Safe Futures A Plan for Program Improvement - Department of ...

including homes accepting sibling groups. Also see attached Community Supervised Visitation Centers.
3 rd Quarter Report: Achieved. Step 2 -- Under the auspices of the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program, Georgia has several
visitation sites in operation.
Step 3 -- Achieved. Monitoring of approved RCS cases is a continuous process. The number of approved placements has risen to
1,070 as compared with 416 a year ago. See RCS data report in Appendix.
Step 4 -- Achieved. Recruitment campaigns continue to include efforts to attract and approve homes willing to accept sibling groups.
See Recruitment flyers in the Appendix.
5 th Quarter Report: Georgia considers this Action Step Achieved.
BARRIERS TO ACHIEVEMENT:
2 nd Quarter Report: The primary barrier in increasing the placement of sibling groups together is having enough families, who are
willing to care for siblings, to come forward to begin the approval process. Heightened emphasis on this need is being made in an
effort to remedy this problem. On-going.
2nd Quarter Federal Response: HOW DID YOU PLAN TO OVERCOME THIS BARRIER?
3 rd Quarter Report/Georgia's Reply: This goal is considered Achieved. There is no one-time remedy or solution to this problem.
For this reason, there will always be a challenge to expeditiously identify and approve relatives, willing, able and eligible to be a
placement resource. However, counties can assess recruitment efforts based on needs and patterns over the past two years. This data
may be used to project future placement needs based on age, gender, sibling groups, special needs, etc. Georgia will continue to
assertively seek and pursue extended family resources first, for all children entering agency custody. Georgia will, also, continue its
outreach efforts to identify and recruit homes for children entering foster care by informing citizens of their placement needs and
available services to support their placement. Heightened emphasis will be placed on placements pertaining to sibling groups.
G7 ACTION STEPS: Goal #4
Step 1: Develop foster parent training to include specialized segments on managing sibling groups.
Step 2: Evaluate effectiveness of respite care funding as a strategy to prevent placement disruptions.
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Safe Future – A Plan for Program Improvement
Georgia Department of Human Resources
March, 2004 Quarter 5 - Work Plan G Page 9