Trends in Termination of Parental
Rights and Suspended Judgments

Presented by Margaret Burt
NYS Citizens' Coalition for Children, Inc.
13th Annual Statewide Adoption Training Conference
Adoption 2002: Linking Promises to Possibilities
May 10, 2002 • Albany New York

Caseworker Tip Sheet for Documenting Diligent Efforts

• Document everything - all contacts and attempted contacts with parents, relatives, child, foster parents, service providers.
  
• Use direct quotes frequently.
  
• Keep records of phone contacts and messages.
  
• Have a consistent practice regarding field notes.
  
• Every contact that you have with a parent should record that you mentioned to parent some aspect of the current service plan.
  
• Don't let more than month go by without some documentation about the visiting situation.
  
• Document your warnings to parent of the possibilities of a TPR as the situation starts to look like this could be a possibility.
  
• Document your "confronting" parents when things are not going well - services not being attended, poor visitation, use of illegal substances, etc. Document your offers to help with whatever is in the way of resolving the problem. Document specific conversation in which you ask parent what could be done to make it work for them. Back up oral comments and notes with a letter for any important conversation.
  
• Document the offer of an alternative service or visitation plan when one isn't working.
  
• Document your telling "deniers" that they will have to admit and confront problem in order to resolve it and have child returned to them.

 

5/2202