BY DAVID CASTELLON • dcastell@visalia.gannett.com • July 13, 2010
Children in Tulare County foster homes do not undergo routine mental-health evaluation and not all get monthly visits from their caseworkers, the Tulare County Grand Jury reported this month.
In its final report for 2009-10, the Grand Jury recommended that Child Welfare Services follow its own guidelines. Those guidelines call for caseworkers to visit children in foster care every month and have all children undergo mental-health evaluation.
The Grand Jury also recommends that caseworkers make periodic, unannounced visits to foster homes and that Child Welfare Services provide the Grand Jury with access to foster-care records "to monitor the progress of social workers and ensure the health and safety of children in foster care."
No investigation of the county's foster-care program had previously been conducted by the Grand Jury, officials said.
County Health and Human Services spokeswoman Allison Lambert said Monday that a response to the Grand Jury report is being prepared by her office, which oversees Child Welfare Services.
Health officials did not respond to a request for the number of children in the county's foster care system.
With the information the Grand Jury did receive, members came to these conclusions.
# Some foster children have gone six months or more without visits by social workers.
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http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20100713/NEWS01/7130314
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