So…as a foster parent, you will have a number of different people with whom you have contact…or at the very least, you will know about their place in a case. In addition, there are other individuals with whom you will have contact because of the child…not necessarily because it is a DCS case (teachers or doctors, for instance)…they are the kinds of people with whom any parent would interact.
That said, this is not intended to be a complete list of all the possible people you may encounter during an open DCS case; honestly, there is no way you could ever anticipate who may come into play at some point in the case, but at least this list is enough to get you started, and familiarizing yourself with some of the roles.
As an aside, it is NOT intended to scare anyone…just making sure we are all on the same page and understand the list will go beyond you (as foster parents), the DCS FCM, and the child.
So here is the list of possible foster care “players” and other individuals a foster parent may interact with, in no particular order:
- Foster Child
- Family Case Manager (FCM…often referred to as the DCS Case Worker)
- Agency Case Worker (clearly this would be through Children’s Bureau)
- Biological Parents
- Visit Supervisor(s)
- Visit Transporter (may be separate from the actual visit supervisor)
- Doctor(s) for the child
- Therapist(s) for the child (could be OT, PT, Speech, Behavior, or other)
- Family Therapist
- Home Based Case Manager
- Guardian ad Litem (GAL)
- Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)
- Licensing Specialist
- Licensing Trainers
- DCS Removal Case Worker
- Home Based Case Manager for biological parents
- Domestic Violence (DV) Class Instructors for biological parents
- Judge (possibly more than one if the case goes to adoption, and depending on the county of the case)
- Lawyers for GAL
- Lawyers for DCS
- Lawyers for biological parents
- Lawyer for adoptive parents, if the case goes to TPR
- Another DCS or agency trainee (shadowing the case worker)
- Other extended biological family members (could include but are not limited to siblings placed in other foster homes or grandparents who may get visits)
- Foster parents of siblings placed in other homes
- Respite foster parents
- Teacher(s)
- Teacher assistants
- School liaison
- SpEd/ELL teacher
- IEP-teacher of record
- School counselors
- School administrators
- Tutors
- Mentors
- Life Skills therapist (depending on the age of the foster child)
- Probation Officer (when a youth is involved with juvenile corrections system, less common)
Hope this list is helpful as you prepare to get your foster license, and as you consider all the people with whom you will cross paths. It does seem like a long list, but most cases won’t have this many people. And the best news is that you don’t have to interact with them all at the same time!
Sincerely,
Kris