Child Placement Services (Foster Care)
Foster care placement is temporary substitute care provided to a child who must be separated from his or her own parents or caretakers when the parents or caretakers are unable or unwilling to provide adequate protection and care. Before a child is removed from his/her home or before a petition is filed to seek legal custody and placement responsibility by DSS efforts are made to maintain the family together and/or prevent a court petition. These efforts include voluntary, temporary plans with family/friends made by the parents or caretakers. In some situations, however, safety cannot be guaranteed and the child must be placed in care. State laws and policies charge the Department of Social Services with the task of ensuring that children are in foster care placement for the shortest time possible.
Child Placement Services are designed to:
- Strengthen, preserve and/or reunite families after children have come into agency custody or placement responsibility by helping families improve the conditions in the home that caused agency intervention;
- Ensure a single, stable, safe, nurturing, and appropriate temporary living arrangement for children removed from their homes;
- Achieve an alternative safe, permanent home for all children in agency custody or placement responsibility who cannot return home.
Foster care is intended to be time limited and goal oriented. The law requires that once a child is placed in DSS custody that efforts be made to reunite the family. If reunification is not possible the courts could terminate the parental rights of the parents/caretakers once they determine that reasonable efforts are no longer effective or are inconsistent with the child’s need for safety and permanence within a reasonable length of time.
For further information about Foster Care Placement contact Mary Cole, Foster Care Supervisor at (828) 287-6260 or Mary.Cole@rutherfordcountync.gov.
