Rule 30 - Foster Care Review HearingsThe foster care review of a child in foster care placement shall be conducted pursuant to section 43-15-13 of the Mississippi Code and as otherwise provided by law.
Comments & Procedures
Rule 30.
Rights of foster parents.
Miss. Code Ann. § 43-15-13(11)provides:
The Department of Human Services shall extend the following rights to foster care parents:
(a) A clear understanding of their role as foster parents and the roles of the birth parent(s) and the placement agency in respect to the child in care;(b) Respect, consideration, trust and value as a family who is making an important contribution to the agency's objectives; (c) Involvement in all the agency's crucial decisions regarding the foster child as team members who have pertinent information based on their day-to-day knowledge of the child in care; (d) Support from the family protection worker or the family protection specialist in efforts to do a better day-to-day job in caring for the child and in working to achieve the agency's objectives for the child and the birth family through provision of: (i) Pertinent information about the child and the birth family. (ii) Help in using appropriate resources to meet the child's needs. (iii) Direct interviews between the family protection worker or specialist and the child, previously discussed and understood by the foster parents; (e) The opportunity to develop confidence in making day-to-day decisions in regard to the child; (f) The opportunity to learn and grow in their vocation through planned foster parent education;(g) The opportunity to be heard regarding agency practices that they may question; and(h) Reimbursement for costs of the foster child's care in the form of a board payment based on the age of the foster child as prescribed in Section 43-15-17. Federal Requirements
These rules require compliance with federal laws and regulations which impact funding for cases within the jurisdiction of the youth court. See U.R.Y.C.P. 7. Failure to comply results in the loss of federal monies crucial in achieving the best interests of the child and the interest of justice. Federal laws and regulations applicable to foster care review hearings include:
Reviews no less frequently than once every six months.
42 U.S.C. § 675 (2008) provides in part:
(5) The term "case review system" means a procedure for assuring that - . . . (B) the status of each child is reviewed periodically but no less frequently than once every six months by either a court or by administrative review (as defined in paragraph (6)) in order to determine the safety of the child the continuing necessity for and appropriateness of the placement, the extent of compliance with the case plan, and the extent of progress which has been made toward alleviating or mitigating the causes necessitating placement in foster care, and to project a likely date by which the child may be returned to and safely maintained in the home or placed for adoption or legal guardianship, . . .Miss. R. Youth Ct. Prac. 30
The Uniform Rules of Youth Court Practice were revised by order entered 7/17/2012.