serve,” Karen Oberlander said. “It’s a great way to take care of those around you. Children need help and anybody can do it. You just have to have a heart for kids and a heart for service.”

Through fostering, the Oberlanders adopted three boys and now have their original three foster daughters living with them once again.

Copyright 2024 WMBF via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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What's happening with the mail processing pause? Senator Hoeven explains

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - A few weeks ago, members of our congressional delegation called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to pause mail processing changes at certain locations in North Dakota, Bismarck included. The Postmaster agreed to the pause.

Senator John Hoeven said the Inspector General is reviewing what the post office is doing. He said the postal service has to demonstrate that any changes it makes will actually improve service. Hoeven said post office administrators are talking about taking some of the processing for outbound mail from the Bismarck and Grand Forks center and centralizing it in a Fargo regional center.

“What I said to them when they proposed that was, ‘Hey, you need to come out and explain to the public how you’re going to do that and answer their questions.’ They did not do that, and that’s why we put the stop to them going forward until they come back with a process,” said Hoeven.

Hoeven said they are still anticipating the full district-wide audit to be completed in June, which will tell us where the post office is doing well and where they are deficient. He said the postal service will have to address these findings.

Copyright 2024 KFYR. All rights reserved.

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KFYR First News at Six - Sportscast 06/01/24