Section 214-RICR-30-00-1.1 - PurposeA. The Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families (hereinafter the Department) is mandated by federal and state law and Department policy to make reasonable efforts to prevent a child's removal from his/her home, to reunify the child and family, and to make and finalize an alternate permanent placement when the child and family cannot be reunited. The Department utilizes a comprehensive assessment and service planning process for each child and family receiving services from the initial point of contact throughout case closure. This process is guided by principles of family-centered, culturally competent practice and utilizes standardized tools at various points throughout the Department's involvement with a family. Family represents the focus of all work and family members are engaged through the development and implementation of any plan. The family is defined broadly and includes biological parents, adoptive families, kin, fictive kin, legal guardians, and foster families.B. The Department's assessment and service planning process identifies, considers, and assesses factors that affect child safety, permanency and well-being. This process recognizes patterns in behavior over time and examines family strengths and protective factors to identify resources to support the family's ability to protect the child(ren). A child is considered safe when evaluation of all available information leads to the conclusion that the child in his or her current living arrangement is not in immediate danger of harm and no interventions are necessary to ensure the child's safety. If the child is not safe, immediate interventions must be taken to ensure the child's safety. Safety interventions are responsive to the present and impending danger of harm to the child and are not expected to impact identified risks of future harm. Impending danger address the likelihood of future maltreatment; meanwhile, present danger concerns require immediate interventions to ensure that children are protected, risk of future harm is addressed over time with services that result in long-term positive behavioral changes.C. Every child under the Department's supervision must have a written service plan. Each service plan for a child placed in substitute care must include specific information to determine the appropriateness of and necessity for out-of-home placement. The Department places siblings removed from their home in the same foster care, adoption or guardianship placement unless there is an acceptable exception. If siblings cannot be placed together, the Department facilitates visitation or ongoing contact, unless it is contrary to the safety or well-being of any of the siblings. The Department must develop a transition plan for youth leaving the Department's care which is a written description of the programs and services that will help the youth prepare for the transition from foster care to successful adulthood.214 R.I. Code R. 214-RICR-30-00-1.1
Adopted effective 12/27/2018