Utah Admin. Code R512-500-3 - Philosophy
(1) Children need permanency through enduring
relationships that provide stability, familiarity, and support for the culture
of the child; support the child's sense of self based on existing attachments;
provide for the child's safety and physical care; and connect the child to
their past, present, and future through continuing family relationships. First
priority is to maintain a child safely at home. However, if a child cannot
safely remain at home, kinship care has the potential for providing these
elements of permanency by virtue of the kin's knowledge of and relationship to
the family and child.
(2) Kinship
work is done in the context of a child and family team. Kinship care includes
elements of child protection, in-home services, family preservation, and
out-of-home care. When a child cannot safely remain home, kinship care is
preferable to other out-of-home placements if the kinship caregiver can keep
the child safe and appropriately meet the child's needs.
(3) The caregiver's willingness and ability
to care for and keep the child safe are fundamental. The kinship caregiver must
have or acquire knowledge of the child, be able to meet the child's needs,
support reunification efforts, and be able to provide the child access to
parents, siblings, and other family members through visits or caring for the
child and siblings as a group.
(4)
Ongoing assessment of the child's safety, permanence, and well-being is
important to the stability and value of kinship care. Ongoing assessment of
safety is based on the components of safety decision-making, which include
threats of harm, vulnerabilities of the child, and protective capacities of the
kinship caregiver and their support system.
(5) Providing for kinship care in the Child
and Family Services spectrum of services requires due diligence to identify and
locate kin families with whom children may form or continue relationships at
home or in temporary or permanent placements. Support to kinship caregivers is
essential to the success of the child's placement with the family and to the
family's ability to respond to the needs of the child. As members of the child
and family team, kinship caregivers will receive support from other family
members and from informal and formal supports to provide for the
child.
Notes
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