10A NCAC 71R .0907. FOSTER CARE SERVICES FOR CHILDREN

(a)  Primary Service.  Foster care services for children means social casework services through which a plan for substitute care appropriate to a child's needs is evaluated, arranged, maintained and supervised either in the home of a court approved relative or in a licensed or a court approved home or facility when neither of the child's parents are able to care for him/her in an environment free of neglect or abuse.  Services include the following: 

(1)           Diagnostic study and evaluation, and medical examinations when not otherwise available, to determine the appropriate plan for service and type of placement to meet the child's needs;

(2)           Preparation of the child and natural family for the separation and placement;

(3)           Supervision of the care of the child and of the foster care facility to assure that the child receives proper care during placement;

(4)           Provision of social casework and other treatment services to facilitate the child's psychosocial adjustment and to assist the parents or other responsible relatives to improve conditions and enable the child to return to his/her own home;

(5)           Planning and providing services as necessary for the placement of the child in the home of other relatives, in an adoptive home or in continued foster care as appropriate;

(6)           Provision of casework services and supervision to a child and his/her family from the time the child is returned to the home of his/her parents to the time court action is completed returning legal custody of the child to the parents;

(7)           Foster care services includes identifying children who require placement across state lines, ensuring that such placements are in environments with persons or caretaking facilities having licenses and effecting such placements pursuant to the interstate compact on the placement of children; and

(8)           At county option, the provision of legal services to facilitate permanent planning for a child. 

(b)  "Placement" pursuant to the interstate laws means the arrangement for the care of a child in either a family or foster care facility but does not include any medical facility or facility licensed under standards adopted by the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services.   Services include the following:

(1)           Ongoing supervision;

(2)           Recruitment study and development of foster families and child care facilities, assessment and periodic reassessment to determine if the home or facility meets the needs of children it serves; and

(3)           Consultation, technical assistance, and training to assist foster families and care facilities to expand and improve the quality of care provided.

(c) Components.  Counties may choose between:

(1)           The provision by a foster family home of services which meet the special needs of children in that home; and

(2)           Basic foster care.

(d)  Resource Items.  At county option, the agency may pay for resource items to support the child's participation in school.  Resource items include supplies, special clothes, and fees for membership in school sponsored extracurricular activities.

(e)  Target Population.  The target population is children in need of a supervised plan of substitute care.

 

History Note:        Authority G.S. 143B‑153;

Eff. February 8, 1977;

Amended Eff. October 1, 1981; October 1, 1979; July 1, 1979; October 1, 1978;

Transferred from T10.43D .0211 Eff. July 1, 1983;

Amended Eff. November 1, 2007; May 1, 1990; July 1, 1984.