Procedure
Goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound formed in the who/what/when section of the CFTM agenda.
What are SMART Goals?
The opportunity for the family and youth to help the team understand life prior to entering the child welfare system. This may include positive or negative experiences that have occurred as far back as the family chooses to share.
What is the Family Story?
An individual that has a professional relationship with a child and/or family.
What is a formal support?
A form used by trained CFTM facilitators to document the substance of a CFTM meeting.
What are Child and Family Team Meeting Notes?
If a child and/or parent wants their attorney to attend the CFT Meeting, then all attorneys that are a party to the case must be invited to the CFT Meeting. Often times, attorneys do not wish to attend, however, policy states we must extend the invitation.
Who are the parents/custodians?
This should include specific information about what level of supervision will be provided, the frequency and durations of visits, location of visits, name of the visit supervisor if applicable and any identified parenting goals or expectations.
Family members, friends, or neighbors, in the home or in the community that may provide support, assistance, or care to the family and/or child and could serve in this capacity in a sustainable way once the DCS case is closed.
What is an informal support?
A form used by the trained CFTM facilitators to take attendance and to gain the agreement of all team members that the information in the meeting will be kept confidential.
What is a Child and Family Team Meeting Attendance and Confidentiality Agreement?
A report must also be made to the Hotline upon discovery that there is a new child in the household of a parent, guardian, or custodian with an open DCS case (i.e., Informal Adjustment [IA], In-Home Child in Need of Services [CHINS], and Out-of-Home CHINS). A new child in the home may include a newborn infant or child that has moved into the home or regularly (on a continual basis) visits the home.
The maximum amount of time as defined by policy which can pass between Child and Family Team Meetings.
What is 90 days?
A plan for the care of the child(ren) in the event the family is unable to provide that care.
What is an Alternate Plan?
A parent's best friend attending a Child and Family Team Meeting.
What is an example of an informal support?
Within 7 calendar days of the Child and Family Team Meeting.
You're due to hold a child and family team meeting in a case in which parental rights were recently terminated. The permanency plan in the case is adoption. How do a hold CFTM in this scenario and with who?
These CFTMs should be child led and focused on getting the child to permanency. If a pre-adoptive placement exists consider inviting that placement's adoption attorney to get updates on where placement is at in the process. If a pre-adoptive placement does not yet exist or fell through consider inviting the adoption consultant to provide updates on adoption recruitment.
The root source of an individual’s and/or family’s challenges, which determines the appropriate use of services or interventions
What are underlying needs?
What are the domains of safety?
A child's teacher attending a child and family team meeting.
What is an example of a formal support?
What is the Child and Family Team Meeting Agenda?
You are hold a CFTM a month after a fact finding hearing that adjudicated the case a CHINS. You are holding a CFTM with the family in which you set a ground rule with all participants that the conversation is going to be focused on progressing the case forward. 10 minutes into the meeting, one of the parents begins to dispute that neglect/abuse ever occurred and that they want the case to be dismissed. How do you handle this situation?
It is important when setting ground rules that we explain to parents what ground rules are. Meaning we should have a pre-determined response to if a ground rule is broken. An example of how to approach this situation might be to issue a warning to the parent explaining this is in violation of a ground rule set at the onset of the meeting. If the behavior continues consider whether it is productive to continue holding the meeting or if certain individuals should be asked to leave.
Encourages and supports two-way communication between parents and the foster or kinship parents caring for their children.
What is Co-Care?
The stipulations put in place to make the meeting run as smoothly as possible.
What are ground rules?
A parent's alcoholic anonymous sponsor attending a Child and Family Team Meeting.
What is an example of a formal support?
The form used to gain a parent's approval to invite an individual to a CFTM.
Your conducting a CFTM for a case in which the main issues revolve around domestic violence. The alleged DV offender denies that DV is an issue or that DV has occurred when evidence states otherwise. The DV victim expresses no issue with the the DV offender attending the CFTM. What are important considerations to make with these facts?
It may initially be inappropriate to have the parent alleged to be the victim of DV and alleged DV offender attend the same CFT Meeting. Prior to each meeting DCS should evaluate the option of having the parent alleged to be the victim of DV and alleged DV offender attend the same CFT Meeting. Other options may be considered, such as a conference call with the alleged DV offender.