Child Welfare Services: Psychiatric and Psychological Evaluations
Project Description:
This program supports the Child Welfare goals of permanency, safety and child well-being.
Children placed into foster care have significant health, developmental, educational and mental health needs that are often not identified, at least not early in the placement. When children in foster care have such significant unmet needs, the stability of placements is affected and there are resulting poor outcomes for those children. In addition, when focused, clinical assessments of birth parents are not conducted early in the placement, appropriate services for those parents are not identified and permanency planning for children does not occur in a timely manner.
This program provides comprehensive assessments of children entering foster care and comprehensive clinical assessments of birth families. The evaluations of children and families generated from this program assist in identifying early in foster care placements the service needs for children placed into care as well as for their birth families. As a result of the assessments, services can be implemented to stabilize placements, reduce placement into more intensive levels of care and promote permanency planning by identifying services needed for birth parents for reunification with their children. These assessments assist DSS in meeting ASFA goals as well as state mandated goals for comprehensive, developmental assessments of children placed into foster care.
Goals:
. To improve the wellbeing of children in foster care by ensuring that the health, developmental, mental health and educational needs for children placed in foster care are identified and met appropriately and in a timely fashion.
. To stabilize foster care placements by ensuring that the service needs of children in foster care are met and that foster parents understand the needs of the children in their care.
. To ensure that appropriate permanency planning goals are developed for children in foster care by assessing the specific service needs of birth parents.
Services include:
. Comprehensive developmental screening assessments of every child placed in foster care to screen for the need for developmental, educational and mental health services.
. Comprehensive assessments of birth parents to assist DSS in permanency planning and service needs for parents. Includes brief cognitive assessment, screening for psychological symptoms and assessment of parenting styles and abilities as well as observation of parents together with their children to further assess parenting style.
The staff works closely with the Department of Social Services to ensure appropriate follow up with recommendations for each child and family.
Keyword(s):
children in foster care, parenting assessments, child evaluation
Core Function(s):
Performing Direct and/or Demonstration Services
Area of Emphasis
Quality of Life
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Specific Groups
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Single-County
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
