Removal to Return

When determined that the child is no longer safe in their own home, the agency is required to remove that child from the unsafe situation and place the child into a safe environment. Caseworkers must also consider that the removal is in the best interest of the child and that all other options to keep the child safely in the home have been attempted. The removal process includes court involvement and orders from the judge or magistrate that foster care placement is agreed upon as the best course of action. The caseworker will also explore alternative placement options such as placing a child with kith/kin whenever possible. Such placement may involve Inter-jurisdictional cooperation to provide home studies and supervision of children while placed outside of their original jurisdiction. The agency may be required to remove a child from her/his home during any point of the agency's interaction with the family. The goal of the agency is to return the child safely to her/his home. Caseworkers work closely with the family to achieve reunification.

When placing a child, the caseworker creates a home removal for the child to indicate the date of removal from the home and record other supporting information such as the reason for removal. The caseworker then places the child with a provider by searching for available providers of the type required such as a Foster Home and enters the date that the child’s placement began with the provider. If the child moves to a different provider the caseworker creates a new placement for the child and the child’s placement with the previous provider is automatically ended.

If the placement for the child occurred in the past and the child has already left the provider, the caseworker can also enter an end date when creating the placement. When the caseworker enters an end-date, the home removal remains open and the caseworker then either places the child in another provider or indicates that the child has returned home.

When a child is returned to the child’s own home, the caseworker enters a date of discharge from the child's current placement. When the caseworker enters a date of discharge, the system closes the placement if it has not yet been ended along with the home removal with effect from the date of discharge. If the child is removed from the child’s home again, the caseworker creates a new home removal and placement.

Caseworkers can also modify or remove the discharge date of the current home removal if the discharge date was entered in error. When the discharge date is removed, the latest placement remains closed. The caseworker then reopens the latest placement or places the child with another provider.

Similarly, caseworkers can modify the placement start date, end date, or both if the placement start dates, end dates, or both were entered incorrectly. When a caseworker ends an existing placement the home removal remains open and the caseworker either creates a new placement, reopens the latest placement or discharges the child from the home removal. During the period when a child has an open home removal and no open placement, the system displays an alert on the case context panel and an informational message on the placements page to alert the caseworker to take action.

If payments to the placement provider are already processed, the changes to the discharge date or placement start dates, end dates, or both can result in reassessment and overpayment or underpayment.