Post Adoption Services Case Scenario
Billy is a 13-year-old child who was adopted by the Smith's when he was 5 years old. Billy has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for the past 3 years due to a history of suicidal ideations, self-harm behaviors and physically harming his adoptive parents. Billy has hit, kicked, and spit on his adoptive parents, has broken furniture and punched holes in the walls of the home. Billy has 2 adoptive siblings who report being afraid to be alone with Billy because of his physical aggression although he has not hurt them physically. The Smith's have been enrolled with Post Adoption Services for the past year and have engaged in support groups, respite care, parent training, crisis intervention services, and individual therapy. Billy refuses to participate in family therapy and has made minimal progress with his individual therapist. Billy recently completed a psychological evaluation which recommended out of home intensive services such as Residential Treatment Center (RTC) treatment. The Smiths feel overwhelmed because they cannot control Billy and keep their entire family (Billy included) emotionally and physically safe. They are asking for more help from the Post Adoption Provider however, the provider does not have any funding to cover Residential Treatment Center (RTC) treatment for Billy and therefore the family is seeking Post Adoption Substitute Care.
The regional Post Adoption Liaison sets up a meeting with the Post Adoption Provider, the adoptive parents, Conservatorship (CVS) Program Director (PD), Adoptions (ADO) PD, Investigations (INV) PD and also invites the State Office Adoption Program Specialist. The family is told to call in an intake to the hotline for Refusal to Assume Parental Responsibility (RAPR) and reference Post Adoption Substitute Care. After the meeting, the family calls in the intake. The intake is not progressed to an investigation at that time due to the lack of allegations of abuse or neglect. The family needs to call in the intake a second time with the help of the Post Adoption Case Manager before the case is progressed to an investigation.
The investigator who receives the case is informed of the special circumstances for Post Adoption Substitute Care by the Investigations (INV) PD/Supervisor (SUP). The investigator must conduct the investigation to determine that the need for therapeutic and behavioral help is a result of trauma Billy endured before adoptive placement or unpredictable genetic issues. If this is the case, the family will not be facing a Reason to Believe (RTB). They are asking for more help from the Post Adoption Provider however, the provider does not have any funding to cover Residential Treatment Center (RTC) treatment for Billy. Because of this situation, the family is seeking Refusal to Assume Parental Responsibility (RAPR).
Upon completing the investigation, Child Protective Services (CPS) files for Temporary Managing Conservatorship (TMC) and at the first court hearing, requests Joint Managing Conservatorship (JMC) with the adoptive parents.
