NEVADA DIVISION OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES
Placement Resources
Placement
Resources Families
When the
safety and protection of a child cannot be met in the
parent’s or caregiver’s home, substitute care in the
form of relative (kinship) care, foster care,
residential therapeutic care, adoption, or other planned
permanent living arrangements may become necessary. The
removal of a child from his or her natural environment
is taken only as a last resort, as part of the overall
continuum of services provided by DCFS and the counties
providing child welfare services. When it becomes
necessary, child welfare agencies place children with
available resource families. Resource families are
families who exist to meet the needs of Nevada’s waiting
children. Resource families may be relatives, fictive
family, foster parents, therapeutic foster care parents
and adoptive parents. With a resource family, a child
may begin with an emergency shelter-care placement,
emerge into foster care, with a final outcome of an
adoption – and never leave the original resource family
home. A resource family is a family who is committed to
a child regardless of the child’s needs and level of
care.
It is
recognized that children in out-of-home placements
succeed with a minimal number of placement disruptions.
History demonstrates that children succeed when they are
allowed to stay in the same family, even if the
placement type changes.
Kinship
Care
When a
child must be removed from his/her home, the first
placement option considered is kinship (relative) care.
The family is engaged in identifying relative placement
options currently not living in the home. This can
include a non-custodial parent, aunts and uncles, or
grandparents. In some cases, fictive family is
considered as a placement for a child. Fictive families
are those individuals who have played a significant role
in the life of the child and are willing to accept
placement of the child into their home. This can include
a neighbor, a member of the clergy, or a teacher. If it
suspected that the child is Native American, applicable
ICWA guidelines are followed.
Once a
kinship care provider has been identified, they must be
able to demonstrate all the same health and safety
requirements as traditional foster parents. They must
submit to local and national criminal background checks,
as well as a child abuse and neglect check. The kinship
care provider must also demonstrate a willingness and
capability to provide a safe, stable and nurturing
environment.
Relative
Guardianships
The 2001
Legislature passed Assembly Bill 15, a kinship care bill
jointly supported by the Welfare Division and DCFS. The
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Subsidized
Guardianship program has been operational since October
2002. In an effort to support permanency for children,
the legislation allows for any specified relative over
the age of 62, who is caring for a relative child and
who has legal guardianship, to receive TANF assistance
up to the amount of the state foster care payment. They
may receive medical assistance through Medicaid, respite
care, childcare, and other services. This program does
not require that the child is in the custody or care of
a child welfare agency, and is open to any qualifying
relative guardian. Other requirements are included to
assure the safety of the child and to provide support
services to the families. Relatives who wish to receive
a foster care maintenance payment must meet the same
licensing requirements as any family foster care.
Foster Care
When relatives cannot
be located for a child who requires out-of-home
placement services, the child welfare agency must
utilize traditional foster care. As in kinship care, a
child welfare caseworker is assigned by the child
welfare agency to arrange the necessary care and
services for the child. The worker provides direct
counseling to the child, biological parents, and the
foster/substitute care provider. The worker is the
accountability and communication link between district
court, the child, the biological parent, and the
foster/substitute care provider. In cases where the
permanency plan is reunification, caseworkers are
responsible for initiating a case plan with the family
to ensure reunification occurs in a timely manner. This
includes ensuring that a family assessment is conducted
that includes an assessment of needs and services. In
those cases where it has been determined that it is not
in the best interest of the child to return home, the
caseworker is responsible for ensuring that other
permanency options are explored and pursued. Generally,
these options include permanent kinship placement,
adoption, or other planned permanent living arrangement.
Residential
Therapeutic Care
In some cases children
have emotional and/or behavioral issues that do not
allow placement in a kinship or traditional foster care
setting. In these circumstances children are often
placed into a residential therapeutic care living
situation. DCFS provides a full continuum of residential
therapeutic care including residential centers,
treatment group homes and therapeutic foster care to
meet the needs of children in foster care with
emotional/behavioral issues. The difference between each
type of residential care is the increased need for
supervision, skill building, therapeutic intervention,
specialized treatment and number of foster children in
the home. Currently there are 294 licensed group homes
statewide. Seventy percent (70%) are in Clark County.
All providers must meet NAC 424 group home licensing
standards as well as additional requirements for
providers of therapeutic care. In addition, therapeutic
care providers are required to develop treatment and
discharge plans.
Foster Care
Licensing
When a child is
removed from his/her home, and it becomes necessary to
place the child with a resource family, the family must
meet all minimum licensing standards as established by
NRS 424. The licensing process helps to determine
whether the resource family can provide suitable care
for the child. To assure an acceptable level of care is
maintained, the licenses are renewed annually. An annual
on-site visit to the home must be made for each annual
and renewal license issued. Foster care licenses include
resource families who are providing foster care,
emergency shelter care, group (higher level) care,
interstate compact, and adoption. Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) background checks are conducted on
all applicants and residents 18 years of age or older
living in the home. In 2004 a new home study and family
assessment, the Structured Analysis Family Evaluation
(SAFE), was adopted statewide to help standardize the
family assessment process and to provide more accurate
and timely matches between children and potential
resource families.
Resource families are
required to attend a pre-service training and
orientation prior to obtaining a license. The training
curriculum is offered in both English and
Spanish-language versions in all agencies providing
child welfare services. All of the training sessions are
co-taught by current and former foster/adoptive parents
with state or county professional staff. After the
initial license is issued, resource families must
complete 4 hours of advanced training per year in order
to keep the license current.
Many foster care
children become adopted by the resource families with
whom they live. While this is certainly in the best
interest of the child, the adoption may effectively
close that foster care home. There is a constant need
for targeted recruitment and retention activities to
replace those homes closed.
