1120. Safety Assessment

Original Date: December 2011

Revised Date: July 1, 2024

Sunset Review Date: July 31, 2028

Approved by: Natalie Green, Assistant Secretary of Child Welfare Division and Ruben Reeves, Assistant Secretary of Licensing Division

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance on completing a safety assessment. A safety assessment is:

A family assessment based on comprehensive information gathered throughout the life of a case.
Used to identify impending danger and determine if a Safety Plan is needed because children or youth are unsafe.
To determine the level of supervision during family time visits.

For Licensing Division Child Protective Services (LD CPS) investigators, also follow the LD CPS Use of Safety Assessment and Safety Planning Tools policy.

Scope

This policy applies to Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) employees.

Laws

RCW 26.44.030 Reports, duty and authority to make, duty of receiving agency, duty to notify, case planning and consultation, penalty for unauthorized exchange of information, filing dependency petitions, investigations, interviews of children, records, risk assessment process

RCW 26.44.195 Negligent treatment or maltreatment, offer services, evidence of substance abuse, in-home services, initiation of dependency proceedings

PL 105-89 Adoption Safe Family Act

Policy

Caseworkers must:

Determine children’s or youth’s safety by gathering and assessing comprehensive information about a family's behaviors, functioning, and conditions.
Complete a:
1. Safety Assessment/Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form in FamLink:
  1. At key decision points in a case to determine if safety threats exist and whether a safety plan can be developed with families to control or manage the identified threats.
  2. To determine the level of supervision needed for family time.

Procedures

Safety Assessment Completion Process
Caseworkers must:
1. Complete a Safety Assessment/Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form in FamLink at the following key points in a case:
  1. On all screened-in CPS intakes, including new intakes on active cases, no later than 30 calendar days from the date intake was received.
  2. During the completion of the FamLink Comprehensive Family Evaluation (CFE) DCYF 10-480 form.
  3. Before recommending unsupervised or overnight visits.
  4. When considering reunification or trial return home.
  5. When there is a change in household members, including those living on the premises who may have frequent contact with children or youth.
  6. When visitors reside on the premises more than five calendar days and children or youth are either:
    1. In-home.
    2. Placed out-of-home and having unsupervised family time in the parent’s or guardian’s home.
    3. Within 30 days of case transfer by the new primary caseworker.
    4. When considering case closure or new safety or risk factors have been identified since the most recent FamLink Safety Assessment/Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form was completed.
    5. Before 30-day shelter care hearings and orders authorizing continued shelter care, for the purpose of assessing the level of supervision for family time.
2. Determine if children or youth are safe or unsafe by:
  1. Gathering and assessing information through a review of child welfare history that includes, but is not limited to, the prior:
    1. Intakes
    2. Service interventions
    3. Interviews
    4. Observations
  2. Verifying information through source documents and contacts with collaterals. Information collected will include, but is not limited to, the following Gathering Questions:
    1. Nature and extent of the maltreatment
    2. Sequence of events that accompany the maltreatment
    3. Child or youth functioning on a daily basis
    4. Parental disciplinary practices
    5. General parenting practices
    6. Adult functioning
3. Consider and evaluate each potential safety threat using the five safety threshold criteria to determine if safety threats exist.
4. Follow the Safety Plan policy and complete a new FamLink Safety Assessment /Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form as threats emerge or are eliminated throughout the life of the case.
Safety Assessment Results
1. When caseworkers have completed the FamLink Safety Assessment/Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form and determined whether children or youth are:
  1. Safe, they must submit the assessment for supervisor approval.
  2. Unsafe, they must:
    1. Complete the FamLink Safety Plan Analysis to determine if an:
      1. In-home safety plan can manage or control the safety threats. When a safety plan is identified as being needed, follow the Safety Plan policy.
      2. Out-of-home placement is determined to be necessary, follow the Placement Out of Home policy.
    2. Submit the Safety Assessment/Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form to supervisor for approval in FamLink.
2. When LD CPS investigator notify caseworkers that children or youth in DCYF placement and care authority are unsafe with their licensed or unlicensed caregivers, caseworkers must remove them from placement and follow the Placement Moves policy.
3. When LD CPS investigators and caseworkers disagree about safety threats:
  1. LD CPS investigators must refer to LD CPS Use of Safety Assessment and Safety Planning Tools policy.
  2. LD CPS investigators and caseworkers must refer to Appendix C: Decision Making Matrix.
Safe Child Consultations:
Caseworkers must conduct Safe Child Consultations by following the Safe Child Consultations Guide document:
1. Prior to making the decision to recommend removal from the home.
2. When they:
  1. Need support during a complex case related to safety.
  2. Have identified:
    1. Impeding danger and there is an inability or difficulty safety planning.
    2. Safety concerns for a current or proposed out-of-home relatives or suitable person.
Family Time Level of Supervision
Caseworkers must complete the following after the emergent 72-hour initial visit:
1. Follow the Family Time and Sibling and Relative Visits policy for:
  1. Emergent 72-hour initial visits.
  2. Ongoing family time visit plans.
2. Review the Safety Assessment/Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form in FamLink using the five safety threshold criteria for each parent or guardian to determine the level of supervision for family time prior to the following court hearings.
  1. Thirty-day shelter care hearings and orders authorizing continued shelter care.
  2. Review hearings.
  3. Permanency planning hearings.
3. Once the five safety threshold criteria have been reviewed to establish if there are any identified safety threats, determine if they can be managed without supervision during the limited amount time required during visits. The Supervision Level Family Time Resource Guide DCYF 10-031 form may be used to assist with this determination.
  1. The types of family time include:
    1. Unsupervised which require parents or guardians to:
      1. Be the primary caregivers.
      2. Be able to demonstrate the willingness and ability to safely care for children or youth for the duration of the family time.
      3. Protect children or youth from any safety threats.
    2. Monitored which require parents or guardians to be the primary caregivers during family time, while an approved adult is available to periodically observe and intervene if needed. Parents or guardians must demonstrate the willingness and ability to manage any safety threats and safely care for their children or youth during family time.
    3. Supervised which requires an approved adult to maintain line of sight and sound supervision and intervene if needed.
  2. Family time must be:
    1. Unsupervised if any of the five safety threshold criteria are not met.
    2. Monitored if all five criteria are met but monitoring family time can mitigate the safety threat. To determine if monitoring family time can mitigate the safety threat:
      1. Discuss the decision for them to be monitored with the supervisor.
      2. Complete the FamLink Safety Plan Analysis.
    3. Supervised if all five criteria are met and monitoring family time cannot mitigate the safety threat.
4. For 30-day shelter care hearings, contact the assigned Assistant Attorney General (AAG) to determine what needs to be provided to the court when recommending monitored or supervised family time.
Safety Assessment Approval Process
Supervisors must review the safety assessments in FamLink for approval. If not approved, return it to caseworkers for revisions.
Documentation
Caseworkers and LD CPS investigators must:
1. Follow the Documentation policy.
2. Document the evidence supporting the level of supervision for family time in the following locations in FamLink per the Family Time and Sibling and Relative Visits policy for:
  1. Thirty-day Shelter Care Hearings and orders authorizing continued shelter care, document in the “Document Family Time Supervision Level Evidence for each parent" section of the FamLink Safety Assessment/Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form.
  2. Review and Permanency Planning Hearings, document in the “Visitation Section” of the FamLink Court Report DCYF 09-095 form or attach the updated Safety Assessment/Safety Plan DCYF 15-258 form to the FamLink Court Report DCYF 09-095 form.
3. Document in FamLink:
  1. When efforts are made to consult with law enforcement (LE) regarding changes to family time or sibling visits because a parent or guardian or sibling has been identified as a suspect in an active criminal investigation for a violent crime that may impact child safety in relation to family time.
  2. When consulting with the AAGs prior to the dissemination of any information about the parent, guardian, or sibling suspect shared by LE.