Informational & Practice Publications, Resources, & Tools

For Child Welfare Professionals

• Caseworker Visits with Families
  This National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC) information packet explores caseworker visits with families in foster care, provides related facts and statistics, discusses relevant legislation and policies, and presents an overview of best practices and model programs.  The publication concludes with a list of online resources for additional information. Written by Teija Sudol. (July 2009)

• State Standards and Capacity to Track Frequency of Caseworker Visits with Children in Foster Care
  This National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC) presentation summarizes the DHHS OIG Report OEI-04-03-00350, State Standards and Capacity to Track Frequency of Caseworker Visits with Children in Foster Care. (February 2006) 

• State Standards and Practices for Content of Caseworker Visits with Children in Foster Care
  This NRCPFC presentation summarizes the DHHS OIG Report OEI-04-03-00351, State Standards and Practices for Content of Caseworker Visits with Children in Foster Care. (February 2006)

		Training & Curricula

• Promoting Permanency Through Worker/Parent Visits
  This one day NRCPFC competency-based curriculum helps workers structure their visits with family to promote safety, well being and permanency.  It provides a review of what has been learned from the CFSR about the relationship between worker/parent visits and placement stability and permanency and gives workers seven developmental checklists and questions to assess safety and well being. Workers learn how to use a four step process to organize their visitation with family.
• Curriculum: 
  Promoting Permanency Through Worker/Parent Visits
• Module 1 Handout:
  Setting the Stage - Reviewing the Current Federal and State Child Welfare Mandates
• Module 2 Handout: 
  An Empowering Approach to Child Welfare Practice 
• Module 3 Handout: 
  Developmental Approach to Assessing Safety, Permanency and Well Being with Families
• Infants
• Toddlers
• Preschool
• School age
• Early Adolescence
• Middle Adolescence
• Late Adolescence
• Module 4 Handout: 
  Planning Our Face to Face Visits with Families

• Promoting Placement Stability and Permanency through Caseworker/Child Visits 
  Through the Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) process, it was found that there is a significant positive relationship between caseworker visits with children and a number of other indicators for safety, permanency and well-being.  This curriculum was developed by the NRCPFC in response to that clear indication that the importance of caseworker visits to children in foster care is positively correlated to outcomes for children and families.  This one day curriculum is intended to be part of either pre-service or ongoing training within a child welfare organization.  It builds on the concepts of attachment, strengths-based assessment and planning, child and youth development, effective interviewing and organizing contacts.  The curriculum allows caseworkers to practice some of these skills through role plays and preparatory activities.  The seven developmental checklists are tools for caseworker's to use as they begin to more intentionally structure their visits to focus on safety, permanence, and well being. (Updated May 2008)
• Curriculum: 
  Promoting Placement Stability and Permanency through Caseworker/Child Visits
• Module 1 Handout: 
  Setting the Stage - Reviewing the Current Federal and State Child Welfare Mandates 
• Module 2 Handout:
  An Empowering Approach to Child Welfare Practice
• Module 3 Handout: 
  Developmental Approach to Assessing Safety, Permanency and Well Being
• Additional Handouts for Module 3:
• Interviewing Children
• How the Unique Aspects of Adolescent Development Impact the Interview Dynamic 
• Safety Checklists and Well-Being & Permanency Questions
• Infants
• Toddlers
• Preschool
• School age
• Early Adolescence
• Middle Adolescence
• Late Adolescence
• Posters for Classroom
• Module 4 Handout:
  Planning for Visit with the Child, Youth and Their Foster Family 
• PowerPoint presentation:
  Promoting Placement Stability through Worker/Child Visits

		Teleconferences, Webinars, Webcasts & Videos

• Addressing the Use of Caseworker Visit Funds
  The Children’s Bureau, the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC), and the National Resource Center for In-Home Services hosted this webinar to address the use of caseworker visit funds (in keeping with the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act).  This webinar took place for State Foster Care Managers and Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program Grantee Managers.  Gail Collins, Director, Division of Program Implementation, Children’s Bureau, offered a policy overview and a brief overview of the caseworker data that States submitted from FY 2007-2011.  Representatives from New York and Georgia shared State examples, presenting on their use of Caseworker Visit Funds.  The webinar concluded with a question and answer/discussion period. (July 26, 2012)

• Enhancing Worker-Child and Worker-Parent Visits in Order to Achieve Child Safety, Permanency, and Well-Being
  The National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections (NRCPFC) and the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) hosted this teleconference on worker-child and worker-parent visiting.  Presenters provided an overview of critical factors in relationship building and engagement, State efforts to enhance worker visits, and enhancing worker visiting from a tribal perspective.  Available Training and Technical Assistance resources were also discussed and the teleconference concluded with a question and answer period.  (March 2005)

		Informational & Practice Publications, Resources, & Tools

For Child Welfare Professionals

• Getting To Outcomes® for Home Visiting 
  Published by the RAND Corporation and prepared for the State of New Mexico, this toolkit aims to support the implementation of home visiting programs.  It describes a 10-step process that helps empower groups to better plan, implement, and evaluate home visiting programs, with the goal of achieving the best possible outcomes.  The model presented in this manual is meant to provide specific guidance, yet be flexible enough to facilitate any home visiting program.  It also includes checklists, tools, tips, and additional helpful resources. (2013)

• Children’s Bureau: 7.3 TITLE IV-B, Programmatic Requirements 
  In this subsection of the Children Bureau’s Child Welfare Policy Manual (CWPM), the following eight questions are answered regarding Title IV-B programmatic requirements:

• For what population of children must the section 422 protections be provided?;
• Do the regulations at 45 CFR 205.10 require fair hearings for appeals related to services as well as financial claims?;
• Will States jeopardize their title IV-B funding if they choose not to apply for the CAPTA Basic State Grant (BSG)?;
• Can you clarify which children must be included in the State's report to ACF on overseas adoption disruptions and dissolutions under section 422(b)(12) of the Social Security Act?;
• Sections 424(e)(1) and (2) of the Social Security Act (the Act) require the State to provide data on monthly visits between a child in foster care and "the caseworker handling the case of the child" and to make progress toward 90 percent of children in foster care in the State being visited by "their caseworkers." Which caseworkers can fill these roles?;
• Are youth 18 and older who are in foster care included in the monthly caseworker visits requirements in sections 424(e)(2)(A) and 436(b)(4) of the Social Security Act? (this item has been deleted from the current CWPM, but may still be viewed for historical purposes;
• Must a State's standards for ensuring monthly caseworker visits as required by section 422(b)(17) of the Social Security Act (the Act) be applied to children placed in foster care outside the State?; and
• Does video conferencing between a child in foster care and his/her caseworker meet the Federal statutory provisions at 422(b)(17) for caseworker visits on a monthly basis?
  (Subsection last updated 2011)

 

		State Examples

• Kansas:  Preparing for Caseworker Visits – Monthly Individual Contact Form & FAQs
  The Kansas Youth Advisory Council developed these tools to help youth prepare for visits with their caseworkers.  The Monthly Individual Contact Form (PPS 3061) and Monthly Individual Contact FAQs (PPS 3061A) are available in English and Spanish on the Kansas Department for Children and Families website. (July 2012)

• Minnesota:  Training Videos Demonstrate Best Practices for Caseworker Visits
  Frequent, quality visits by caseworkers with children in foster care are essential to their safety and well-being at all ages.  At each developmental stage, their needs change, and so does the focus of the visit.  These nine brief videos from the Minnesota Department of Human Services each provide best practice suggestions for different scenarios involving foster children. (Updated April 2014)

• Caseworker Visits: Overview
• Visits with Infants and Toddlers
• Visiting Elementary-age Children
• Visits with Children Ages 10-12
• Visiting Youth Placed in Group Homes or Residential Facilities
• Preparing Foster Children for Visits with Birth Parents
• Caseworker Visits: Quality Visits
• Caseworker Visits: Building Stable Placements
• Caseworker Visits: Supporting Older Youth Transitioning to Independence
  

• Wisconsin:
  Caseworker Face-to-Face Contact Requirements for Children and Juveniles in Out-of-Home Placement 
  Regular and consistent face-to-face contacts by a child’s caseworker that are focused on the goals established in the case plan directly impacts positive outcomes for children and juveniles, including the management of safety, timely achievement of permanence, and improved well-being.  This policy by the Wisconsin DCF, establishes the requirement for caseworkers to have face-to-face contact at least once each and every full calendar month with children and juveniles who are living in an out-of-home placement. Additionally, this policy directs agencies on how to document information about the caseworker’s face-to-face contact in eWiSACWIS. (2012)