[one-lucky-mom]

Can someone tell me what happens at the Foster Care Review Board meetings? Our FD has the 1st one for her case coming up (we've had her 2 months now). I'm told to be there with no children and to expect for it to be intense.

So what usually happens? The caseworker said that the board will have the complete case file. And the CW will have to say what the bio's have been working on (or not doing in our case). And they may ask me a few questions regarding how FD is doing. I'm nervous... bio's are explosive and I can see this going downhill quickly.

Please share your experiences. Thanks everyone!

[mamaboogerbear]

We've have been through 3 review hearings now with different cases. We have never been before the "Board". Our reviews have always been before the judge, in a courtroom with any CYS/CPS/CW staff present that needed to be, all attorneys/GAL, etc.

We've never been asked to speak, never asked opinions, nothing. Our last hearing lasted all of 10 minutes. I was floored!

Wish I had more to share with you, but thankfully for me, I don't.

I wouldn't get all worked up about it though. If you are asked questions, answer them factually and not with opinions. I think thats the biggie right there.

Good Luck, I will keep you in my thoughts!

[c.a]

I have been to several Foster Care reviews - typically there are one or two DSS "reviewers" and one community volunteer. In our state they review how things are going overall, then review the specific tasks in the service plan. They rate bparent's progress toward service plan goals as "sufficient" "partial" or "insufficient". They also can make recommendations for services/goals. They do also rate CW and Fparent progress toward treatment plan goals, but they are consistently "sufficient".

It can be intense - it is hard to watch bparents defending their behavior.

It can, depending on the players, be an opportunity to advocate for services. At one foster care review I talked about the difficulty my fson was having after visits (total three hour meltdown after each visit for three months) and the result was a recommendation that visits be shortened from 3 to 2 hours.

[Withay]

This sounds much like what is known as a Citizens Review Board in my area. This is a meeting that includes a 3-person panel of specially trained citizens, a person who takes notes, the childs cw, the parents, the parents attorneys, the childs attorney and the foster parent. Everyone sits around a table and it is pretty informal. I always try to sit by either the cw or the childs attorney.

One person on the CRB panel asks questions regarding the case and each person in the room is given the chance to talk about their area of the case. For example, as a fp I am asked how the child is doing and how their development is. The cw describes what DHS is doing, the attorneys explain where the case is legally, the parents have a chance to explain why they are at the point in the caseplan that they are. The board declares that either DHS, the parents, the attys, etc are or are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. It is also at this meeting that the board can recommend that the case continue to ru, or that they believe the case should head for the alternative plan. This is NOT a legally binding move, rather a recommendation.

Each meeting is scheduled to last for 30 minutes. If anyone disrupts the meeting (say the bios get angry and start yelling) they are escorted out. The CRB meetings are held on every case every 6 months.

The thing to remember, as the pp said, is to give facts and not opinions. I usually try to take a current picture of the child(ren) with me to show the board. That helps make it more personal for them. Generally I end up giving the picture to the parents.

[blubutterflies03]

the last one was about a month ago for my Spiderman and Pinkdancer. My husband and I were the only fosterparents (out of 4 sets) that were there. My kids are 2 of 6. The bio's were not there because they were incarcerated. There was a sit in for the supervisor and a person who reviews what the state is doing. They only read the caseplan for my 2 kids. I did get the chance to make sure they started getting therapy (which is much needed) so it gave me an opportunity to advocate for them.

When I went to one for my Infant "B" when he first came into care , it was pretty hard for me to hear the social worker spell out to the bio-mom all the things she has done wrong that landed her in this position, and all the things she needs to do to make it right. I thought to myself "she better get busy if she wants her kids back."