New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 18 - DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES › Chapter II - Regulations of the Department of Social Services › Subchapter C - Social Services › Article 2 - Family and Children's Services › Part 430 - UTILIZATION REVIEW FOR FOSTER CARE AND PREVENTIVE SERVICES › Section 430.12 - Diligence of effort

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) A social
			 services district shall be considered to be exercising diligent efforts to
			 achieve the permanent discharge of a child in foster care only if it complies
			 with the requirements for casework activity and documentation contained in this
			 section.
(b) The requirements of
			 this section pertain to all children placed in foster care for whom a uniform
			 case record, as described in Part 428 of this Title, is required and
			 additionally the requirements of paragraph (c)(2) of this section pertain to
			 all children placed by a court in the direct custody of a relative or other
			 suitable person pursuant to article 10 of the Family Court Act. Compliance with
			 these requirements must be documented in the form and manner required by OCFS
			 pursuant to Part 428 of this Title according to the standards for documentation
			 defined under the general requirements, the standards for discharge to parents,
			 the standards for discharge to adoption, the standards for another planned
			 living arrangement with a permanency resource, and the standards for discharge
			 to adult residential care, as set forth in subdivisions (c)-(g), respectively,
			 of this section. To the extent permitted by the Mental Hygiene Law and the
			 regulations of the Office of Mental Health and the Office of Mental Retardation
			 and Developmental Disabilities, social services officials must obtain copies of
			 the case records and service plans and any updates to such records and plans
			 for children whose care and custody have been transferred to such officials and
			 who are receiving care in facilities operated or supervised by such offices.
			 Such records, plans and updates must be made a part of the uniform case record.
			 It is the responsibility of the district to show that the requirements of this
			 section have been met, and a failure to provide evidence that the requirements
			 have been met is deemed equivalent to a failure to make diligent efforts to
			 achieve the permanent discharge of the child.
(c)
General requirements.
(1) Consistency.
(i) Standard. The uniform case record must
			 demonstrate consistency among the service needs identified as contributing to
			 the child's need for placement, the goals or outcomes and services planned for
			 to meet these needs and the services which are provided to the child, members
			 of his or her family or other significant resource persons. For children who
			 have been placed in facilities operated or supervised by the Office of Mental
			 Health or the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, the
			 services provided by that facility will be deemed to fulfill the requirements
			 of this subparagraph with respect to the child's service needs.
(ii) Documentation.
(a) If the child's placement is deemed
			 necessary, due at least in part to a reason described in paragraphs (c)(1)-(4)
			 of section
			 430.10  of
			 this Part as health and safety of child, parental refusal or surrender, parent
			 service need, or parent unavailability, and the child's permanency planning
			 goal is return to parents or relatives, the most recent assessment and service
			 plan or risk assessment and service plan required by the uniform case record
			 must contain client goals or outcome and services tasks or activities to meet
			 these needs;
(b) if the child's
			 placement is deemed necessary due at least in part to reasons described in
			 paragraphs (c)(5)-(6) of section
			 430.10  of
			 this Part as child service needs or pregnancy, specific client goals or
			 outcomes to meet these needs must be contained in the assessment and service
			 plan or risk assessment and service plan required by the uniform case
			 record;
(c) the assessment and
			 service plan or risk assessment and service plan required by the uniform case
			 record must show that services have been provided according to the service plan
			 for family and child, or that reasonable attempts have been made to provide
			 those services;
(d) information
			 concerning the services which are provided to children in facilities operated
			 or supervised by the Office of Mental Health or Office of Mental Retardation
			 and Developmental Disabilities and which is forwarded by such facilities to the
			 social services district responsible for maintaining the uniform case record
			 must be included in the uniform case record and will be deemed to fulfill the
			 documentation requirements of this subparagraph with respect to the child's
			 service needs;
(e) if a minor
			 parent is in foster care and has residing with him or her his or her child or
			 children, and such child or children are not in the care and custody or custody
			 and guardianship of the local commissioner of social services, the assessment
			 and service plan required by the uniform case record must show that the needs
			 of the child or children of the minor parent have been assessed and that goals
			 or outcomes necessary to meet these needs must be contained in the assessment
			 and service plan required by the uniform case record; and
(f) if the permanency plan for the child is
			 adoption or placement in a permanent home other than that of the child's
			 parent, the uniform case record must document the steps taken to find an
			 adoptive family or other permanent living arrangement for the child; to place
			 the child with an adoptive family, a fit and willing relative, a legal
			 guardian, or in another planned permanent living arrangement; and to finalize
			 the adoption or legal guardianship. At a minimum, such documentation must
			 include child specific recruitment efforts such as the use of State, regional,
			 and national adoption exchanges, including electronic exchange systems. Such
			 documentation must reflect reasonable efforts to place the child in-State or
			 out-of-state in a timely and orderly manner and to finalize the placement of
			 the child.