5. Review and revise the case plan
5.1 Complete the review and revision process
Every case plan developed for a child under the Child Protection Act 1999, part 3A, must be regularly reviewed. The purpose of the case plan review is to assess progress towards achieving the case plan goal and outcomes and inform the development of a new case plan where the decision has been made to continue ongoing intervention.
Frequency of reviews
A case plan must be reviewed regularly, taking into consideration the following factors:
- the child's age and developmental needs
- the provisions of the case plan
- any change that has a significant impact on the direction of the case plan.
As a minimum, the case plan must be reviewed every six months.
Review participants
The following people must be given an opportunity to participate in the review of a case plan (Child Protection Act 1999, section 51W):
- the child, if age and developmentally appropriate
- the child's parents
- other members of the child's family group who are considered likely to make a significant contribution to the case plan
- other people with whom the child has a significant relationship, for example, the child's approved carer
- any legal representative for the child
- a member of the recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entity, when the child is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child
- relevant service providers.
Decide the process for a case plan review
When reviewing a case plan, the use of a family group meeting is not required, but may be an appropriate way of engaging people, particularly when:
- there is disagreement between family members and Child Safety Services about the case plan
- previous actions have not been completed
- changes to the case plan are being proposed which would significantly change the goal or outcomes.
When a family group meeting is not to be used for the case plan review, consider a combination of strategies to conduct the review to ensure it occurs in an inclusive and participative way, for example, meetings with the family, meetings with individuals or groups of individuals or, where necessary, telephone interviews.
For case planning requirements for a child is subject to long-term guardianship to a suitable person, refer to Chapter 3, 1. What if a suitable person has long-term guardianship?
Review of the case plan
As part of the review of a case plan Child Safety Services must undertake the following activities:
- decide how the review process will occur and arrange meetings and venues, as required
- have contact with the participants to gather relevant information to inform the review
- consider and assess all of the up-to-date information about the case
- complete either:
- the family risk re-evaluation, when the child is living at home - refer to 5.2 Re-assess the level of family risk for 'in home' cases
- the family reunification assessment, when the child is living out-of-home and the case plan goal is reunification - refer to 5.3 Assess whether reunification can occur
- assess the progress towards the case plan goal
- complete a safety assessment, where case closure is being considered
- meet with the relevant people to:
- share relevant information and the outcome of Child Safety Services' assessments
- explore with the family barriers if certain actions have not been undertaken, and other options that may be utilised
- discuss other services options for if the needs of the child or family have changed
- evaluate the progress of the case plan against the case plan outcomes, and identify whether key actions have been completed or other key actions are required
- discuss the matters outlined in the Child Protection Act 1999, section 51X, which must be included in the review report
- decide whether ongoing intervention will occur or whether to close the case - refer to Chapter 3, 4. Close an ongoing intervention case
- complete the review report in ICMS - refer to 5.6 Complete the review report.
To complete the development of a revised case plan
Once the decision is made that ongoing intervention will continue, Child Safety Services must undertake the following activities to develop a new case plan:
- complete:
- the child strengths and needs assessment - refer to 5.7 Re-assess the child's strengths and needs
- the parental strengths and needs assessment, if required - refer to 5.8 Re-assess the parental strengths and needs
- meet with the child, family and other significant people to develop a revised case plan, in accordance with 5.9 Develop and endorse the revised case plan.
Other
Where relevant following the review and revision of a case plan:
- refer a child under the age of four years to a permanency panel, where reunification is being considered - refer to 5.5 Refer the case to a permanency panel
- apply for a new type of order, if required - refer to Chapter 3, 2. Decide the type of child protection order, if required.
5.2 Re-assess the level of family risk for 'in home' cases
When to complete a family risk re-evaluation
The family risk re-evaluation is to be completed as part of the review of a case plan for a child, where there are children living at home and subject to:
- a support service case
- intervention with parental agreement
- directive or supervision orders
- custody or guardianship orders, where the child is living at home, as part of the reunification process.
Do not complete the family risk re-evaluation where one or more of the children are living in out-of-home care and other household children are living at home, but subject to intervention with parental agreement. In these circumstances, complete the family reunification assessment for all the children in the household - refer to 5.3 Assess whether reunification can occur.
As part of the review process, it is necessary to assess the ongoing risk to the child, which includes the completion of the family risk re-evaluation. The purpose of the family risk re-evaluation is to guide the decision about:
- whether to continue ongoing intervention or close the case for a child who remains in the home
- whether a higher or lower level of contact is required with the child and family.
The family risk re-evaluation re-assesses the risk level in a household by considering the progress of the case plan and any changes in the family's environment and behaviour during its implementation.
When the child is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, ensure the recognised entity is consulted in the completion of the family risk re-evaluation.
Complete the family risk re-evaluation
To complete the family risk re-evaluation:
- complete one family risk re-evaluation for the relevant family or household
- choose the 'primary parent', in accordance with 1.3 Assess the parental strengths and needs
- using all known information, the SDM definitions and your professional judgement, select the correct answer for each of the nine items
- determine whether a policy or discretionary override is required, as outlined below
- record the family risk re-evaluation in ICMS and submit it to the team leader for approval
- compare the current risk level with the outcome of the preceding family risk evaluation or family risk re-evaluation and where the risk level has increased, review the appropriateness of the current intervention and consider the following:
- whether a safety assessment is required
- what factors are preventing the effective implementation of the case plan
- whether the current type of ongoing intervention is still the most appropriate type of intervention
- whether additional services are required to support the family
- whether the current service provider is culturally appropriate
- whether the family is committed to implementing the case plan.
For further information and definitions, refer to SDM: Family risk re-evaluation.
Policy and discretionary overrides
A policy or discretionary override will either increase or decrease the risk level scored in the family risk re-evaluation.
Select a policy override, which changes the risk level to 'very high', regardless of the score, in any of the following situations:
- sexual abuse is substantiated and the person responsible for this abuse is likely to have access to the child
- there is a non-accidental injury to a child under age three years
- a parent has caused severe non-accidental injury to a child
- a parent has caused the death of a child due to abuse or neglect.
A policy override is only used if one of the above situations has occurred since the initial family risk evaluation or the previous family risk re-evaluation. If the event has occurred at anytime prior to that, do not use a policy override, consider a discretionary override if required.
Consider whether a discretionary override is applicable, to increase or decrease the risk level by one level, and:
- seek team leader approval for use of the discretionary override
- record the rationale for use of the discretionary override in ICMS
- record the 'final risk level'
- record the 'ongoing intervention decision', either 'case remains open' or 'case closed'
- submit the completed family risk re-evaluation to the team leader for approval.
5.3 Assess whether reunification can occur
When to complete the family reunification assessment
The family reunification assessment is completed:
- as part of every case plan review, when the case plan goal is reunification, and at least one child in a family is in an out-of-home care placement and subject to a child protection order or interim order
- for all the children in the household, when a child in out-of-home care has siblings at home who are subject to intervention with parental agreement
- prior to any decision to reunify a child with their family.
The family reunification assessment is not used for children:
- on long-term child protection orders when a decision has been made for them to remain in a long-term stable out-of-home care placement
- on assessment orders and placed in an out-of-home care placement
- who are placed in out-of-home care under a child protection care agreement.
A family reunification assessment is necessary to determine whether ongoing case planning will focus on:
- returning the child home
- continuing to work towards reunification
- pursuing long-term alternative stable living arrangement or a permanent placement in out-of-home care.
If the focus is on returning the child upon a return home there must be a thorough assessment on any risk or safety concerns and an appropriate plan in place to address these. A well as a risk and safety assessment the decision to return a child home must be based upon the sufficient achievement of case plan goals.
When the child is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, ensure the recognised entity is consulted in the completion of the family reunification assessment.
The purpose of the family reunification assessment is to:
- re-assess family risk, including an assessment of the case plan progress
- evaluate parent-child contact
- assess the safety of the child, only where the family risk is 'low' or 'moderate' and the parent/child contact is 'good' or 'excellent'
- guide case planning to one of three permanency plan recommendations.
Prior to the decision to reunify a child with their parents, determine whether a parent, their partner or an adult member in the reunification household has a conviction for a serious criminal offence against a child - refer to the section on 'Criminal convictions and reunification', below.
Complete the family reunification assessment
To complete the family reunification assessment:
- assess only one household per family reunification assessment, however, in circumstances where two families may be working towards the child living in their care, complete two separate family reunification assessments
- ensure all relevant information from a range of internal and external sources is available to inform the assessment
- meet and engage with the family and child, where age and developmentally appropriate, to inform the completion of the family reunification assessment
- explain the re-assessment process to the family to ensure that they understand what is required to achieve reunification and the expectations for parent-child contact, including the quantity, type and quality of the contact
- use information gathered in the current implementation period and refer to the definitions, to complete the required sections (outlined below) - not all sections are required for each assessment
- record the family reunification assessment in ICMS and submit it to the team leader for approval.
The family reunification assessment sections
A brief overview of each section is outline below.
Section A: family reunification re-evaluation
Complete this section for every child. It scores and re-assesses the probability of future abuse and neglect incidents, based on the information gathered since the last review of the case plan. A reduced level of risk will be achieved when the family has made significant progress under the case plan. In this section, always use the risk level from the initial family risk evaluation that was completed during the investigation and assessment, or, if a subsequent investigation and assessment has been completed since the child entered care, use that risk level from that family risk evaluation.
Section B: parent-child contact visit plan evaluation
Complete this section for every child with whom reunification is intended. It evaluates contact between the child and the parent, but not contact with other family members, and considers:
- the quality of the parent-child interaction
- the supervision status and location of the contact
- the type of contact
- the parents compliance with contact arrangements.
Section C: reunification safety assessment
Complete this section if reunification is considered possible, that is:
- the 'family reunification risk re-evaluation' is low or moderate
- the parent-child contact has been evaluated as 'good' or 'excellent'.
Section D: permanency plan recommendation guidelines
Complete this section for every child, using the section that corresponds to the child's age, either under three years, or three years and over. It is based on the outcomes of the risk, contact and safety assessments in sections A-C and will recommend reunification when:
- risk has been reduced to an acceptable level
- the parents have complied with the arrangements for contact as outlined in the case plan, and the quality of the parent and child interaction has been positive
- the child is determined to be 'safe' or 'conditionally safe' in the home.
Alternatively, the family reunification assessment will not recommend reunification when either:
- the risk in the family remains high
- the parents have not complied with the arrangements for contact as outlined in the case plan
- the home is assessed as 'unsafe'.
Following completion of this section, one of three recommendations will be generated:
- reunification: is recommended, based on risk reduction, favourable progress with parent-child contact arrangements and a safe or conditionally safe home environment
- continue reunification services: maintain the out-of-home care placement and continue reunification efforts with the assessed household
- stop working toward reunification - pursue alternative long-term stable living arrangements: this does not mean that the child will cease contact with their family, but prompts a change to the case plan goal.
When reunification is the recommendation, consider what type of intervention will best support the family and the reunification process.
Section E: permanency plan recommendation summary
This section records the permanency plan recommendation from section D. To complete section E:
- complete this section for the oldest assessed child
- complete additional summaries for each child if there are two or more children with different permanency plan recommendations in section D
- consider whether a discretionary override is required to change the final permanency plan recommendation for the child - if required, record the rationale for the decision and seek team leader approval
- record the final permanency plan recommendation
- where an override recommends reunification, complete a safety assessment, and where required, a safety plan prior to returning the child home - refer to 5.1 Complete the review and revision process
- if the permanency decision is to stop reunification services and pursue alternative long-term stable living arrangements, select one of the following:
- long-term guardianship to a relative
- long-term guardianship to a suitable person
- long-term guardianship to the chief executive
- parenting order about with whom the child should live, through the Family Court of Australia
- adoption (Adoption of Children Act 1964)
- other.
Once a decision is made to pursue an alternative long-term placement for a child, it is not appropriate for a child to remain on a short-term custody or guardianship order. When it is determined that a child protection order is the most appropriate option, apply to the Childrens Court for a child protection order granting long-term guardianship. Where the child is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, further consultation with a recognised entity will also be required.
Where the child is currently placed with a kinship carer, consult with the senior practitioner to determine whether an application to the Family Court of Australia (by the kinship carer) may be appropriate. The senior practitioner will consult with Court Services Unit in relation to this matter.
Section F: current case status
Complete this section for every child. It records one of the following decisions about ongoing intervention:
- case remains open with at least one child in an out-of-home care placement
- all children reunified and case remains open for ongoing intervention
- permanency plan achieved and case closed
- other - specify, for example, seeking an order from the Family Court of Australia.
For further information and reunification guidelines refer to SDM: Family reunification assessment.
Apply for an order granting long-term guardianship
When the family reunification assessment recommends that Child Safety Services stop reunification services and pursue alternative long-term stable living arrangements, and a long-term guardianship order to a family member, other suitable person or the chief executive is to be pursued, ensure that:
- efforts have been made to locate both parents
- intervention has occurred to assist the family towards resuming the care of the child in a timely way - an exception to this is where there is no parent available or the parent demonstrates an inability to meet the child's protection and care needs, for example, due to a significant intellectual disability
- the child's need for emotional security and stability will be best met in the long-term by the order
- for a child aged under four years, a permanency panel has endorsed the decision to cease reunification and seek a long-term placement, or where consensus is not reached by panel members, the CSSC manager has made this decision - refer to 5.5 Refer the case to a permanency panel.
For further information refer to Chapter 3, 2.6 Apply for a long-term guardianship order.
Criminal convictions and reunification
When a decision is made that a parent's (or their partners) criminal history is required, this should occur prior to completing the initial family reunification assessment. To undertake the criminal history check, refer to 1.1 Gather information about the child and family.
Consideration and thorough assessment should be given when reunifying a child to a household where a parent, their partner or an adult member in the reunification household has a conviction for a serious criminal offence against a child.
The assessment should be conducted in consultation with the senior practitioner and team leader and should cover the following areas to determine that reunification to the household will not pose a risk to the safety and well-being of the child:
- what knowledge, if any, the primary parent without a specified conviction has of the other adult's conviction
- the willingness, if any, of the adult with the specified conviction to engage in an assessment process
- the nature and circumstances of the offence, when it occurred, and any treatment or programs that the offender has undertaken and the success of such intervention
- what safety plan, if any, could ensure the ongoing safety of the child should reunification to this household occur.
Following the assessment, the family reunification assessment should be completed and the information included in the case plan for the child.
If use of a discretionary override is warranted to change the Permanency Plan Recommendation for the child from reunification to alternative long term stable living arrangement a team leader or senior practitioner needs to endorse the use of the override.
The CSSC manager must approve the decision to either:
- work towards reunification following the assessment
- reunify a child to a household where a parent, their partner or an adult household member has been convicted of any of the offences in the List of criminal offences preventing reunification.
Record the CSSC manager's approval in a case note titled 'Case discussion: reunification decision'.
Where Child Safety Services obtains information that any adult in the household has such a conviction and one or both parents have no knowledge of the conviction, an authorised officer has a duty under the Child Protection Act 1999, section 5(2)(d)(iii) to inform the relevant parent of those concerns, so that the parent may take the appropriate actions to protect the child and be actively involved in the decision-making.
5.4 Undertake parallel planning/permanency planning
Parallel planning begins when a child is removed under a child protection order. Even if the goal of the intervention is reunification, parallel planning needs to occur in the case that reunification can not occur in a timely and appropriate manner and alternative options must be pursued.
The family reunification assessment specifies timeframes within which reunification must occur, before a long term stable out-of-home care placement is pursued. When a child is aged under three years, a long-term out-of-home care placement will be pursued when:
- the risk level has remained 'high' or 'very high' for 12 consecutive months, or the child has been in an out-of-home care placement for 18 of the past 24 months
- the contact has been rated as 'fair', 'poor' or 'none' for 12 consecutive months, or the child has been in an out-of-home care placement for 18 of the past 24 months
- the household has been deemed 'unsafe' for 12 consecutive months or the child has been in an out-of-home care placement for 18 of the past 24 months.
For children aged three years and over a long-term out-of-home care placement will be pursued when:
- the risk level has remained 'high' or 'very high' for 18 consecutive months, or the child has been in an out-of-home care placement for 24 of the past 30 months
- the contact has been rated as 'fair', 'poor' or 'none' for 18 consecutive months, or the child has been in an out-of-home care placement for 24 of the past 30 months
- the household has been deemed 'unsafe' for 18 consecutive months or the child has been in an out-of-home care placement for 24 of the past 30 months.
The timeframes outlined above do not prevent a decision being made to pursue an alternative long-term stable living arrangement for the child at an earlier point of Child Safety Services' intervention. This decision will still be subject to ongoing case planning, implementation and review processes, in order to provide adequate evidence to the Childrens Court, in support of an application for a long-term child protection order.
When it appears that the goal of reunification will not be possible, discuss this with the parents as early as possible and start to identify and establish suitable and permanent placements for the child within their extended family.
In circumstances where a child is aged under 4 years and the decision is being made to either reunify the child with their parents, or to pursue an alternative long-term placement option, the child must be referred to a permanency panel, in accordance with 5.5 Refer the case to a permanency panel.
For further information about permanency planning, refer to the practice paper Permanency planning.
5.5 Refer the case to a permanency panel
The role of a permanency panel is to review, and where possible, reach agreement about endorsing the decision to reunify children aged under four years with their parents, or to pursue an alternative long-term placement option. Permanency panels occur as part of the case plan review process and provide rigour and objectivity to the decision-making process around permanency decisions.
Permanency panel composition
The permanency panel must comprise of a senior practitioner, the child's team leader, the CSO and a critical friend. For an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child, a staff member from a recognised entity will also be invited to participate in the panel process, in accordance with the legislative requirements for ensuring recognised entity participation in significant decisions for a child (Child Protection Act 1999, section 6).
A critical friend is an independent third party who has the required qualifications, skills and knowledge to contribute in a meaningful way to the review of the decision-making process and who has had no previous involvement with the child, the child's family or been a party to any decision-making for the child. A critical friend may be a Child Safety Services' officer, a member of another government service or a member of the community sector.
Decide whether to refer to a permanency panel
The permanency panel process applies to all children, aged under four years, subject to statutory intervention, who are placed in out-of-home care under the Child Protection Act 1999, section 82(1), subject to a child protection order granting custody or guardianship to the chief executive.
The referral to a permanency panel will be made prior to completing a case plan review, where the decision is made to, either:
- reunify the child within the next six months, and the family reunification assessment outcome supports this decision
- cease reunification efforts and seek a long-term placement through a child protection order granting long-term guardianship or an adoption order, and the family reunification assessment outcome supports this decision.
Prepare documentation to inform permanency panel discussions
For all children referred to the permanency panel:
- either:
- complete the Permanency panel: Key factors for consideration form
- complete sections 1,2,3 and 7 of the Permanency panel: Key factors for consideration form and attach the One Chance at Childhood (OCC) review or recommendation report
- obtain the team leader's endorsement of the form
- unless already finalised, complete an assessment of the child's strengths and needs and if applicable, the parents strengths and needs.
Arrange for the panel to convene
The CSSC manager is responsible for determining the membership of the permanency panel, in consultation with the OCC worker, if relevant. When the panel membership is decided:
- schedule the panel meeting
- invite all participants
- provide the following documentation to panel members, prior to the panel convening either:
- the completed 'Permanency panel: Key factors for consideration' form or, where applicable, the 'Permanency panel: Key factors for consideration' form (section 1, 2, 3 and 7) and the One Chance at Childhood (OCC) review or recommendation report
- the family reunification assessment
- the child strengths and needs assessment
- the parental strengths and needs assessment, if applicable.
Note: allow adequate time for panel members to consider all referral information, prior to the panel convening.
Conduct the permanency panel
The way in which the permanency panel is conducted may be determined at a local level by the CSSC however, panel members will consider the information outlined in the 'Permanency panel: Key factors for consideration' form and where applicable, the OCC review or recommendation report, along with the family reunification assessment, child strengths and needs assessment and parental strengths and needs assessment, where applicable.
In addition, for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child, the decision to reunify the child or to pursue an alternative long-term placement option is a 'significant decision', requiring that the recognised entity be provided with an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process.
Based on the information considered and discussed during the panel meeting, panel members will, where agreement is reached, endorse the decision to either reunify the child, or pursue a permanent out-of-home care placement.
A Child Safety Services' officer must record the details of the panel's discussion, including the panel's decision to endorse or not endorse the permanency decision on the 'Permanency panel: Key factors for consideration' form.
Where a panel cannot reach a decision due to the need for further information, they may decide to reconvene the panel at a later time, to enable further case work or information gathering to occur.
Refer to the CSSC manager where consensus cannot be reached
If consensus cannot be reached by panel members, the matter will be referred to the CSSC manager, who will consider the information discussed during the meeting, the views of panel members as noted in the minutes and make a final decision.
Following the CSSC manager's decision record the decision and rationale in section 9 of the 'Permanency panel: Key factors for consideration' form.
Complete a case plan review and revise the case plan
Following the permanency panel meeting, complete the case plan review, including:
- holding discussions with the child, parents, carers and other parties involved in the review, about the panel's (or CSSC manager's) decision
- finalising the review report and the revised case plan.
For further information, refer to 5. Review and revise the case plan.
Record keeping
All documentation associated with the permanency panel referral, discussions and outcome, will be attached to the relevant event in ICMS.
Provide advice of reviewable decisions
As soon as practicable after making a decision which constitutes a 'reviewable decision' (Child Protection Act 1999, schedule 2), provide all 'aggrieved persons', as listed in the Child Protection Act 1999, schedule 2, with written notice of the decision, the reasons for the decision and how to apply to have the decision reviewed by the Children Services Tribunal.5.6 Complete the review report
The review report documents the formal review of a case plan and provides evidence that the review of the case plan has occurred through a participative process.
Record a review report
To complete the review report, consider the key areas of assessment, including the progress of the case plan and other matters that must be addressed in the revised case plan such as:
- the case plan goal and outcomes from the previous case plan that have been achieved or are yet to be achieved
- any changes to the goals or outcomes in the revised case plan
- any services provided to the child under the previous case plan or the revised case plan
- the extent to which the care and contact arrangements under the previous case plan have met the child's needs
- the extent to which arrangements for maintaining and supporting the child's cultural identity have been met
- who participated in the review, how they participated and whether a family group meeting was held and who attended.
Record in the review report how the child's need for long-term stable care will be met in the revised case plan. When the child is placed in out-of-home care under a child protection order granting custody or short-term guardianship, the report must state:
- the risks and benefits of returning the child to the care of parents
- whether there is a risk that the child will not return to live with the parents within a stated timeframe (appropriate to the child's age)
- the plans that have been made for out-of-home long-term care for the child.
The plan for long-term out-of-home care may involve:
- arranging for the child to live with a member of the child's family under a child protection order granting long-term guardianship of the child
- arrangements for the child's adoption under the Adoption of Children Act 1964
- for a child fifteen years and over, arrangements for the child's transition to independent living.
5.7 Re-assess the child's strengths and needs
Prior to revising the case plan for a child, when the case will remain open for ongoing intervention, re-assess the child's strength and needs. The child strengths and needs assessment will assist in identifying the child's strengths and the needs that must be addressed in the case plan to ensure their safety and well-being. The purpose of this assessment is to:
- provide current information about the child's strengths and needs and identify changes in the child's functioning
- evaluate the effectiveness of Child Safety Services' intervention and services provided to the child
- identify whether there are specific areas of Child Safety Services' intervention that need to be amended, or require further attention, in order to meet the child's protection and care needs.
For further information about completing a child's strengths and needs assessment refer to 1.2 Assess the child's strengths and needs.
5.8 Re-assess the parental strengths and needs
Prior to revising the case plan for a child, when the case will remain open for ongoing intervention, re-assess the parental strength and needs, unless the child is subject to a custody or guardianship order and the case plan goal is not reunification. Re-assessing the parental strength and needs:
- provides current information about the parental strengths and needs
- evaluates the effectiveness of Child Safety Services' intervention to date
- identifies the three priority parental needs to be addressed in order to meet the child's protection and care needs.
For further information about completing a parental strength and needs assessment refer to 1.3 Assess the parental strengths and needs.
5.9 Develop and endorse the revised case plan
A revised case plan is completed following:
- the completion of the case plan review
- the decision to continue ongoing intervention with the child and family
- completion of the child and parental strength and needs assessments.
Develop a revised case plan
The revised case plan will record the goal, outcomes and actions to ensure a child's protection and care needs and will be informed by current assessments including:
- the family risk re-evaluation or a family reunification assessment
- child and parental strength and needs assessments
- the review report
- the case plan goal for the next implementation period - this may be the same goal or a revised goal
- outcomes and actions for the next implementation period including:
- outcomes that are still relevant but have not yet been achieved
- new or additional outcomes and actions identified in the review of the existing case plan
- new outcomes and actions identified as a result of decisions about the case plan direction, for example, the decision to apply for a new child protection order or to extend an existing order
- actions to plan for long-term out-of-home care for the child when reunification is unlikely - depending on the age of the child, options may include the child's adoption under the Adoption of Children Act 1964 or the child's transition to independent living
- any revised care and contact arrangements
- arrangements for maintaining and supporting the child's cultural identity
- services to be provided to the child and family
- participants in the case plan review, how they participated and whether a family group meeting was held.
Endorse the case plan
Record the new case plan for a child on the approved case plan form in ICMS and submit it to the team leader or senior practitioner for endorsement within seven days unless the plan is clearly impracticable or is not in the child's best interests.
When the plan is not endorsed, the plan is amended to the extent necessary to ensure that it is workable and consistent with a child's best interests.
Distribute the revised case plan to:
- the child, when age appropriate
- the child's parents
- other participants in the review of the case plan, such as, the child's carer, licensed care service or the recognised entity.
For further information refer to 3.3 Record, endorse and distribute the case plan.
When the case is to be closed
When the decision is made to close a case following the review process, refer to Chapter 3. Ongoing intervention.- Last updated
- 18 September 2009
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