NYC Partners For Families

New Client with Existing ACS Case

Checklist for Drug Treatment Professionals

You meet your new client and learn that she or he has an open ACS case.  You want to be a good advocate and work with, not against, ACS.  What should you do?   Use the eleven steps below as your guide:

1. Get consents signed
   To allow you to speak with the caseworker and the attorney.
2. Get name of agency and caseworker
   • Current permanency goal
   • Status of the case
   • Service mandates
   • Visit plan – how often, for how long, where, and under what kind of supervision
   • Name and phone number for the parent’s attorney
   • Next scheduled Service Plan Review (SPR) or Family Team Conference (FTC)
   • Next scheduled court date and time
   • How often the caseworker would like an update or contact

If the client only knows the agency name and has no specifics about the caseworker, look up the agency phone number online and call to find out.

3. Let the caseworker know who you are
   Get in touch with the caseworker – by phone, email, letter, or all three.  Make sure to give the caseworker your contact information, and a way for him or her to get in touch with the client directly.
4. Find out basic information about the case
   Ask the caseworker:
5. Contact the attorney to learn the background of the case
   This is not a time to advocate for the client, but to listen and learn about the situation from the lawyer’s perspective.  It’s best to call first thing in the morning or after 5:30 in the evening – many lawyers spend most of their day in Court, not in their offices.
6. Learn status of other children
   Find out their:
   • Ages of children, and where they are living (foster home, with a relative, group home, other)  
   • Any past terminations or surrenders of parental rights 
7. Write reports for Court appearances 
   Since Court hearings are typically scheduled once every six months, and the subsequence date is put on the calendar during a hearing, it is easy to ask a client after a Court hearing for the date of the next one.  Subtract two or three weeks and write in on your calendar that a report to Court should be sent out that day for the client.  Click here for information on what to include in the report, or here for a sample letter.
8. Don’t hide positive drug screens
   If a client relapses or has a positive drug screen, report this to the caseworker.  You can also provide context and explanation.  For example, a report might state that the client briefly relapsed but reported this immediately to the counselor and has taken steps to adjust the relapse plan to reflect this weakness.  This can be coupled with an explanation of relapse as a common part of the process, and the growth that is shown when a client immediately reports a relapse.  If a positive screen is part of a pattern, this should be reported as well. 
9. Facilitate regular child visits
   If a parent has mandated child visits, support this.  As much as possible, help the client prepare before the visit, and ask “debriefing questions” afterwards. 
10. Participate in Service Plan Reviews or Family Team Conferences
    This helps underscore the commitment of the treatment provider to the process, and allows counselors an inside peek into an important process.
11. Explain and review the meaning of difficult concepts
    While someone may have explained it once, most treatment clients are unclear about a number of key concepts.  If you don’t understand them yourself (which you may not – you’re not supposed to be a child welfare expert), ask the caseworker or attorney for more information.  Some of the most confusing concepts include:
    • the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA)
    • the normalcy of parental ambivalence around reunification
    • the five different permanency goals
    • kinship care as a long-term option  
    • the difference between termination of parental rights and surrender of parental rights (TPR vs. Surrender).