Intake
of Children
Intake
Units - Social Work Investigators / Assessors utilize a standardized
twenty six element Risk Assessment Matrix Tool to assess the
level of risk to each child in every family where abuse or neglect
reports are made. When risk is identified, immediate safety
planning is initiated to prevent maltreatment or to assure safety.
Short term services are provided by the Intake Social Workers
to help the family identify, and rectify, the circumstances
which contribute to any ongoing risk for their children.
If child
safety cannot be assured at the time of investigation (because
of an inability or unwillingness by the parents to assure
safety and well-being, or due to a severity, chronicity or
multiplicity of family dysfunction) more intensive interventions
may be required.
Ongoing
Units - Ongoing Social Workers work with families which require
intensive services to assure child safety and well-being.
Ongoing Social Workers direct their efforts to helping families
identify and obtain necessary services to overcome underlying
behaviors and conditions which create an unhealthy or unsafe
environment for their children in their home. Utilizing the
Risk Assessment Matrix Tool as a template, a strength-base
case plan is developed with each family outlining the needed
changes, and necessary services, to assure a safe and healthy
home.
If parents
are unwilling or unable to voluntarily make the changes needed
to assure the ongoing safety and well-being of their children,
more intensive interventions - including Court intervention
or out of home placement may be required. Ongoing Social Workers
must then redouble and redirect their efforts to working with
the family the out of home caregivers and the court to reunify
the family as quickly as child safety and well-being can be
assured.
Again,
if parents remain unwilling or unable to make necessary changes
to assure child safety and well-being, even more intensive
intervention may be necessary to assure that the children
are assured a safe and permanent home. Ongoing Social Workers
are responsible for seeing that each of the children on their
caseload has a permanent home. When timely reunification is
not possible, the Ongoing Social Worker must petition the
court to secure Permanent Custody for adoptive placement.
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