Section R512-500-3 - Philosophy(1) Children need permanency through enduring relationships that provide stability, familiarity, and support for the culture of the child; support the child's sense of self based on existing attachments; provide for the child's safety and physical care; and connect the child to their past, present, and future through continuing family relationships. First priority is to maintain a child safely at home. However, if a child cannot safely remain at home, kinship care has the potential for providing these elements of permanency by virtue of the kin's knowledge of and relationship to the family and child. (2) Kinship work is done in the context of a child and family team. Kinship care includes elements of child protection, in-home services, family preservation, and out-of-home care. When a child cannot safely remain home, kinship care is preferable to other out-of-home placements if the kinship caregiver can keep the child safe and appropriately meet the child's needs.(3) The caregiver's willingness and ability to care for and keep the child safe are fundamental. The kinship caregiver must have or acquire knowledge of the child, be able to meet the child's needs, support reunification efforts, and be able to provide the child access to parents, siblings, and other family members through visits or caring for the child and siblings as a group.(4) Ongoing assessment of the child's safety, permanence, and well-being is important to the stability and value of kinship care. Ongoing assessment of safety is based on the components of safety decision-making, which include threats of harm, vulnerabilities of the child, and protective capacities of the kinship caregiver and their support system.(5) Providing for kinship care in the Child and Family Services spectrum of services requires due diligence to identify and locate kin families with whom children may form or continue relationships at home or in temporary or permanent placements. Support to kinship caregivers is essential to the success of the child's placement with the family and to the family's ability to respond to the needs of the child. As members of the child and family team, kinship caregivers will receive support from other family members and from informal and formal supports to provide for the child.Utah Admin. Code R512-500-3
Amended by Utah State Bulletin Number 2015-19, effective 9/8/2015Amended by Utah State Bulletin Number 2020-02, effective 12/23/2019Amended by Utah State Bulletin Number 2022-07, effective 3/11/2022