Chapter 3 : Section 2.1

Family Functioning Assessment - Ongoing

Procedures

The DCS Specialist conducts the Family Functioning Assessment – Ongoing (FFA – Ongoing) to identify enhanced and diminished protective capacities that are directly related to the identified impending danger threat(s). The DCS Specialist conducts the FFA – Ongoing to assess the following:

• whether or not the safety plan is sufficiently managing impending danger threats in the least intrusive way possible;

• the relationship between the identified impending danger threat(s) and currently diminished protective capacities;

• the parent’s, guardian’s, or custodian’s perspective or awareness regarding danger threats and their relationship to diminished protective capacities;

• the parent’s, guardian’s, or custodian’s readiness for change;

• the areas of disagreement between the parents, guardians, and/or custodians and the Department regarding what needs to change;

• how existing protective capacities can be built upon in order to make needed behavioral changes; and

• the change actions, services, and activities that will be used to enhance diminished protective capacities.

The DCS Specialist conducts the FFA – Ongoing through contacts with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians, in order to guide a mutual understanding of what must change for the parents to regain responsibility for the care and safety of the child. See High Quality Parent Contacts.

While the child is assessed as unsafe and the safety plan remains active, the DCS Specialist will actively manage child safety and continuously gather information to assess progress made toward enhancing diminished protective capacities and eliminating the impending danger threats identified in the Family Functioning Assessment – Investigation. The DCS Specialist gathers the information through contacts with the parents, the child(ren), extended family, the out-of-home caregiver, case participants, and other service team members.

If a parent, guardian, and/or custodian whose whereabouts were previously unknown is located after a case has been opened for services, the DCS Specialist will gather information about the person and the household through interviews, in-person observations, and applicable background checks. If the information gathered indicates that a situation or adult behavior in the household could pose a safety threat to a child, collect additional information to explore the area of concern. Make a report to the Child Abuse Hotline and conduct a separate Family Functioning Assessment of this household if the information collected reveals new or previously unreported incidents of abuse or neglect, or possible safety threats in the household. See Family Functioning Assessment – Investigation.

Conduct the Family Functioning Assessment based on the child remaining in the home or the child's return to the parents, guardians, and/or custodians.

If there are indications that the child is a victim of sex trafficking and/or commercial sexual exploitation, a new report should be made to the Hotline and Law Enforcement.

The FFA – Ongoing process is completed in four stages:

Stage 1: Preparation

Stage 2: Introduction

Stage 3: Exploration

Stage 4: Change Strategy and Case Planning

Each stage has a distinctly defined purpose and procedure.

There is no set amount of time for the completion of each stage. As the purposes of one stage are completed, proceed to the next stage.

Of the four stages, all but the first require face-to-face contact with parents, guardians and/or custodians, children, and others. A family will not always require three interviews or meetings to complete the stages of the FFA-Ongoing. Additional or fewer meetings may be needed.

The transition from one stage of the process to the next should evolve smoothly between identifying needs (diminished protective capacities), strengths (enhanced protective capacities), and solutions (actions, services, and activities).

Stage 1: Preparation

The DCS Specialist conducts preparation activities to identify information gaps and develop plans for the first meeting with the family following case transfer to ongoing services. During the preparation stage, the DCS Specialist:

• becomes as informed as possible about information already known about family functioning;

• learns about the family’s involvement with, and response to, past and current DCS and service interventions;

• assesses the adequacy of the safety plan (for more information see Safety Planning);

• identifies information gaps that must be filled, and discrepancies that must be reconciled; and

• identifies strategies for family engagement.

To the extent possible, preparation activities should be completed prior to the initial meeting with the family following case transfer. The DCS Specialist will conduct the following preparation activities:

• Review historical information in Guardian including prior reports and the outcome of prior case episodes.

• Review information gathered through the current investigation, including the FFA – Investigation.

• Identify any gaps in information related to impending danger, the rationale for the safety plan option chosen, and efficiency of the safety actions to control the danger.

• Identify the household composition.

• Identify which household members have a caregiver role and should be assessed in the Family Functioning Assessment process.

• Identify household members or others who do not have a caregiver role, but who may provide a support to the family, including any significant other of the caregiver, extended family members, and persons with significant relationship to the child such as teachers, coaches, neighbors, other family support persons, or service providers.

• Identify any professional records that should be obtained, or interviews conducted with persons/professionals formerly involved with the parent/caregivers, to further understand what is known, and what additional information needs to be learned.

• Identify the specific enhanced and diminished protective capacities that are, are not, or might be impacting child safety.

• Develop general areas of inquiry/discussion questions based upon the assessment of relevant protective capacities.

• If the child is a registered or eligible member of a Native American Tribe:

  • Involve the child’s tribe as soon as possible in the assessment and planning process.

  • If the child is a temporary or adjudicated court ward, and the tribe has not been notified, immediately notify the tribe of the child’s legal custody status.

  • Explore available services of the tribe that may address the safety and cultural needs of the child.

  • Assist the tribe in determining the tribe’s ability to assume custodial care or offer services or placement assistance for the tribe (See Indian Child Welfare policy for more information involving Indian Children).

The DCS Specialist will coordinate the timing, location, and circumstances of the initial meeting with the parent, guardian, and/or custodian, including the following:

• the location of the meeting, which should be the most family-like setting possible;

• the day and time of the meeting, based on the family’s schedule (work/school/services/visitation) and access to transportation;

• when domestic violence has been identified as present in a family, a plan to have separate meetings with the parent, guardian, or custodian.

The DCS Specialist is responsible for overseeing the safety plan. At the point of case transfer, the DCS Specialist will make contact with the responsible adult(s) assigned to review outlined safety actions and confirm roles and responsibilities.

Stage 2: Introduction

During the introduction stage, the DCS Specialist focuses on building a positive working relationship with the parent, guardian and/or custodian by building rapport, setting the stage for establishing a partnership, providing information, and allowing the parents, guardians, and/or custodians to express themselves. Allow parents, guardians, and/or custodians to express their thoughts about what has happened up to this point and their plans for future involvement with DCS. This is critical to the ability to co-construct meaningful case plan outcomes and strategies for change.

The DCS Specialist’s initial discussions with the family are intended to help transition the family from the investigation to continued case management. Introduction activities should occur with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians, and to the extent possible and in an age-appropriate manner, the child. During the initial meeting with the family:

• Explain the role of the DCS Specialist and expectations regarding communication and contact, including expectations of the family members, and what the family can expect from the DCS Specialist.

• Be open and clear about the agency’s objective and desire to work in partnership with the family to understand and address the reasons for the Department’s current involvement with their family, due to identified safety threats to the child.

• Discuss and explain the role of service providers and expectations for communication between the family, service providers, and the DCS Specialist.

• Ask about the family’s understanding and perspectives as to conditions and/or circumstances that led to current agency involvement:

  • Determine if the parents, guardians, and/or custodians know and understand the identified safety threat(s). If not, clearly explain the identified threat(s) and the reason for DCS involvement (danger statement).

  • Determine if the parents, guardians, and/or custodians deny the threat, are in partial agreement, or are in nearly complete agreement.

  • If needed, help them understand specifically what is making the child unsafe.

  • Provide clear, honest answers to the family’s questions.

• Review the safety plan with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians, and:

  • explain the DCS Specialist’s responsibility to manage the safety plan and provide oversight to monitor that it is being followed and sufficient;

  • determine if all the elements described in the plan are happening or not happening; and

  • ask how the plan is working from the perspective of the child(ren) and the parents, guardians, and/or custodians.

• If Conditions for Return have been defined, gather input from the parents, guardians, and/or custodians as to what would need to happen to assist them with achieving the conditions.

• Explain the difference between a safety plan and a case plan.

• Explain what to expect during the ongoing case management and case planning process, including frequency of court hearings, case plan staffings, and time frames for permanency planning.

• Provide opportunities for family members to discuss their concerns, ask questions, and receive answers.

• Explain what the family can expect during the assessment that will occur in the next contacts (the Exploration phase of the Family Functioning Assessment – Ongoing).

  • If one or more of the parents, guardians, and/or custodians are unwilling to commit to the assessment process, the DCS Specialist should try to gain additional information and discuss the reasons they are unwilling to participate in the process.

  • The DCS Specialist should seek to find some areas of mutual agreement such as meeting their child’s needs, which can serve as a point of further discussion or allow for some collaborative planning between the parents, guardians, and/or custodians and the DCS Specialist.

• Gather additional and clarifying information about family functioning in the areas of child functioning on a daily basis, adult functioning on a daily basis, general parenting practices, and discipline and behavior management.

Conclude the Introduction stage by seeking a commitment from parents, guardians, and/or custodians to participate in the FFA – Ongoing process and in case planning. Ask for their continued participation, express appreciation for their participation, and reaffirm a desire for a collaborative partnership. Whenever possible, set the date, time, and place of the next contact.

If at any time the DCS Specialist identifies or observes the safety plan to be insufficient to control the danger, the safety plan must be immediately revised.

More than one meeting might be required to achieve the purpose of introduction activities, especially for families with multiple challenges.

Stage 3: Exploration

During the exploration phase, the DCS Specialist jointly explores with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians what must change in order for the family to achieve a safe, stable, and permanent home for the child(ren), ultimately allowing for case closure. This phase facilitates the identification of the enhanced protective capacities (strengths) and diminished protective capacities (needs) directly related to the identified safety threats. This stage concludes with the DCS Specialist assisting the parents, guardians, and/or custodians in raising self-awareness, and in recognizing the parent’s, guardian’s, and/or custodian’s motivation for change, alleviating any fears or misconceptions, and determining what actions, services, and activities the parents, guardians and/or custodians are ready and willing to participate in to increase their protective capacities.

During the exploration phase, the DCS Specialist gathers deeper information about child functioning, adult functioning, parenting practices, discipline practices, caregiver protective capacities, and the relationship of all to the identified danger threats. Refer to Family Functioning Assessment – Investigation and Family Functioning Assessment – Field Guide, DCS-1639 for additional information regarding the domains of family functioning.

The DCS Specialist will meet and have discussions with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians to identify the diminished protective capacities that have resulted in their inability to protect the child from danger and complete the following:

• Explain the concept of protective capacities in a way they can understand, providing examples.

• Share and discuss their protective capacity, seeking the parent, guardian, and/or custodian’s assessment of their own protective capacities.

• Encourage them to offer their perspective as to which diminished protective capacities led to an unsafe child.

• As necessary, help them understand specifically what makes the child unsafe by discussing with the family the current family behaviors, conditions, and circumstances that are creating danger threats and explore the following:

  • information about how the family functions in the areas of child functioning, adult functioning, general parenting practices, discipline and behavior management;

  • changes in the family that creates the unsafe situation; and

  • examples of what has/hasn’t worked in the past around that change.

• Seek to reach agreement as to which diminished protective capacities directly impact child safety. If the parents, guardians, and/or custodians are unable or unwilling to offer their perspective, offer suggestions as to which protective capacities may be diminished and ask for feedback.

• Identify family strengths, supports, and existing protective capacities that contribute to child protection. Ask the parents, guardians, and/or custodians to identify strengths about themselves as individuals and in their caregiving role.

• Explore what they might do to enhance protective capacities and improve diminished protective capacities.

Child Well-Being Indicators

The DCS Specialist continuously assesses child functioning, which includes specific indicators of child well-being. The Child Well-Being Indicators will be assessed throughout the family’s involvement with the Department, to identify child needs that must be addressed in the child’s case plan.

During the FFA – Ongoing, the DCS Specialist will use all information gathered about child functioning to evaluate each of the Child Well-Being Indicators and identify child needs that should be the focus of case plan services and interventions. The DCS Specialist will assess child functioning and the Child Well-Being Indicators by:

• talking about child functioning, including current well-being strengths and needs, with the child’s parents, guardians, and/or custodians and other involved caregivers, service providers, and the child if age appropriate; and

• observing parent-child, sibling, and other family interactions to assess protective capacities and child needs.

Scaling Criteria

Each indicator is rated as Excellent, Acceptable, Some Attention Needed, or Intensive Support Needed. An Excellent or Acceptable rating reflects that a child is doing well in that area. A Some Attention Needed or Intensive Support Needed rating reflects that a child is not doing well and requires attention.

The common criteria applied to each individual rating are:

• Excellent – Child demonstrates exceptional ability in this area.

• Acceptable – Child demonstrates average ability in this area.

• Some Attention Needed – Child demonstrates some need for increased support in this area.

• Intensive Support Needed – Child demonstrates need for intensive support in this area.

Refer to Child Well-Being Indicators On-Going Scaling Reference Guide, DCS-1594 for the specific scaling criteria for each indicator that the DCS Specialist will use each time the FFA is updated. The Child Well-Being Indicators are defined as follows and should be assessed based on each child’s age, ability and developmental level:

• “Emotion/trauma” means the degree to which the child is displaying a pattern of appropriate self-management of emotions.

• “Behavior” means the degree to which the child is displaying appropriate coping and adapting behavior.

• “Development /Early Learning” means that the child is achieving expected developmental milestones in key child development domains.

• “Academic Status” means the child is actively engaged in instructional activities; reading at grade level or IEP expectation level; and meeting requirements for annual promotion and course completion leading to a high school diploma or equivalent or vocational program (this applies to school-aged children).

• “Positive Peer/Adult Relationships” means that the child demonstrates adequate positive social relationships.

• “Family Relationships” means that the child demonstrates appropriate patterns of forming relationships with family members.

• “Physical Health” means that the child is achieving and maintaining positive health status which includes physical, dental, audio and visual assessments and services. If the child has a serious or chronic health condition, the child is achieving the best attainable health status given the diagnosis and prognosis.

• “Cultural Identity” means that important cultural factors such as race; class; ethnicity; religion; tribal affiliation; gender, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation; and other forms of culture are appropriately considered in the child’s life.

• “Substance Awareness” means that the assessment of substance awareness is multi- dimensional. First, the assessment includes the child/youth’s awareness of alcohol and drugs, and their own use. Second, for children who have experienced the negative impact of parental substance misuse within their home, the assessment includes their awareness of alcohol and drugs and treatment/recovery for their parent, guardian, and/or custodians.

• “Preparation for Adult Living Skill Development” means that the child is gaining skills and competencies in preparing for adulthood, in areas such as education, work experience, building long-term relationships and connections, managing income, and housing/home management. Also includes adolescent sexual health and awareness. (This applies only to children 14 and over.)

Caregiver Protective Capacities

The DCS Specialist will use all information gathered in the domains of family functioning in order to update, evaluate, and rate progress in each of the caregiver protective capacities using a four-point scale. Refer to Family Functioning Assessment – Investigation for additional information regarding assessment of the caregiver protective capacities. The ratings of caregiver protective capacities are used to identify those that need to be the focus of behavioral change goals and interventions in case planning.

Scaling Criteria

Each caregiver protective capacity is rated as Excellent, Acceptable, Some Attention Needed, or Intensive Support Needed. An Excellent or Acceptable rating reflects that a parent, guardian, and/or custodian is doing well in that area. A Some Attention Needed or Intensive Support Needed rating reflects that a parent, guardian, and/or custodian requires attention in that area.

The common criteria applied to each individual rating are:

• Excellent – Caregiver demonstrates exceptional ability in this area.

• Acceptable – Caregiver demonstrates average ability in this area.

• Some Attention Needed – Caregiver demonstrates some need for increased support in this area.

• Intensive Support Needed – Caregiver demonstrates need for intensive support in this area.

Refer to the Caregiver Protective Capacities On-Going Scaling Reference Guide, CSO-1588 for specific rating criteria for the individual caregiver protective capacities.

Developing the Danger Statement

The DCS Specialist will review with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians the identified danger threats and re-evaluate if they are denying the presence of danger threats, are in partial agreement, or are in near complete agreement.

The DCS Specialist will co-construct the Danger Statement with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians when possible. The danger statement is a behaviorally based statement in very clear, non-judgmental language, which states the following:

• what the parent’s, guardian’s, and/or custodian’s actions were;

• what the impact was/is on the child(ren); and

• what potential severe harm may happen to the child(ren) in the future.

The DCS Specialist will ensure that the Danger Statement (to the fullest extent possible):

• is simple enough so the youngest person in the family with the ability to comprehend can understand; and

• is in the family’s language as it serves as the framework for effective safety planning and case planning.

Identifying Readiness for Change

The DCS Specialist will work with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians to assess their readiness for change after all of the activities to gather information from the family are conducted, and the protective capacities that resulted in the identified danger threats are assessed and scaled. Knowing the stage of change a parent is currently experiencing will guide the Department’s efforts to help the parents, guardians, and/or custodians move forward through the Stages of Change. See Parent Readiness for Change for additional information on assessing a parent/guardian’s readiness for change.

The Stages of Change are as follows:

• Pre-contemplation: The parent, guardian, and/or custodian has no perception of having a problem or a need to change and is not aware that life can be improved if they change their behaviors.

• Contemplation: There is an initial recognition that behavior may be a problem and ambivalence about change. A parent, guardian, and/or custodian may start to gather information about possible solutions.

• Preparation: The parent, guardian, and/or custodian desires change and makes a conscious determination to change. A motivator for change is identified.

• Action: Parents, guardians, and/or custodians take steps to implement change.

• Maintenance: A parent, guardian, and/or custodian actively works on sustaining change strategies and maintaining long term change.

Engaging the Parents, Guardians, and/or Custodians

When a parent, guardian, and/or custodian is unable or unwilling to engage in these discussions and the change process, or there is disagreement about the reason for the Department’s involvement or what needs to change, the DCS Specialist will continue to actively seek the parent, guardian, and/or custodian’s engagement and recognition of the danger, and exploration of diminished protective capacities. Refer to High Quality Parent Contacts and Parent Readiness for Change for more information on engagement strategies.

When a parent, guardian, and/or custodian misses scheduled appointments, decreases or stops attending services and/or visitation, or shows other signs of disengaging from the case planning and change process, the DCS Specialist will make diligent efforts to engage the parent, guardian, and/or custodian in the following ways:

• Attempt contact by phone, email, letter, and unannounced home visits. If they do not respond to other attempts at contact, try to locate them at other probable locations.

• Talk with them to seek input about any barriers to participation in the family assessment, case planning, and change process.

• Frequently and actively re-invite their participation.

• Continue to work toward establishing a partnership by stating the DCS Specialist’s desire and need for their perspectives, ideas, and input.

• Interview other persons who know them to elicit suggestions for engaging them.

Stage 4: Change Strategy and Case Planning

The DCS Specialist will work with the parents, guardians, and/or custodians in order to prioritize what must change and create an individualized case plan, and:

• Review the relationship between the identified safety threat(s) and the diminished protective capacities.

• Discuss what behavior, conditions, or circumstances must exist to manage or remediate the identified safety threat(s).

• Seek agreement regarding which diminished caregiver protective capacities should be prioritized to include in the case plan.

• Consider and identify the specific needs of each child that must be addressed in the case plan.

• Document the expected outcomes in behavioral change terms that can be measured. See Developing and Reassessing the Family-Centered Case Plan for more information on developing behavioral change goal statements.

• If an agreement cannot be achieved, be clear about what the Department expects to change in relation to the impending danger threat(s) and how specific actions, activities, supports, and services in the case plan can be helpful to the family and ultimately the child.

• Schedule a case plan staffing according to procedures in Developing and Reassessing the Family-Centered Case Plan.

Evaluating Safety Plan Sufficiency and Progress toward the Conditions for Return

The DCS Specialist, in consultation with the DCS Program Supervisor, will identify existing impending danger threat(s) within the family, the sufficiency of the current safety plan, and if applicable, the written Conditions for Return. The DCS Specialist will do the following:

• Review the updated information about the six domains of family functioning and determine whether or not a threat of danger exists.

• Determine whether the child is in impending danger by applying the five safety threshold criteria. All five criteria must be met for at least one identified safety threat in order to determine a child is in impending danger. For more information, see Family Functioning Assessment-Investigation and Family Functioning Assessment-Field Guide, DCS-1639.

  • If information gathered during this process indicates that a child previously assessed as unsafe is now safe, consult with a DCS Program Supervisor to identify the appropriate level of services to be provided or recommended to the family. See Providing Case Management and Services for Families with Children Assessed as Safe. If case closure is appropriate, see Aftercare Planning and Services.

• Determine if the current safety plan is the least intrusive option sufficient to control the impending danger safety threat(s).

  • Review the in-home safety analysis questions to determine whether an in-home safety plan can be implemented or should continue.

  • If the safety plan is not sufficient to manage the danger threat(s) and circumstances indicate that a more restrictive safety plan is needed to manage the danger threat(s), convene a Safety TDM. See Safety Planning and Team Decision Making for more information.

• If applicable, review the Conditions for Return and determine if the conditions provide in sufficient detail what needs to occur for a sufficient, feasible, and sustainable in-home safety plan to be implemented. If the Conditions for Return will be changed or updated:

  • consult with the DCS Program Supervisor to discuss the recommended changes;

  • meet with the family to explain the changes; and

  • provide the updated Conditions for Return in writing to all parties involved in the case.

• If Conditions for Return have been met and the child can return home with an in-home safety plan or the child is assessed as safe, convene a Permanency TDM. See Team Decision Making for more information.

Documentation

Document the conclusions of the FFA – Ongoing for each applicable household.

The DCS Specialist should document contacts with case participants and case collaterals in Notes.

Document relevant contacts, observations, behaviors, conditions, circumstances and activities of the family in Notes.

The DCS Specialist will document the Danger Statement in the Reason for DCS Involvement section of the Case Plan.

 

Effective Date: February 1, 2021

Revision History: February 12, 2016, September 22, 2016, June 12, 2017