I have a couple of prayer request that are adoption related.
The first is personal; I sent an email to the case works for the sibling group I love last night. I decided to share it here. I replied on the email I sent last month titled: "Question about submitted verses in review", that they couldn't answer.
I found the answer to my question about how long before a homestudy should be reviewed. See highlighted section of the CPS handbook.
CPS June 2012
CPS seeks to provide an appropriate adoptive family for every child in DFPS conservatorship whose permanency plan includes adoption, regardless of the child’s or the adoptive family’s location.
Time Frames for Selecting a Family
Each child’s caseworker must make a concentrated effort to find a prospective adoptive family for the child within 90 days after the court terminates the parental rights of the child’s parents.
When a child’s caseworker does not find a prospective adoptive family for the child within the first 60 days, the caseworker must register the child on the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange (TARE). See 6870 Texas Adoption Resource Exchange (TARE).
Providing a HSEGH Report
To begin the process of finding a prospective adoptive family for a child, the child’s caseworker provides DFPS adoption staff with a copy of the child’s Health, Social, Educational, and Genetic History (HSEGH) report.
Reviewing Home Studies
After reviewing the HSEGH report from the child’s caseworker, DFPS adoption staff:
identify one or more available adoptive families that appear capable of meeting the child’s needs; and
give the child’s caseworker a copy of the home studies conducted by DFPS on those families.
The child’s caseworker reviews each family’s home study within 30 days of receipt.
When this is not possible, the child’s caseworker and the adoption services unit:
discuss the reasons for taking longer; and establish an alternative deadline for completing the review.
For example, if the child’s caseworker receives home studies at varying times in a month, the child’s caseworker and the adoption services unit may review all of the studies during a single staffing – even some reviews would not be completed within the required 30 days.
Providing Home Studies to a CASA
If a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) is appointed to a child’s case, the child’s caseworker provides the advocate and the CASA supervisor with the home studies of the families under consideration for adoption.
The advocate and CASA supervisor read the home studies in the DFPS office.
This being said I also found how the dashboard is to be updated here:
CPS June 2012
The TARE coordinator must respond to child-specific inquiries within three business days of receipt.
Families That Inquire Outside of the TARE System
Occasionally, an interested family may submit a general or child-specific inquiry to DFPS without using the TARE automated Interest Form on the website. If that occurs, the TARE coordinator must still respond to the inquiry within three business days of receipt and determine whether the family has a current, approved home screening.
Approved Families With a Home Screening
If an interested family is already approved to adopt, The TARE coordinator must determine whether they have created a login account and profile through TARE. If the family has created an account, the TARE coordinator must address the family’s questions and encourage them to submit an online TARE Interest Form for the specific child or sibling group that they are interested in.
If the family is approved to adopt but has not created an account, the TARE coordinator must address the family’s questions and encourage them to create a login account and profile in TARE. However, a family is not required to have an account in the TARE database in order to adopt.
Prospective Families Not Approved to Adopt
If an interested family is not approved to adopt, the TARE coordinator must determine whether the family has already created a login account and profile through TARE. If the family has created an account and profile, the TARE coordinator should encourage the family to submit an online TARE Interest Form for a specific child or sibling group and refer the family to the regional recruiter for assistance in becoming an approved family.
Prospective Families Not Registered
If the family has not previously created a login account and profile, the TARE coordinator should encourage them to create a login account and profile so that they can submit an online TARE Interest Form online for a specific child or sibling group. The TARE coordinator should also refer the family to the regional recruiter for assistance in becoming an approved family.
Families That Inquire Through the TARE System
Each time a family submits a TARE Interest Form on a specific child or sibling group, the TARE system automatically compares the family’s profile with the child’s profile. The TARE system determines the number of family preferences that match with the child’s characteristics and assigns a percent value to the match. Families see the percent value assigned by TARE. Both the family and the TARE coordinator receive a notification of the status of their inquiry.
TARE coordinators then review the family’s profile and home screening status. The appropriate response is selected from the options in the system and sent to the family and the family’s caseworker (unless the inquiry is from a prospective family who is not yet approved).
The TARE coordinator updates the inquiry status using the approved options in the system. Approved inquiry status designations are:
Not Selected – System is a status designation used when a family is not going to be considered for placement with a particular child or sibling group because the match percentage generated by the TARE system shows that they are not a strong match.
Not Selected – TC is a status designation used when a family is not going to be considered for placement of a particular child or sibling group because after reviewing their home screening and family profile the TARE coordinator believes the family is not a strong match. This status is also used when a family is not going to be included in a Selection Staffing or when the family was included in the Selection Staffing, but was not selected as the adoptive family.
Selected is a status designation used when a family has been chosen as the adoptive family for the child or sibling group.
Selection Staffing Pending is a status designation used to indicate the families that will be considered during a Selection Staffing.
In Review is a status designation used to indicate when the TARE coordinator or the child’s caseworker is in the process of reviewing the family’s home screening, but the caseworker has not yet determined whether they will be considered at a Selection Staffing.
Family Withdrew is a status designation used when a family no longer wishes to be considered.
Pending is a status designation used to indicate that a family’s home screening is not on file with TARE. The family may not have a completed home screening, or the home screening has been requested but not received.
For families that already have a home screening on file with TARE, the TARE coordinator begins review of the screening. If a home screening is not currently on file, the TARE coordinator must select the appropriate response from the options in the system and request the home screening from the family’s caseworker. A courtesy copy of the response is sent to the family.
Once the home screening is received the family is notified and the TARE coordinator reviews the home screening. Families who are still in the verification or approval process with an agency must remain under Pending status until they have completed the process and a home screening is on file with TARE.
As the selection process moves forward, the TARE coordinator exchanges additional information with the family’s caseworker and child’s CPS caseworker. The CPS caseworker is responsible for ensuring that a Selection Staffing is scheduled. Upon receipt of Selection Staffing results, the TARE coordinator:
• updates the family’s inquiry status;
• selects the appropriate response option; and
• sends the response to the family’s caseworker, who notifies the family as to whether they were selected as the adoptive family.
The TARE coordinator must update the family’s inquiry status as needed and send the appropriate status update to the family.
Can you tell me when the staffing will be held for these children since our dashboard as of July 15, 2012 looks like this:
| | 3/13/2012 | |
As you can see our inquiry was 3-13-2012.
I ask that this be lifted up in prayer. That we not get black balled for pointing out to the workers what their own handbook says.
Prayer Request 2: One of my friends on my Texas Rubies Yahoo group posted this:
On Monday, I am going to Austin to attend the House Committee hearings in regards to foster care reform. They are supposed to have a public forum portion....Heaven help them if I make it to the mic!!
One of the things they are planning to do in regards to meds and upping a kiddos level of care is to actually give incentives ($$) to foster parents who are able to reduce a child's level of care and wean them off some/all of their meds. Will be interesting to see if the pendulum swings radically to the other direction and we have kiddos who needs meds but are going without.
Thanks for praying!
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