Legal Authority/Introduction

LEGAL AUTHORITY:

• 922 KAR 1:100 Public agency adoptions.

The mission of the adoption review committee is to expedite the achievement of pemanency for children in out-of-home care.  This data is captured in the TWIST screens.

Procedure

1. The service region administrator (SRA) or designee establishes an adoption review committee, which includes a permanency lead, for every child whose goal is adoption.
 
2. The permanency lead ensures that data is collected and updated for each child in their region whose goal is adoption.
 
3. The permanency lead, upon notification of the goal change, convenes the initial meeting of the child’s adoption review committee for cases in which an adoptive home has not been identified. 
 
4. The adoption review committee and permanency lead:
 
1. Monitors the progress of the child's case through termination of parental rights (TPR) and adoption finalization by conducting adoption review committee meetings to coincide with out of home care case consultations conducted by the regional office designee;
2. Identifies barriers that will delay or impede the timely adoption of the child including:
1. Biological family issues;
2. Absent parent search;
3. Court issues;
4. Foster parent adoption issues;
5. Sibling issues;
6. Unresolved separation and loss issues;
7. Adoptive family issues;
8. Appeals process;
9. Internal system issues; and
10. Disruptions or any other identified barrier;
3. Utilizes resources and develops an action plan to eliminate barriers to permanency for each child;
4. Adheres to policies regarding Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act (MEPA);
5. Conducts a review of the child's history and considers potential adoptive resources;
6. Consults with Child Focused Recruitment Model (CFRM) and adoption branch staff, when a child has no identified adoptive family, to coordinate recruitment efforts and ensures a Kentucky Adoption Profile Exchange (KAPE) referral is completed according to SOP 13.14 Referral of a Child to the KAPE;
7. Refers unresolved barriers or issues to the regional continuous quality improvement (CQI) teams, SRA or designee or central office staff as appropriate; and
8. Completes data entry in TWIST and reviews permanency data with regional management staff to identify regional trends and improve service delivery.
 
5. The SSW documents:
 
1. All information from the adoption review committee meetings in the case record (TWIST screens); and
2. Efforts to explore placement options for the child including foster parent adoption.

Practice Guidance

• The initial adoption review committee meeting may occur immediately following the case planning conference when a child’s goal is being changed to adoption.  The adoption review committe for the child may be different than the regional adoption committee identified by the SRA or designee.  The adoption review committee consists of, but is not limited to the following members:
• Adoption review committee permanency lead;
• Social service worker (SSW);
• Family services office supervisor (FSOS);
• CFRM recruiter and/or FSOS;
• Recruitment and certification (R&C) family services office supervisor; 
• Regional foster/adoption specialist;
• Regional attorney;
• Foster parents, private child placing agency (PCP) foster parents and staff;
• KAPE specialists, if a foster parent adoption is not proposed; and
• Other appropriate persons, including therapists, etc.