The Mission Statement of this unit is to place children, who are the victims of abuse or neglect, in the homes of relatives, or psychological kin, i.e. friends of biological family. The major job responsibility of this unit is to conduct Home Study assessments of Kin as to their potential as a placement resource(s) for at-risk children. Placing children with Kin keeps them out of the foster care system where they may languish for a period of time, in stranger care.

The five Workers assigned to this unit perform a multitude of tasks in order to complete their assigned home study assessments. The unit will assess two types of home studies.

1. Emergency study, with a 14-day turnaround, and a non-emergent home study, with a 30-day turnaround period. The County approved Multi-Purpose Home Study format is used. The unit averages between 25-30 referrals per month. Average time per study, with applicant cooperation and follow through is approximately 27.7 hours for a two member household family.

Approximate average tasks per study are fifty (50). A few of these tasks are as follows:

Central Registry checks; Inter-agency checks-WESTI; Police Records requests; Releases of information requests; Certified Mailings; I.B.S. forms; TANF funding sheets; Finger Print cards; Cover letters; Travel Time; Interview Time; Home Study write-up time; Contacting references, schools, medical professionals, employers, landlords, Mental Health Workers; Court testimony if required, etc.

A sixth Worker attached to the Kinship Unit is responsible for all of the Interstate Compact (I.C.P.C.) Home Studies for Denver County, as well as all of the Inter-County Home Studies (Home Studies requested by other Colorado counties) for the Department.

The responsibilities for the sixth Worker are the same as those of the five other Workers, but there are additional responsibilities. Some of these functions of the Worker are Intake functions: processing DW-36 forms, opening cases, generating CWEST forms and case files, etc. Cases are then carried for as long a period as needed, until a disposition of placement is determined. This may mean referrals to the client for services in the Denver community, funding problems, staffings, multiple contacts with the Home Study family and the referring agency. Medicaid accounts may need to be opened for the children coming to Denver. There is I.C.P.C. paperwork. If placement does occur, cases have to be prepared for transfer to an Ongoing Caseworker for courtesy supervision. This requires contact with the child to be placed and the possibility of linking them to local services as needed in advance of transfer.

Most Interstate Compact Home Studies are on their own timeline. There are, however, “Regulation 7” Home Studies, which should be completed and back to the sending state within 30 days, according to I.C.P.C. regulations.