Texas Register, Volume 5, Number 25, Pages 1229-1308, April 1, 1980 Page: 1,262
1229-1308 p. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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.133. Ongoing SSrvices to Foster Families.
(a) The protective services unit which certifies a foster
home is responsible for supervision and providing support
services to the foster family. This includes a minimum of one
home visit every three months by the home development
worker. Quarterly'visits should focus on specific concerns
with the foster parents themselves. Recording should cover
the family lifestyle, ways parents cope with stressful situa-
tions, relationships to own children, relationships of natural
children to foster children, any significant changes in the
family composition or functioning since the last quarterly
visit, and foster parents' understanding of agency policy.
Special skills or strengths of foster parents and areas in
which they need help or support be identified. The foster
home record should maintain enough current information
about the foster home and family for children's workers to
determine whether the home should be considered for in-
dividual children.
(b) The following principles apply to work with foster
parents:
(1) The department delegates to the foster family the
responsibility for daily care and nurture of the child.
(2) The child's worker must share social, medical,
psychological, and school history information about the
child's needs for care and supervision with the foster parents.
(3) The foster parents must be involved in service
planning for the child.
(4) The foster family must keep the worker informed
how the child is adjusting in the home, school, and com-
munity, and of any problems that arise. Serious illness, acci-
dents, or serious occurrences involving the foster child must
be reported immediately to the foster child's worker and
documented in the child's record. Foster care workers must
report accidents or serious occurrences to the Licensing Divi-
sion.
(5) The worker must help the foster family cope with
problems presented by the child which are affecting relation-
ships within the foster home.
(6) The child's worker is responsible for determining
if the child's physical and emotional needs are being met, for
linking the child and foster family to community resources,
and for future planning for the child.
(7) The foster child and foster family must be ade-
quately prepared before each placement and before each
removal unless the child's safety requires otherwise.
(8) The foster family should be given at least two
weeks advance notice prior to removal of a foster child except
in an emergency situation. The worker should discuss with
them and the child their feelings of separation, guilt, grief,
and anger. The worker should discuss with foster parents
and the child the reason for the move and future plans for the
child.
(9) When the foster family requests removal of a
child, the family should give at least two weeks notice to
allow the department time to make other plans for the child
and to prepare the child for the move. The foster family
should help in a positive manner to prepare the child for the
move. If a delay in the move would be injurious to the child,
this policy should be waived.
(10) The department is responsible for decisions
about who can visit, telephone, or write the child. The worker
and foster parents must mutually decide whether parents,
siblings, and other relatives can visit the child in the foster
home. This decision will be made on what is in the best in-terest of the child, and whether a visit in the foster home will
be a positive experience for the child.
(11) Reports of abuse or neglect by foster parents are
to be investigated.
(12) The department is required to provide or ar-
range for foster parent training and foster parents are re-
quired to participate in training.
(13) Foster children may be adopted by foster
parents when the child is legally free and it is in the best in-
terest of the child.
(14) Children's workers must regularly contact the
foster parents to carry out the department's legal and profes
sional responsibility for the foster children.
(15) Any experience that is potentially harmful to
the foster child or to others in the family or community man-
dates the intervention of the case worker.
(16) When there is to be a change in a foster home
worker, the current worker and the new worker should pre-
pare the foster parents for this change by joint contact with
both workers and the foster parents: If this is not possible,
the current worker should prepare the foster parents before
the change.
(17) Foster home workers and workers responsible
for the children in the foster home, if different workers,
should have regular contact to discuss the strengths and
weaknesses of the foster parents, resolve any problems and
share any information relating to the child.
(18) Volunteers, case aides, and field placement stu-
dents under the supervision of the foster home worker may
assist the worker in providing support services to the foster
family.
S.134. Foster Parent Associations. The department
strongly encourages the organization and development of
foster parent associations. Child welfare earned funds are
available for the development of community and parent
groups which are incorporated as private, nonprofit organiza-
tions.
. 135. Foster Group Home Care.
(a) A foster group home is a child care facility which
provides care for seven to 12 children 24 hours a day. The
following types of group homes may be used for DHR place-
ments:
(1) private families who are certified as DHR foster
group homes;
(2) independent foster group homes (not owned or
sponsored by an agency);
(3) group homes owned or sponsored by private non-
profit corporations or community groups which enter into a
contract with the department to operate the home;
(4) group homes operated by other child-placing
agencies or by private, nonprofit child caring institutions.
(b) Foster group home care is most appropriate for
older children and adolescents who:
(1) are moving away from dependence on parental
figures;
(2) need group living experiences and may be
grouped together on the basis of common needs such as
maternity care or vocational planning;
(3) have serious physical, mental, or emotional han-
dicaps that require specialized services;
(4) are returning to the community from more
sheltered or therapeutic settings and need an environmentVolume 5. Number 25, April 1, 1980
.
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Texas. Secretary of State. Texas Register, Volume 5, Number 25, Pages 1229-1308, April 1, 1980, periodical, April 1, 1980; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth244622/m1/34/: accessed May 14, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.