GLOSSARY
Administrative Case Review (ACR): A meeting held every six months to review the Service Plan, discuss the case, services provided, parents’ participation and progress on assigned tasks, and the child’s needs and services. Your Child Welfare Specialist and/or Social Work Supervisor must attend all ACRs/
Adoption: A permanency goal that can occur after parental rights have been terminated. Adoption is the official legal transfer of all of the parental rights that a biological parent has to a child, to the adoptive parents, including the responsibility for the care and supervision of the child, its nurturing and training, it physical and emotional health, and its financial support.
Division of Child Protection (DCP): Division within DCFS that is responsible for carrying out the investigation of all accepted reports of child abuse and neglect received from the Child Abuse Hotline.
Child Abuse Hotline: Statewide Hotline (800-252-2873). Anyone can report suspected abuse and neglect to this Hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Child and Family Team Meeting: A meeting among all team members in order to discuss needs, services and progress; occurs quarterly.
Caseworker: responsible for monitoring the care of the child. The caseworker prepares the Service Plan, attends all Six-Month Staffings and ACRs, schedules visits between parent and child, and between siblings, and supervises the foster home. The caseworker also assesses the parent and child for services, makes referrals for services and receives updates from all providers regarding these services. The caseworker makes recommendations to DCFS and Juvenile Court regarding the most appropriate placement for the child.
Guardian Ad Litem (GAL): The attorney appointed by the Court to represent the child in court and in other meetings as necessary.
Home Study: A detailed evaluation of a foster home (including relative foster homes).
Indicated Report: A designation that there is credible evidence regarding a report of child abuse or neglect.
Independence: A permanency goal for foster youth age 15 or older when Return Home, Adoption and Private Guardianship goals have been ruled out.
Individualized Education Plan (IEP): Document that outlines the special education services for which students with special needs qualify. The IEP includes any modifications that are required in the regular classroom and any additional special programs or services.IEPs are reviewed via a team meeting (including biological parents, if applicable) once per year.
Juvenile Court: The place where child welfare cases are heard.
Order of Protection: A written direction from Court ordering particular guidelines to protect one party from another.
Permanency Planning: The efforts made by DCFS and Little City Foundation to provide a permanent home for children either by returning them home to their parents, or if that is not possible, through adoption, legal guardianship or preparation for independence if the child is over 15 years old.
Petition: A formal, written application to Court requesting judicial action on a certain matter.
POS Agency: A private agency that has a contract with DCFS to provide services to biological families and children, such as Catholic Charities or UCAN.
Private Guardianship: A permanency goal with which the plan is for your child will live with another family who will be responsible (be their legal guardian) for her/him until age 18.
Public Defender: The attorney that represents biological parents in juvenile court cases.
Putative Father: A man who may be a child’s father but who was not married to the child’s mother before the child was born and has not established the fact that he is the child’s father in a court proceeding.
Residential Treatment Facility: A facility for children who have serious emotional and/or behavioral issues and require a more structured environment. All residential treatment facilities are licensed and monitored by DCFS.
Service Plan: A special form that outlines what problems caused the children to enter foster care, and the things that must be done to correct those problems. Tasks are assigned to team members (including biological parents, foster parents, caseworker) and evaluated for progress. Service plan are reviewed by DCFS at the ACR every six months.
Six-Month Staffing: A meeting held about one month before every ACR that includes everyone involved in your child’s immediate care, including biological parents, foster parents, therapists, caseworker and supervisor. The purpose of this meeting is to review your progress in meeting your goals, and to develop new goals and tasks for the next six months.
Specialized Foster Care: Casework and foster placement that provide specialized care to a child who needs additional attention. These foster homes receive specialized training.
Specific Consent for Adoption: Legal documents and process in which the biological parent(s) consent to their child being adopted by the person who is caring for the child now, if that person is approved by DCFS.
Substitute Care Pending Termination of Parental Rights: The Court set goal after it is determined that returning the child to the home of the parent(s) is not in the best interests of the child.
Supervised visits – The type of visits that occur between child and biological parent(s) before the parents prove they can attend to the needs and safety of the child without the supervision of a child welfare worker.
Surrender of Parental Rights: The biological parent(s) makes the decision to sever the legal relationship between the biological parent and child.
Termination of Parental Rights: This court determination ends the legal relationship between the biological parent and child. The child is then legally free for adoption.
Unfounded Report: A designation that there is no credible evidence to prove a report of child abuse or neglect and the report cannot be “indicated.”
Unsupervised Visits: Visits occur after the biological parent(s) prove that they can attend to the needs of the child without the supervision of a child welfare worker. These must be approved by the court.
Visiting Plan: A detailed plan developed by the caseworker with the input of the biological parent that outlines the expectations and rules around visits between biological parents and their children.