§316.30. Administrative Case Review System

a)         The Department has an administrative case review system for all the children in placement and their families. Administrative case reviews are conducted for children living in foster family homes, relative homes, group homes, child care institutions, youth emergency shelters, or detention, correctional, mental or physical health related facilities. In addition, the Department may elect to conduct administrative case reviews on other groups of children as fiscal and staffing resources permit.

 

b)         Case reviews are conducted in order to:

 

1)         assure that parents and the children (if participating in the planning) are involved in and collaborating in development of the plan and understand and discuss the plan and know what is expected of them;

 

2)         ensure siblings are being placed together whenever possible; when sibling are placed apart, efforts continue to locate a placement that will accept all of the children; contact and visitation between siblings is encouraged and occurring in accordance with the Visitation and Contact Plan; efforts are made to support contact between siblings in substitute care with siblings who are not in substitute care (e.g., because of adoption, legal guardianship, emancipation or adulthood);

 

3)         review whether the Department's continuing intervention is necessary;

 

4)         review whether services, including placement services, are necessary, relevant, coordinated, and appropriate and address the health and safety needs of the child;

 

5)         identify services needed but that are not being provided to the child, family or foster parents and the reasons why they are not being provided;

 

6)         review the disability status of a child to determine the need for and/or appropriateness of specialized services;

 

7)         review the appropriateness of the child's educational placement and the child's educational progress and recommend changes to the caseworker;

 

8)         review health information on the child and family;

 

9)         review any special physical, psychological, educational, medical, emotional, or other needs of the minor or his or her family that are relevant to a permanency or placement determination;

 

10)       review, for any minor age 16 or over, programs or services that will enable the minor to prepare for independent living;

 

11)       review whether the Department, the service providers, the family, the substitute care provider, if any, and the child are complying with the service plan and, if they are not complying, whether changes in the service plan or goals are needed;

 

12)       review whether there is progress to resolve the child's and family's problems and whether the progress is satisfactory and whether the child can safely return home;

 

13)       review whether the projected month for achieving the permanency goal should be changed;

 

14)       review the appropriateness of the permanency goal and recommend changes in the goal (if appropriate);

 

15)       review and finalize the service plan for the next period, including an analysis of:

 

A)        the appropriateness of the services contained in the plan and whether those services have been provided and, if not, why not;

 

B)        whether reasonable efforts by the Department, and reasonable progress by the family, have been made to achieve the goal;

 

C)        whether the plan and goal have been achieved;

 

16)       refer the case for a family meeting as described in 89 Ill. Adm. Code 315.120 (Family Meetings) when one has not been conducted; and

 

17)       report findings and make recommendations.

 

c)         The Department shall provide training for all Administrative Case Reviewers, their supervisors and their managers regarding the importance of maintaining sibling relationships and the child's sense of attachment to his/her siblings, the importance of maintaining sibling relationships over the child's lifespan, and the impact on the child if those relationships are severed.

 

(Source:  Amended at 40 Ill. Reg. 767, effective December 31, 2015)