Attachment M: Children's Service Worker Responsibilities
The role of the Children’s Service Worker responsible for licensing is to coordinate the licensing and maintenance of all foster and kinship care homes. This coordination includes recruitment, training, and support of foster and kinship care providers. It also includes providing guidance and discipline to these providers and assuring the home continues to meet licensing standards. The licensing worker is responsible for obtaining and maintaining quality care providers for children in Division custody and to help staff locate appropriate placement for children entering Division custody.
The responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to:
- Responding to initial inquiries and screenings for care providers. This includes discussing foster parenting with potential providers, the conducting of (or referral to contractors for) screening, and reviewing families after screening for appropriateness to attend STARS.
- Provision of, or referral to contractors for, STARS and STARS for the Caregiver Who Knows the Child training. This includes the completion of assessments and the Foster Family Profile (CD-56) for the families and assuring that all required background screens are completed. (See CWM Section 6 Chapter 3 for required background checks.)
- Review assessments and the Foster Family Profile (CD-56) after the completion of STARS or STARS for the Caregiver Who Knows the Child. This review should be completed with the licensing supervisor or Circuit Manager and a decision should be made as to the approval or denial of the alternative care license. Once the review is completed, the worker should notify the family (in person) and the trainer of the decision to approve or deny the license application.
- Complete the licensing contracts and paperwork. Staff should complete all safety checklists and weapons agreements prior to issuing a license. (CS-45)
- Complete the Professional Family Development Plan (CD-100) with the family within 30 days of initial licensure and at each license renewal. The PFDP should be reviewed annually. The licensing worker should also discuss the family’s progress in PFDP at the quarterly home visits.
- Maintain file on resource family. (See CWM Section 5 Chapter 1 for information on file maintenance.)
- Conduct quarterly in-home visits with all licensed resource provider homes, which should include, but is not limited to, a walk through of the home to assure the home continues to meet licensing standards. If there are weapons in the home, the storage of these weapons must be reviewed with the family and the worker should request to review the storage. If, during the quarterly visits, it is determined that changes in the household composition have impacted information on the CD-56, a new CD-56 should be completed by the resource provider. The CD-56 should be returned to the local licensing worker within 10 business days.
- Assure computer records are updated. This includes any changes in address, licensing status, renewal dates and in-service training hours.
- Conduct renewal assessments on all foster and kinship care providers or refer to contracted agencies for completion of renewal assessment. (Guidelines for completion of renewal assessment are located in CWM Section 6 Chapter 3 Attachment D.)
- Keep track of training attendance, provide notification of available training, and provision of in-service training, as needed, to resource providers.
- Assist in the development and continuation of support groups for foster and kinship care providers.
- Assist in locating appropriate placement for children entering custody and those needing a change of placement. This includes maintaining a list of available providers, making phone calls to locate placement, help arranging pre-placement visits, and providing information to staff on the strengths and needs of placement providers. This also includes providing as much information on potential placements to resource providers as is available. Assure placement numbers do not exceed licensed capacity.
- Conduct reviews of all licensing issues brought to agency attention. This may be through staff notification, outside source notification (i.e. in home service providers, biological parents, etc), or OHI reports. These reviews should include the licensing supervisor and Circuit Manager or designee. Formal reviews shall be conducted on all OHI reports with Preponderance of Evidence findings and/or licensing concerns. The process for formal reviews can be located in CWM Section 6 Chapter 3 Attachment L.
Conduct exit interviews with all resource providers. This should be completed for those resource providers who choose to close their license as well as those homes that are revoked. The purpose of the exit interview is to determine if the agency may have been able to do something different or better to maintain this placement resource. This interview should be documented in the record.