Department of Children, Youth & Families

Original Date: April 30, 2017

Revised Date: July 1, 2024

Sunset Review Date: July 31, 2028

Approved by: Natalie Green, Assistant Secretary of Child Welfare Division

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance to child welfare (CW) employees on face-to-face visits with children and youth and regular visits with parents or guardians who have an open case with Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and out-of-home caregivers. Visits with:

Children and youth help in identifying and assessing their safety, stability, permanency, and well-being.
Parents or guardians can provide reassuring information about how their children or youth are doing, provide caseworkers with information to help monitor parental progress with services and case goals, shorten children or youth’s length-of-stay, and help achieve permanency more quickly.
Out-of-home caregivers provide opportunities to monitor children or youth’s safety and well-being, identify support and training needs to encourage placement stability, promote permanency, and provide caseworkers with information they can share with parents or guardians.

Scope

This policy applies to CW employees.

Laws

RCW 74.13.031 Duties of department-Child welfare services-Children’s services advisory committee

RCW 74.13.710 Out-of-home care-Childhood activities-Prudent parent standard

42 USC § 624 Payments to States

Policy

Caseworkers must conduct:
1. Private individual face-to-face health and safety visits at a minimum of every calendar month for children and youth in:
  1. Receiving in-home services or out-of-home care, including when a dependency petition is filed or dependency is established and the:
    1. Court has ordered children or youth to reside in out-of-home placement.
    2. Dependent adjudicated youth is in a Juvenile Rehabilitation Division (JRD) facility.
  2. In-home dependencies, including dependent children or youth who return home on a trial return home or remain home under the jurisdiction of the court and until dismissal of the dependency.
  3. In-home pre-fact findings, when the court ordered the children or youth to reside in the home prior to the establishment of a dependency with a shelter care order and ask the court for authority to access the children or youth in in-home pre-fact finding status, if access was not granted at the shelter care hearing, to conduct at minimum:
    1. Two in-home health and safety visits, per calendar month for all children ages five years or younger.
    2. One in-home health and safety visit, per calendar month, for all children and youth ages six and older.
  4. Extended Foster Care (EFC).
  5. Voluntary placement, when the children or youth are placed under a Voluntary Placement Agreement (VPA).
  6. Courtesy supervision.
  7. Voluntary Services, including FVS and FRS.
  8. Child Protective Services or FRS cases when the family agrees to services or open beyond 60 calendar days.
  9. An Interstate Compact on Placement of Children (ICPC).
2. The first health and safety visit within seven calendar days of a child or youth’s initial placement or any change of placement. Placement of children or youth is not considered a health and safety visit.
3. At minimum two in-home health and safety visits every calendar month for children that are age five or younger that reside in the home for:
  1. FVS cases.
  2. Child Protective Services (CPS) when the family agrees to services or cases are open beyond 60 calendar days.
  3. In-home pre-fact finding, in-home dependency, or trial return home for the first 120 calendar days.
4. Private and individual face-to-face monthly visits with parents or guardians and caregivers.
5. Monthly contact in-person, whenever possible, with all known parents or guardians.
6. Individual face-to-face monthly visits to all known parents or guardians involved in a Voluntary Placement Agreement (VPA), shelter care, dependency proceedings, or voluntary services including FVS, CPS open beyond 60 calendar days, or FRS, unless the parents are deceased or their rights have been terminated.
Other qualified DCYF employees may, in place of the caseworker, conduct health and safety visits and monthly visits with parents or guardians and caregivers, but must not conduct more than four visits per year, with no two visits occurring consecutively. This does not apply to youth in a JRD facility.
CW employees must follow DCYF Administrative policies when applicable:
1. 6.02 Access to Services for Clients and Caregivers who are Limited English Proficient (LEP)
2. 6.03 Access to Services for Individuals with Disabilities

Procedures

Requirements for Health and Safety Visits with Children and Youth
Caseworkers must complete the following activities during health and safety visits with children and youth:
1. Assess for present danger, per the Child Safety policy.
2. Observe and document all the following:
  1. How children or youth appear developmentally, physically, and emotionally.
  2. How parents or guardians and caregivers and children or youth respond to each other.
  3. Children’s or youth’s attachment to their parents or guardians and caregivers.
  4. The home environment, when the visit occurs in the home where children or youth live. This includes notifying the Licensing Division workers if there are any changes to licensed foster homes, such as new family members.
  5. Infants’ sleeping environment to verify it meets the safe sleep guidelines, per the Infant Safety Education and Intervention policy, as applicable.
3. Meet with verbal children or youth in private, separate from other children and youth, parents or guardians, or out-of-home caregivers, either in the home or another location where they are comfortable. For children or youth who:
  1. Speak a language other than English, follow the DCYF Administrative 6.02 Access to Services for Clients who are Limited English Proficient policy.
  2. Have a disability and are able to communicate, but are non-verbal, follow the DCYF Administrative 6.03 Access to Services for Individuals with Disabilities policy.
4. Discuss and document the following with verbal children and youth:
  1. Whether they feel safe in their home or placement.
  2. Their needs, wants, and progress.
  3. How family time and visits with siblings are going.
  4. Their connection with siblings and other relatives. For youth 16 and above, this includes discussing skills and strategies to:
    1. Safely reconnect with any identified family members.
    2. Provide guidance and services to assist the youth.
    3. Maintain community and cultural connections.
  5. Their participation and interest in normal childhood activities.
  6. Case activities and planning such as visits and permanent plan.
  7. Services and activities needed to support transitioning youth for successful adulthood.
  8. Their interest in participating in EFC and provide written information about the program.
5. Confirm that each child or youth capable of reading, writing, and using the telephone has a business card with their caseworker’s name, office address, and phone number.
6. Discuss specific objectives outlined in the Pregnant and Parenting Youth policy with dependent youth who are pregnant or parenting.
7. For children or youth who are placed in out-of-home care, conduct the majority of health and safety visits in the home where they reside. If caseworkers must visit children or youth in another location, document in a case note the reason and benefit gained.
Requirements for Visits with Out-of-Home Caregivers
Caseworkers must:
1. Conduct individual face-to-face monthly visits with out-of-home caregivers.
  1. Visits with children or youth and caregivers may occur during the same monthly visit.
  2. Location of monthly visits may vary.
2. Conduct an unannounced monthly visit with caregivers in randomly selected homes.
  1. DCYF must randomly select no less than 10 percent of the caregivers currently providing care to receive one unannounced face-to-face visit in the caregiver’s home per year. The unannounced visits are randomly selected in FamLink.
  2. Caregivers who receive an unannounced visit through the random selection process one year will not receive an unannounced visit the following year.
  3. Caseworkers must conduct the unannounced visit within 30 calendar days of receiving the automated notification from FamLink.
  4. When the unannounced visit occurs within the monthly visit timeline, this visit meets the monthly caregiver visit requirement, in addition to the unannounced monthly visit requirement.
3. Complete the following activities during both scheduled and unannounced visits:
  1. Assess the children and youth in the household for imminent physical harm and follow the Safety Assessment policy when safety threats are identified.
  2. Discuss the children or youth’s:
    1. Well-being, stability, and permanency goals.
    2. Health needs, including, but not limited to:
      1. Physical health
      2. Mental health
      3. Medications, if applicable
  3. Observe the children or youth’s and caregiver’s relationship and home environment when a visit occurs in the caregiver’s home. This does not apply to EFC youth in Supervised Independent Living (SIL) settings.
  4. Assess the caregiver’s ability to provide adequate care and maintain placement stability. This does not apply to EFC youth in SIL settings.
  5. Identify goods or services to assist in supporting and maintaining placement, per the Concrete Goods policy.
  6. Provide training information through the Alliance for Child Welfare, as needed.
  7. Inquire about family time and the child’s or youth’s visits with siblings and how the child or youth is responding.
  8. Discuss any:
    1. Normal childhood activities children or youth are participating, or are interested, in and how they maintain their community or cultural connections.
    2. Requests to significantly change the children’s or youth’s appearance. This does not apply to youth in EFC. Significant changes include, but are not limited to:
      1. Body piercings
      2. Haircuts
      3. Changes in hairstyles.
  9. Notify children, youth, and caregivers when requests are made to significantly change the children’s or youth’s appearance that prior approval must be obtained from one of the following, the:
    1. Parent or guardian.
    2. Tribe if the child or youth is legally-free.
    3. Court.
  10. Share the parent’s or guardian’s interest in children’s or youth’s care and requests for their participation in normal childhood activities.
Requirements for Monthly Visits with Known Parents or Guardians
Caseworkers must:
1. Conduct most visits in the homes of parents or guardians.
2. Conduct monthly visits that include:
  1. A location for the visits that is conducive to open and honest conversations.
  2. Sufficient time to address a needs assessment and visitation.
  3. A quality discussion that focuses and addresses issues related to case planning including conditions for return home, appropriate services, and goal achievement.
3. Discuss and document all of the following during visits with parents or guardians, except for youth in EFC:
  1. Case planning, service delivery, and goal achievement.
  2. Progress made to eliminate or manage the identified children or youth safety threats.
  3. Barriers to needed services and consideration of additional or different services.
  4. Discuss housing stability, such as where the parents or guardians are living and how long they can remain in their current home.
  5. Permanency planning for children or youth.
  6. Family time and sibling visits, if applicable.
  7. Review of children’s or youth’s interest and participation in normal childhood activities.
  8. Requests to significantly change a child’s or youth’s appearance. Significant changes include, but are not limited to, body piercings, haircuts, and changes in hairstyles. Prior approval must be obtained from parents or guardians, the tribe if children or youth are legally free, or court.
4. Continue requesting visits with parents or guardians when they decline or refuse to participate. If parents or guardians:
  1. Actively refuse requests by verbally or submitting in writing that they are not interested in having monthly visits:
    1. Verify with them that they still decline.
    2. Continue to attempt monthly contact until parental rights have been terminated or another permanent plan is achieved.
  2. Passively refuse requests through their actions or inactions, make at least one attempt monthly to contact them either face-to-face, by phone, or through correspondence until parental rights have been terminated or another permanent plan is achieved.
Youth Residing in a JRD Facility
Caseworkers must:
1. Contact the JR counselor monthly by phone or in-person and address the following:
  1. Treatment progress
  2. Case planning
  3. Discharge planning
  4. Coordinate schedules with the JR counselor and youth at a time most appropriate to the youth’s treatment program and school schedule, when possible.
Tribal Coordination
Caseworkers must collaborate with tribes per the Indian Child Welfare (ICW) Active Efforts and Tribal Collaboration policy and follow the other ICW policies as applicable throughout the life of the case when there is reason to know children are or may be Indian children.
Requirements for Interstate Compact on Placement of Children (ICPC) Cases
Caseworkers must complete the following:
1. When children or youth are placed into a Washington State approved ICPC home:
  1. Complete the monthly face-to-face visits following this policy.
  2. Submit a written quarterly report to headquarters ICPC every third month within 10 calendar days of the third health and safety visit.
  3. Include the following in the quarterly report.
    1. The dates and location of the health and safety visits.
    2. A summary of the observed activities during the visit and following Procedures Section 1.a.-1.d.
2. When children or youth are placed outside of Washington State in an approved ICPC home:
  1. Request health and safety visits within seven calendar days of placement by submitting the ICPC Report on Childs Placement Date or Change Placement 100B DCYF 15-093 form to the headquarters ICPC Unit.
  2. Confirm the dates the health and safety visits were completed by contacting the receiving state’s ICPC courtesy worker by telephone or email at the following times:
    1. Within 30 calendar days of submitting the ICPC Report on Childs Placement Date or Change Placement 100B DCYF 15-093 form.
    2. Monthly for the ongoing health and safety visits.
  3. Document the date of their health and safety visit in a FamLink case note.
  4. Complete the following when the quarterly report is received from headquarters ICPC that summarizes the health and safety visits:
    1. Review the written quarterly report.
    2. Document the dates of the health and safety visit conducted by the receiving state courtesy worker.
    3. Summarize the report in a FamLink case note.
3. Respond to receiving state courtesy workers’ concerns by addressing unmet needs and eliminating barriers to stability and permanency, which may include additional services and support.
4. If health and safety visits are contracted by DCYF through a private agency:
  1. Contact the courtesy worker monthly to get the date of the health and safety visit.
  2. Follow the case note documentation requirements in Procedures Section 6.b.
5. When children or youth are placed in an out-of-state facility-based program:
  1. Request courtesy supervision if they are placed into a bordering state program with an on-going BRS contract.
  2. Follow the Placement Intensive Resources policy if they are placed in an out-of-state program under an Out-of-State Intensive Residential Child Specific Contract (OSIRCSC).
Cases Requiring Two Monthly Health and Safety Visits
Caseworkers:
1. Must conduct two in-home health and safety visits every calendar month for:
  1. CPS FAR cases open beyond 60 calendar days when children age five or younger are residing in the home.
  2. FVS cases with children age five or younger and residing in the home. Contracted providers may conduct one of the two monthly visits.
  3. In-home pre-fact finding when court ordered, in-home dependency, or trial return home cases with children age five or younger, every calendar month for the first 120 calendar days from the date established and:
    1. These visits must occur in the home where the child resides.
    2. This requirement does not prevent additional visits outside the home.
2. May have contracted providers conduct one of the two monthly visits.
Visit Documentation in FamLink
Caseworkers or other qualified DCYF employees who conduct visits must document the information obtained, observed, or discussed during health and safety visits with children and youth and monthly visits with parents or guardians and caregivers in FamLink case notes within three calendar days of each visit and:
1. For children and youth:
  1. Select the following FamLink codes for visits and attempted visits for each child and youth:
    1. “Health and Safety Monitoring Visit (Social Worker).”
    2. “Health and Safety Visit with Child (Attempted).” Use to document efforts to conduct the health and safety visit. An actual visit must take place for compliance with policy.
  2. When health and safety visits are conducted by another child placing agency (CPA). Visits by a CPA worker does not relieve caseworkers from completing their monthly visits. Both visits must be documented in FamLink. This includes:
    1. FVS cases where a contracted provider conducted the visit.
    2. Out-of-state ICPC cases where another agency conducts the visits.
2. For tribes, include:
  1. All contact involving visits.
  2. Plans to involve tribes in monthly visits.
3. For visits with out-of-home caregivers, select the following FamLink codes, as applicable:
  1. “Monthly Caregiver Contact (In-Person)” for each child and youth on a case who requires a visit.
  2. “Unannounced Assigned Caseworker Monthly Visit” for randomly selected visits or one of the following:
    1. “Unannounced Health and Safety Visit”
    2. “Unannounced Health and Safety Visit-Attempted”
4. For each parent or guardian for each child or youth on a case who requires a visit:
  1. Select the following visit and attempted visit activity codes, as applicable:
    1. “Parent/Guardian Contact”
    2. “Parent/Guardian Contact (Household Member/Paramour)”
    3. “Parent/Guardian Contact (Attempted)”
  2. Include how contact was made in the dropdown list under the location tab, e.g. in-person, phone, mail, video, text, social media, or other means of contact when the following circumstances apply:
    1. Parent or guardian is out-of-state
    2. Parent or guardian is incarcerated
  3. Select “Parent/Guardian Contact (Attempted)” when parent’s or guardian’s whereabouts are unknown, despite concerted efforts to locate them using the Guidelines for Locating Children, Youth, or Parents DCYF 02-607 form.
  4. Document parent’s or guardian’s active and passive refusal as described in Procedure Section 3.d. in a FamLink case note and include the following:
    1. Dates and efforts to contact parents or guardians.
    2. Methods of interaction between caseworkers and parents or guardians, e.g. in person, phone, mail, video, text, or social media.
    3. The dates parents or guardians requested refusal in monthly contact or case involvement, and the way that request was communicated, e.g. in-person, phone, mail, video, text, or social media.