State Changing Child Protective Services Practices

Improvements Will Give Birth Parents Greater Access To Due Process

FRANKFORT, Ky.- The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) is making several changes to the state’s child protection services practices to improve the equity of the process for families and ensure the best outcomes for children in state foster care. 

CHFS Secretary Mark D. Birdwhistell announced the changes, which do not require legislative action, at today’s meeting of the blue ribbon panel on adoption. Birdwhistell chairs the 13-member group, which has been meeting since last August to review the process and current practices that lead to the termination of parental rights and adoption of children in the state’s child welfare system.

“Many of these changes come directly from issues raised by parents and other advocates who testified at prior meetings of the Blue Ribbon Panel,” Birdwhistell said. “We’ve identified these opportunities for improvement with the expectation that they will mean more equitable results for birth parents,” Birdwhistell said.

The changes include:

• CHFS is strengthening its standards of practice related to relative placements to more clearly instruct and guide social service workers on when and how to promptly identify potential relative placements, especially birth fathers and paternal relatives.
• CHFS’ Office of Legal Services is collaborating with the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) to provide additional legal training to front-line staff.
• CHFS and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) will develop a checklist of requirements in a juvenile case to assist judges to ensure due process for children and their birth parents.

For the rest of this article please visit www.Kentucky.gov.