Utah Foster Care Foundation OVERVIEW

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Utah Foster Care Foundation
OVERVIEW

• Dallis Pierson, President
• Kelly Peterson, LCSW, Director of Education
• Kelsey Lewis, MSW, Director of Recruitment
• Lee Wright, HR Manager, Executive Assistant
• Jay Chang, Accountant
  2-18-04
  

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UFCF Mission Statement

• We serve Utahs children by finding, educating
  and nurturing families to meet the needs of
  children in foster care.

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Core Principles

• Inclusiveness
• Integrity
• Excellence
• Volunteerism

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Vision

• The Utah Foster Care Foundation seeks to improve
  the lives of vulnerable children placed in foster
  care through the positive impact of
  compassionate, loving and qualified foster and
  adoptive families.

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Recruitment

• Finding Potential
• Resource Families

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Finding Potential Families cont.

• Goal I Develop and maintain a statewide program
  to recruit prospective Resource families who will
  meet specific current and projected placement
  needs of children in the foster care system.

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Finding Potential Families cont.

• Goal II Ensure a system of orientation and
  pre-screening that enhances the quality of
  prospective Resource families.

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Finding Potential Families cont.

• Goal III Educate the community about the foster
  care program and its needs as well as improve the
  positive public perception of foster parenting by
  assisting DCFS in supporting licensed Resource
  families.

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Finding Potential Families cont.

• Goal IV Increase the number of Resource
  families statewide by referring prospective
  Resource families for training and licensure.

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Training

• Educating Potential
• Resource Families

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Educating Potential Families cont.

• Goal I Offer a strengths-based pre-service
  training curriculum that reflects the guidelines
  for current best standards of practice, adheres
  to cultural sensitivity, informs participants of
  DCFS agency expectations, and helps families to
  identify their fostering strengths and
  limitations.

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Educating Potential Families cont.

• Goal II Provide additional statewide in-service
  training of advanced skills to Resource families
  in order to support them in the enhancement of
  their parenting strategies. In-service training
  will include DCFS Practice Model for Resource
  families.

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Educating Potential Families cont.

• Goal III Provide notification of all
  pre-service and in-service training schedules
  statewide. Maintain a UFCF database for
  verification of all Resource family training, and
  maintain a management information system for
  reporting accountability.

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Educating Potential Families cont.

• Goal IV Develop and maintain a statewide
  Clusters Program to assist the Division of Child
  Family Services in their support and retention
  of Resource families, which includes foster,
  adoptive and kinship families in the foster care
  system.

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Utah Foster Care Foundation

• The Beginning!

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Safety FirstUtahs Criminal Background Screening
Procedures

• Presented by
• Dallis J. Pierson, President
• Utah Foster Care Foundation
• 2/25/04

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Kinship Placements Only

• The Division of Child Family Services (DCFS)
  has access to the Department of Public Safety
  (DPS) database and can expedite the background
  check for immediate placement of a child with an
  approved kinship provider

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State Resident for More than 5 Years

• Sign Applicant Request Release Form
• Given to prospective families by UFCF recruitment
  staff at pre-screening
• Completed forms are given to UFCF pre-service
  trainer w/copy of current DL
• Trainer will send release form to Office of
  Licensing (OL) w/applicants foster parent
  application.
• OL staff gives release form to Criminal
  Background Screening (CBS) staff
• CBS staff date-stamp access forms in order of
  receipt. CBS has access to the database.
• Turnaround is 1 to 2 weeks

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State Resident Less than 5 Years

• Fingerprint cards are required and sent to FBI
  for background check
• DPS approved fingerprint cards are given by UFCF
  recruitment staff at pre-screening
• Prints are rolled at designated facilities
• 2 sets of cards w/24 fee are given to UFCF
  trainer during pre-service training
• Trainer sends cards to OL w/application
• OL gives cards to CBS

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• CBS will check for Department of Human Services
  (DHS) Utah Statute compliance
• Were approved cards used, filled out completely,
  i.e., signed by person rolling prints
• CBS sends all card, once a week, to DPS
• FBI requires cards go from DHS staff to DPS staff
  for missed information check
• DPS stamps cards, logs information, mails cards
  to FBI, Clarksburg, West Virginia
• FBI returns cards to DPS (in approximately 3-4
  weeks) w/clearance, denial or rejection
• DPS sends cards back to DHS CBS

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• CBS sends cards to OL for completion or denial of
  licensing process
• This process requires approximately 8 weeks to
  complete
• If cards are rejected twice by FBI, DHS can ask
  for name date of birth check
• DHS cannot ask for name date of birth check
  when sending cards for fingerprint check, as
  these procedures are done in 2 different places.
• Cards must be rejected twice to ask for name
  date of birth check

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Residence in Another Country

• Responsible to get their own criminal background
  screening from that country
• Instructions are on Applicant Request Release
  Form

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• After May 2002 in Utah, felonies were not
  automatically denied (statutorily)
• It depends on what the felony is
• It would be taken to DHS Committee for
  comprehensive review
• If denied by committee, individual can ask for a
  hearing and a determination will be made

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• Becoming a foster parent requires passing a
  criminal background screening and a clearance of
  the child abuse neglect registry. There are
  different statutes for becoming a foster parent,
  law enforcement officer, school teacher, day care
  provider, etc. The same individual might pass a
  background check to become a law enforcement
  officer, but be denied the opportunity of
  becoming a foster parent due to these differing
  statutes.