Monday, December 7, 2020
Hello wonderful Resource Families,
I wanted to reach out to provide you with an update since the most recent stay at home order went into effect. We have been getting a lot of questions from Resource Parents, birth parents, and staff about whether the order affects anything related to visitation. As we’ve stated in the past, our services are considered “essential” and therefore we continue to operate, despite changing orders.
With respect to our in-person home visits, we will continue to perform these on a monthly basis (filling in the rest of the month with virtual visits). We are, however, being extremely cautious with all COVID safety precautions and requirements. Please make sure that you are being cautious as well when your CCM comes to visit (wear masks, social distance, and visit outside whenever possible). This is for our safety and yours as our CCMs visit many families. Additionally, if anyone in your household has any symptoms of illness, please let us know and we will postpone any scheduled visits.
We have reached out to the county to ask if birth family visitation is impacted at all by the stay at home order. We have been told that at this time, there are no changes with respect to birth parent/family visits. All County buildings remain closed as they have throughout the pandemic but the County Social Workers continue to have the ability to schedule visits in the County offices if there is not another location to have them at. County social workers are supposed to continue to assess each case and make a determination about visitation depending on the circumstances for all involved. The emergency court rules regarding visitation have not changed and still apply. The entire order can be found here: https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/appendix-i.pdf
The section pertaining to birth parent visits states:
During the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic, previously authorized visitation must continue, but the child welfare agency is to determine the manner of visitation to ensure that the needs of the family are met. If the child welfare agency changes the manner of visitation for a child and a parent or legal guardian in reunification, or for the child and a sibling(s), or a hearing is pending under Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26, the child welfare agency must notify the attorneys for the children and parents within 5 court days of the change. All changes in manner of visitation during this time period must be made on a case by case basis, balance the public health directives and best interest of the child, and take into consideration whether in-person visitation may continue to be held safely. Family time is important for child and parent well-being, as well as for efforts toward reunification. Family time is especially important during times of crisis. Visitation may only be suspended if a detriment finding is made in a particular case based on the facts unique to that case. A detriment finding must not be based solely on the existence of the impact of the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic or related public health directives.
All of this means we need to continue to do visits and any concerns we or our families have about doing them need to be shared with the assigned County Social Worker.
The Angels office continues to be open for parent/family visits as well. We encourage all families to meet outdoors if possible, but if that is not possible, you can check in with the County social worker or your CCM about available office space for these visits.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
