Well-Being Outcome 1

Families have enhanced capacity to provide for their children's needs.

Sub-Item 12B examines agency efforts to assess and provide services to parents, Item 13 assesses agency efforts to engage parents in case planning, and Item 15 rates frequency and quality of caseworker visits with parents. Based on case circumstances, these items may not be applicable to a parent. In the OMS Onsite Review Instrument and Instructions (OSRI), a reviewer may select from a dropdown menu regarding why a parent(s) may not be applicable. To accurately capture circumstances not addressed by the current dropdown menu, we added a sixth category—“Not Applicable—Other Reason”. If a reviewer selects this option, the reviewer will be required to provide the reason for non-applicability in the Optional Comments text field.

Item 12:

The biological father of an older youth (target child) had his parental rights terminated several years prior to the PUR. The target child experienced behavioral challenges and several runaway episodes before the agency placed the youth with the biological father as an “unlicensed kin placement” due to a lack of placement options. There were no plans to permanently place the target child with the father or pursue reunification, guardianship, or reinstatement of parental rights. In this scenario, should the agency’s assessment and support of the biological father be captured in sub-item 12B or 12C?

While the biological father in this situation meets the definition of father in sub-item 12B and that of a foster parent in sub-item 12C, since the agency is not pursuing any form of permanency with him, his role in the case aligns more with a foster parent for purposes of the OSRI. Therefore, in this scenario, the agency’s work with the biological father should be captured in 12C. However, the youth’s relationship with the father should be addressed in 12A and in Item 4, the placement should be listed as “Foster Family Home (Relative)”. Items 12B, 13 and 15 will be NA based on the father’s parental rights remaining terminated for the entire PUR.