{"Multiple_Choice__287":"Brittany Lochner","Short_Answer__288":"Janet Bowman, Jen Goodman, Wendy Woessner, Jess VanKuyk","Multiple_Choice__425":"CFSR Item 6 - Permanency: 24 months","Multiple_Choice__290":"SCIR","Date__289":"10\/27\/2020","Yes_or_No__372":"No","Yes_or_No__375":"No","Multiple_Choice__377":"4","Multiple_Choice__378":"Wright","Short_Answer__380":"Brooke","Short_Answer__381":"Dahlheimer","Date__382":"04\/17\/2009","Multiple_Choice__383":"2","Short_Answer__384":"The subject child was in placement for 3 years, 9 months prior to adoption being finalized.","Free_Text__385":"The children were in a pre-adoptive home with an aunt and uncle when the case was transferred to the A\/G worker. The worker did not identify any barriers in getting the adoption placement agreement (APA) signed by the aunt and uncle. Once the APA was signed, the worker indicated that things started to change. The aunt and uncle separated and the children stayed with the aunt. The agency was navigating through which one of them would adopt the children and ultimately, they both still wanted to adopt them. The agency consulted with DHS and it was determined to continue to pursue the aunt for adoption. The aunt signed a second APA and the worker continued to gather supporting documentation to accompany the APA, while working on completing the social\/medical history. The worker stated that they had court hearings every 3 months during this time and did not feel the court contributed to the delay in getting the adoption finalized.\r\n\r\nThe worker talked about the amount of paperwork and time it takes to gather supporting documentation when working on an adoption. She indicated that getting the social\/medical history filled out \u201cgood enough\u201d takes the most time; however, they have made some changes and are now having the ongoing worker get a start on the social\/medical history and gathering the documentation to help speed up the process once it gets transferred to the A\/G worker.","Free_Text__386":"The subject child being in placement for 3 years, 9 months prior to adoption being finalized was influenced by complexity of cases for children who have been in OOHP, the amount of documentation, placing with relatives, and the ability of training to meet the needs of staff.  The complexity of these cases can create confusion of timelines for adoption finalization. Due to this complexity, agencies utilize support through consultation with other agencies, which may lead to misunderstandings and inconsistent practice regarding requirements of the licensing of families. Timelines for these cases are guided by statute and these statutory timelines may not be realistic for completing all aspects needed to finalize adoption. There are various influences contributing to the difficulty in meeting these timelines, including; the county attorney\u2019s workload, the need to have exact information for the completion of court documents, and other court processes such as CHIPS cases and trials taking precedence over other court cases. \r\n\r\nAnother factor that influences the perception that timelines may not be realistic is the size of DHS. It can be difficult to identify where to go for assistance when needed and after finding this, agencies may need to contact multiple program areas within DHS to move forward; adding time to adoption finalization. Additionally, staffing levels at DHS lengthen the time it takes to process background studies and social histories and sometimes, more time is needed to adjust information on the background studies, ultimately leading to the time it takes to finalize adoption. After this information is processed, there also exists legal constraints; incomplete information results in the need for court orders to be amended and permanency finalization cannot be completed until all information is accurate. Further supporting the perception that timelines may not be realistic.\r\n\r\nAn additional influence into the length of time it takes for adoption to be finalized is the fact that social history information doesn\u2019t automatically get pulled from SSIS, which results in workers having to manually locate this information. This information comes from many different sources; including other workers within the agency, as well as, other various medical, health, and educational records. Getting complete information from all of these sources can be difficult and it takes time depending on where this information is held. Pressure to place with relatives also exists at all levels of our system, which can influence the time it takes for adoption to be finalized (i.e. state statute, Judges, state and local levels). The time it takes to locate relatives, assess the ability to meet the child\u2019s needs, and navigate through the uniqueness that each family brings, can lengthen the time it takes in the overall effort to finalize adoption.\r\n\r\nFurthermore, in relation to adoption, trainings are broad and may not teach what needs to be completed on each case and, although trainings exist, local agencies are not always aware of when these trainings are offered by DHS. Specifically, trainings are typically focused on Northstar and paperwork duties. Often times, non-relative providers have had training and supports prior to receiving a placement and this may not be the case for relative providers. Because of this, relative providers may require more support during onboarding and throughout the placement.","Short_Answer__387":"The children experienced a placement disruption after being in relative\/pre-adoptive home for 24 months.","Free_Text__388":"The worker indicated that when the children were initially placed in foster care, they were placed with the siblings paternal grandparents and then the children went back home with the mother on a trial home visit for approximately 2 months. The children returned to foster care in February 2017 and were placed with an aunt and uncle (pre-adoptive home). The aunt and uncle separated in the summer\/fall of 2018 and the children went to live with the aunt. At this point, the aunt and uncle both wanted to pursue adoption of the children and the agency was working with them to try and make that happen. However, following consultation within the agency and with DHS, it was determined that the agency would move forward with the aunt for adoption. The worker stated that the children and the aunt reported no concerns during home visits, which supported the agency continuing to pursue adoption with the aunt. During a home visit in January 2019, the siblings reported that things weren\u2019t going very well in the aunt\u2019s home and asked to move with the paternal grandparents. During this time, the grandparents had filed a petition with the court requesting that the children be placed with them. The agency continued efforts with the aunt; however, after talking with the children, the aunt, and the grandparents, it was decided that the children would move into the grandparents\u2019 home, which took place in January 2019. The agency was hesitant to place and pursue adoption with the grandparents due to past experiences; however, they moved forward and the children were adopted in May 2020.","Free_Text__389":"The children experienced a placement disruption after being in a relative\/pre-adoptive home for 24 months which was influenced by the provider and child requesting a change in placement. Supporting a request for a change in placement was the availability of services, including culturally sensitive services to support children and families (i.e. transportation, mental health, etc.), coupled with the needs of the family and the children. Specifically, the services available did not match the needs of the child, including mental health and trauma related services. These services not being available for the child created additional stressors in the family environment. Additionally, in some cases, added stressors within the family and the absence of supportive services may increase the possibility of abuse and neglect occurring. When abuse and\/or neglect occurs within a family, this can influence a provider or child requesting a change in placement. Additionally, a change in the family situation also supported the provider and the child requesting a change in placement.\r\nThere was also an existence of pressure to place the sibling group with relatives, which was supported by statutory and state guidance, such as, the Best Interest Factors and the Sibling Bill of Rights. This pressure to place with relatives creates gaps in training for prospective foster care providers and also impacts staff availability to provide the training to the providers, prior to a child being placed in their home. The availability of staff to provide support to families was influenced by the time it takes to enter required data into the system (SSIS, paperwork, etc.) and confusion about who provides the support when there are multiple workers on a case, which can contribute to a placement disruption.","Multiple_Choice__400":"2","Free_Text__401":"LP #1: The subject child being in placement for 3 years, 9 months prior to adoption being finalized was influenced by complexity of cases for children who have been in OOHP, the amount of documentation, placing with relatives, and the ability of training to meet the needs of staff.  The complexity of these cases can create confusion of timelines for adoption finalization. Due to this complexity, agencies utilize support through consultation with other agencies, which may lead to misunderstandings and inconsistent practice regarding requirements of the licensing of families.","Multiple_Choice__402":"2","Free_Text__403":"LP #1: Additionally, limited staffing levels at DHS lengthen the time it takes to process background studies and social histories and sometimes, more time is needed to adjust information on the background studies, ultimately leading to the time it takes to finalize adoption. \r\n\r\nLP #2: This pressure to place with relatives creates gaps in training for prospective foster care providers and also impacts staff availability to provide the training to the providers, prior to a child being placed in their home. The availability of staff to provide support to families was influenced by the time it takes to enter required data into the system (SSIS, paperwork, etc.) and confusion about who provides the support when there are multiple workers on a case, which can contribute to a placement disruption.","Multiple_Choice__404":"0","Multiple_Choice__406":"2","Free_Text__407":"LP #1: An additional influence into the length of time it takes for adoption to be finalized is the fact that social history information doesn\u2019t automatically get pulled from SSIS, which results in workers having to manually locate this information","Multiple_Choice__408":"2","Free_Text__409":"LP #1: Another factor that influences the perception that timelines may not be realistic is the size of DHS. It can be difficult to identify where to go for assistance when needed and after finding this, agencies may need to contact multiple program areas within DHS to move forward; adding time to adoption finalization. \r\n\r\nThis information comes from many different sources; including other workers within the agency, as well as, other various medical, health, and educational records. Getting complete information from all of these sources can be difficult and it takes time depending on where this information is held.\r\n\r\nLP #2: . The availability of staff to provide support to families was influenced by the time it takes to enter required data into the system (SSIS, paperwork, etc.) and confusion about who provides the support when there are multiple workers on a case, which can contribute to a placement disruption","Multiple_Choice__410":"2","Free_Text__411":"LP #1: Furthermore, in relation to adoption, trainings are broad and may not teach what needs to be completed on each case and, although trainings exist, local agencies are not always aware of when these trainings are offered by DHS. Specifically, trainings are typically focused on Northstar and paperwork duties. Often times, non-relative providers have had training and supports prior to receiving a placement and this may not be the case for relative providers.","Multiple_Choice__412":"0","Multiple_Choice__414":"2","Free_Text__415":"LP #1: Timelines for these cases are guided by statute and these statutory timelines may not be realistic for completing all aspects needed to finalize adoption. \r\n\r\nPressure to place with relatives also exists at all levels of our system, which can influence the time it takes for adoption to be finalized (i.e. state statute, Judges, state and local levels).\r\n\r\nLP #2: There was also an existence of pressure to place the sibling group with relatives, which was supported by statutory and state guidance, such as, the Best Interest Factors and the Sibling Bill of Rights.","Multiple_Choice__416":"2","Free_Text__417":"LP #1: There are various influences contributing to the difficulty in meeting these timelines, including; the county attorney\u2019s workload, the need to have exact information for the completion of court documents, and other court processes such as CHIPS cases and trials taking precedence over other court cases. \r\n\r\nThe time it takes to locate relatives, assess the ability to meet the child\u2019s needs, and navigate through the uniqueness that each family brings, can lengthen the time it takes in the overall effort to finalize adoption.\r\n\r\nLP #2: The availability of staff to provide support to families was influenced by the time it takes to enter required data into the system (SSIS, paperwork, etc.) and confusion about who provides the support when there are multiple workers on a case, which can contribute to a placement disruption.","Multiple_Choice__418":"2","Free_Text__419":"LP #2: The children experienced a placement disruption after being in a relative\/pre-adoptive home for 24 months which was influenced by the provider and child requesting a change in placement. Supporting a request for a change in placement was the availability of services, including culturally sensitive services to support children and families (i.e. transportation, mental health, etc.), coupled with the needs of the family and the children. Specifically, the services available did not match the needs of the child, including mental health and trauma related services.","Multiple_Choice__420":"0","Multiple_Choice__422":"0","Yes_or_No__424":"Yes"}