Attachment B: Career Parent Responsibilities and Employment
Career Parent Responsibilities and Employment
The Career Foster Parent(s) are the primary change agents for a child in Career Foster Care. Responsibilities include immediate response to any problem experienced by the child at home, school, or in the community. The Career Foster Parent(s) are further required to arrange and transport the child to all medical, dental, therapy appointments, visitations, to provide the child with opportunities for the recreation and social activities, to attend staffing and treatment planning meetings for the child, to work with biological parent/kin and to maintain detailed and accurate reports of significant events involving the child.
The scope of these responsibilities combined with the multi-level needs of the Career Foster Care (CFC) child adds up to a full-time job for the primary Career Parent caregiver. Accordingly, full-time employment outside the home by the primary Career Parent is not recommended by Division policy. There may however, be individual situations where part-time employment for the primary career parent would be reasonable for that home and family. It is also possible on rare occasions that the unique circumstances in a given family would warrant a formal exception to full time employment. (Example could include a Career home with a trained relative living close by, a teacher’s aide working in the same school as the child(ren) or a family recruited for one specific child.)
Submission of Plan for Employment
For consistency and assurance of good practice, all primary Career foster parent caregivers interested in work should submit to their local case manager a thorough, complete plan for meeting the needs of the child while at work. The plan is reviewed at the local level and then forwarded to the Area Director or designee for a decision. This process would apply to potential Career Parents where the primary Career Parent is already working and to approved families where the primary Career Parent desires to work. The request and plan should include the following information:
- Description of the job and work schedule;
- How the Career Parent(s) would be available 24-hours a day for immediate crisis response to the school, home and/or community;
- Where the child would be during the hours worked and who would be providing care for the child;
- Who would be transporting the child and providing support for the child during visits with parents and kin, counseling and medical appointment, recreation, social activities and other activities when the career parent is unavailable;
- How the Career Parent(s) would participate in all staffing and treatment planning meetings;
- How the Career Parent(s) would provide treatment and support to the biological parents/kin; and
- If Career children are now in the home, the potential impact on those children.
Factors for Regional Director Decisions
Decision by Regional Director or designee would take into account the following information:
- If Career children are in home, consult with local county staff, case managers and Family Support Team (FST) as to best interests of child(ren);
- If not currently a Career home, or home has no children in placement, consult with local county staff and licensing staff;
- Review number of foster children currently in the Career home and/or the number of children desired in future (for example, a potential career home recruited specially for a child who will be the only foster child in the home); and
- Assess all aspects of the plan, including the identified supports in place, consistency of care for the children, and overall feasibility.
After review and assessment of plan, the Regional Director or designee would make decision and notify the local Division office and the Career Parent.
Updates of CFP Plan
All Career Parents approved for work have the responsibility to notify Children’s Division (CD) of any changes in their employment. Significant changes in hours worked, support systems available, and impact on availability would require submission of a new request to the Area Director or designee.
Career Parents approved for work shall update their plan for work to their County Director on an annual basis.