Dear Angels Families,
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Dear Angels Families,
Here are some additional updates/guidance for Resource Parents in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. From now on I will only include new updates to you all, so you don’t have to sift through the old information. You can always access previous updates here if you missed anything. Please keep in mind that as an extension/contractor of child welfare, we (Angels and Resource/Foster Families) fall under the category of “essential services” and therefore are exempt from some of the government orders in order to perform the necessary services we provide. Please note that this extends to possibly supervising in-person parent visitation in some cases. Having said that, we will take every measure possible to keep ourselves and others safe and healthy while still working to support our children and families.
Home Visits
- We will continue to perform in-person home visits for our families on a monthly basis, or more frequently as/if necessary. We will continue to supplement our weekly visit requirement with "virtual" home visits. This plan will be in place for the foreseeable future.
Parent/Family Visitation
- No new updates in regards to parent/family visitation. The need/requirement for in-person visits with birth parents/family continues to be assessed on a case by case basis and when in-person visits are conducted, it must be done with appropriate safety protocol in place.
- The Angels office continues to be open for a limited number of visits. We are providing the space on a case-by-case basis with safety and necessity in mind. We have safety protocol and a process in place which you may review here. It is still our preference that any in-person visits occur in an outdoor setting if at all possible as this is the safest way for in-person visits to occur at this time. If you think you might need to utilize the visit space at Angels, please talk to your CCM about this and we can advise further. Right now we are able to offer visit space on Mondays and Thursdays only and will continue to assess/adjust.
Juvenile Court/Attorneys
- Juvenile courts are mostly open but all hearings and trials are being conducted virtually.
- If you are interested in being "present" for a virtual court date, please inform your CCM who will work on getting an invite to the court date.
- Travel Ex Partes/Approval
- We have had a few more families request travel ex partes (court approval to travel with foster children) lately and have seen some push back from the courts/judges about permitting travel at this time, mostly due to COVID safety concerns. Whereas we can never guarantee that travel ex partes will be approved, the County has let us know that they are more likely to be approved if, when making the request, the county social worker is equipped with a safety plan for the travel. In other words, if you are making a travel request of your CCM or county social worker, please do your research. As examples, have a plan in mind about following safety protocol in place for the location you are traveling to, provide a reason/plan for travel, limit contact with others as much possible, follow safety measures when you have to be in contact with others, etc., etc. Be prepared for the County or your CCM to be asking questions like this when you request travel with your foster child so we can try to be proactive with getting these approved.
Support for our Families
- We’ve had some great turnout and interest in support groups over the past several months! We are trying to offer 2 support groups per month if possible and are constantly trying to meet the various needs/requests for these groups. So please be patient with us as we try to mix up the different groups in terms of days/timing/topics. Please do not sign up for more than ONE support group in a month.
Again, if you need anything, please always check in with your CCM or me and we will see what we can do to help. We have quite a few families/parents/others connected with Angels who have volunteered to help out in any way they can so if you have any child care needs or need help with supplies or something similar, we may be able to link you with helpers.
Please stay healthy and safe! Thanks, everyone.
