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Q&A

Kinship placement evaluation and support services

4:42:01

·

83 sec

Council Member Stevens inquires about the factors considered when evaluating kinship placements and the support provided to family members new to foster care. Commissioner Dannhauser outlines the process and services:

Initial assessment focuses on safety, including local clearance, child input, and home evaluation
Ongoing training and support provided to kinship caregivers
Enhanced financial support in the early days of placement
Assistance with apartment fixes when necessary
Efforts to reduce trauma by minimizing time spent at the Children's Center
Child and family specialists given more responsibility and tools to support families upfront

The commissioner emphasizes the goal of reducing trauma for young people entering care and providing comprehensive support to kinship caregivers.

Althea V. Stevens

4:42:01

What factors are considered when evaluating if a young person should be placed in the home of a family member?

4:42:06

What supportive services and guidance is provided to family members who are new to foster care but have the potential to provide more stability and familiar home settings to youth?

Jess Dannhauser

4:42:16

So the initial assessment is really a safety assessment.

4:42:19

We do a local clearance, we talk to the child, understand if they feel safe in that home, we talk to and assess the home.

4:42:27

And then there's the ongoing once they're there there's ongoing training and support.

4:42:32

As I was mentioning earlier we have enhanced the support that we're providing in those early days.

4:42:37

Additional resources so that they can make ends meet.

4:42:41

We have made fixes to apartments where necessary.

4:42:45

Providers have some budget dollars related to that as does the ACS folks.

4:42:52

So we really try to reduce the trauma to young people coming into care.

4:42:57

We have seen a fairly important downtick in the census at the Children's Center.

4:43:04

We have a ways to go, but we're really trying to make sure young people are not stuck in situations where they don't have placement.

4:43:12

We see sort of horror stories nationally in that regard.

4:43:16

But we have given the child and family specialist, that social worker, more responsibility and tools to support families upfront.

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Efforts to improve foster care placement stability

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ACS staffing overview and vacancy distribution