§49-6D-3 Family case plans for parents of abused or neglected children. - West Virginia Statutes

§49-6D-3. Family case plans for parents of abused or neglected children.
(a) The department shall develop a family case plan for every family wherein a person has been referred to the department after being allowed an improvement period under the provisions of section twelve, article six of this chapter. The department may also prepare a family case plan for any person who voluntarily seeks child abuse and neglect services from the department, or who is referred to the department by another public agency or private organization. The family case plan is to clearly set forth an organized, realistic method of identifying family problems and the logical steps to be used in resolving or lessening those problems. Every family case plan prepared by the department shall contain the following:

(1) A listing of specific, measurable, realistic goals to be achieved;

(2) An arrangement of goals into an order of priority;

(3) A listing of the problems that will be addressed by each goal;

(4) A specific description of how the assigned caseworker or caseworkers and the abusing parent, guardian or custodian will achieve each goal;

(5) A description of the departmental and community resources to be used in implementing the proposed actions and services;

(6) A list of the services, including time-limited reunification services as defined in section three, article one of this chapter, which will be provided;

(7) Time targets for the achievement of goals or portions of goals;

(8) An assignment of tasks to the abusing or neglecting parent, guardian or custodian, to the caseworker or caseworkers and to other participants in the planning process;

(9) A designation of when and how often tasks will be performed; and

(10) The safety of the placement of the child and plans for returning the child safely home.

(b) In cases where the family has been referred to the department by a court under the provisions of this chapter, and further action before the court is pending, the family case plan described in subsection (a) of this section shall be furnished to the court within thirty days after the entry of the order referring the case to the department, and shall be available to counsel for the parent, guardian or custodian and counsel for the child or children. The department shall encourage participation in the development of the family case plan by the parent, guardian or custodian, and, if the child is above the age of twelve years and the child's participation is otherwise appropriate, by the child. It shall be the duty of counsel for the participants to participate in the development of the family case plan. The family case plan may be modified from time to time by the department to allow for flexibility in goal development, and in each such case the modifications shall be submitted to the court in writing. Reasonable efforts to place a child for adoption or with a legal guardian may be made at the same time as reasonable efforts are being made to prevent removal or to make it possible for a child to return safely home. The court shall examine the proposed family case plan or any modification thereof, and upon a finding by the court that the plan or modified plan can be easily communicated, explained and discussed so as to make the participants accountable and able to understand the reasons for any success or failure under the plan, the court shall inform the participants of the probable action of the court if goals are met or not met.

(c) (1) In addition to the family case plan provided for under the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, the department shall prepare, as an appendix to the family case plan, an expanded "worker's case plan". As utilized by the department under the provisions of this section, the worker's case plan shall consist of the following:

(A) All of the information contained in the family case plan described in subsection (c) of this section;

(B) A prognosis for each of the goals projected in the family case plan, assessing the capacity of the parent, guardian or custodian to achieve the goal and whether available treatment services are likely to have the desired outcome;

(C) A listing of the criteria to be used to assess the degree to which each goal is attained;

(D) A description of when and how the department will decide when and how well each goal has been attained;

(E) If possible, a listing of alternative methods and specific services which the caseworker or caseworkers may consider using if the original plan does not work; and

(F) A listing of criteria to be used in determining when the family case plan should be terminated.

(2) Because the nature of the information contained in the worker's case plan described in subdivision (1) of this subsection may, in some cases, be construed to be negative with respect to the probability of change, or may be viewed as a caseworker's attempt to impose personal values into the situation, or may raise barriers of hostility and resistance between the caseworker and the family members, the worker's case plan shall not be made available to the court or to persons outside of the department, but shall be used by the department for the purpose of confirming the effectiveness of the family case plan or for determining that changes in the family case plan need to be made.

(d) In furtherance of the provisions of this article, the department shall, within the limits of available funds, establish programs and services for the following purposes:

(1) For the development and establishment of training programs for professional and paraprofessional personnel in the fields of medicine, law, education, social work and other relevant fields who are engaged in, or intend to work in, the field of the prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse and neglect; and training programs for children, and for persons responsible for the welfare of children, in methods of protecting children from child abuse and neglect;

(2) For the establishment and maintenance of centers, serving defined geographic areas, staffed by multidisciplinary teams and community teams of personnel trained in the prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect cases, to provide a broad range of services related to child abuse and neglect, including direct support and supervision of satellite centers and attention homes, as well as providing advice and consultation to individuals, agencies and organizations which request such services;

(3) For furnishing services of multidisciplinary teams and community teams, trained in the prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse and neglect cases, on a consulting basis to small communities where such services are not available;

(4) For other innovative programs and projects that show promise of successfully identifying, preventing or remedying the causes of child abuse and neglect, including, but not limited to, programs and services designed to improve and maintain parenting skills, programs and projects for parent self-help, and for prevention and treatment of drug-related child abuse and neglect; and

(5) Assisting public agencies or nonprofit private organizations or combinations thereof in making applications for grants from, or in entering into contracts with, the secretary of the federal department of health and human services for demonstration programs and projects designed to identify, prevent and treat child abuse and neglect.

(e) Agencies, organizations and programs funded to carry out the purposes of this section shall be structured so as to comply with any applicable federal law, any regulation of the federal department of health and human services or the secretary thereof, and any final comprehensive plan of the federal advisory board on child abuse and neglect. In funding organizations, the department shall, to the extent feasible, ensure that parental organizations combating child abuse and neglect receive preferential treatment.