According to rule 5101:2-37-04 PCSA Requirements for Completing the Reunification Assessment; when a child is placed outside of his/her home for 30 days or more, a Reunification Assessment is required to be completed at the time of the Semi-Annual Review (SAR) under the following circumstances:
An out-of-home safety plan has been implemented.
The case plan goal and services are to support reunification of the child to the removal home.
A legally authorized out-of-home safety plan has been implemented.
Parental rights have not been terminated.
Currently, SACWIS functionality excludes the requirement of completing a reunification assessment for children with a legal status of PPLA if the following questions on the SAR are answered as listed:
Does the child's parent have any visitation and/or contact with the child? No
Has it been determined that reunification with the individual from whom the child was removed is not possible? Yes
Any other combination of answers to the PPLA Questions requires the completion of a Reunification Assessment.
For children with a Legal Status of PPLA:
If the child’s parent has any visitation and/or contact with the child, and it has been determined that reunification with the individual from whom the child was removed is possible, then a Reunification Assessment is Required.
If one or more Children included in the Reunification Assessment have a Legal Status other than PPLA, the user must complete the remainder of the assessment for ALL Children in the assessment.
If the child’s parent does NOT have any visitation and/or contact with the child, and it has it been determined that reunification with the individual from whom the child was removed is NOT possible, then a Reunification Assessment is NOT Required.
Important: If the Legal Status of EVERY Child included in the Reunification Assessment is ‘PPLA’, AND the assessment does NOT include any Adult Considered for Reunification, then the remainder of the assessment is NOT required.
The assessment questions on tabs Past & Present Safety, Readiness, and Decision will be pre-populated with PPLA as the applicable answer; the user can skip to the routing/approval of the assessment.
Once a reunification assessment has been completed, and saved it will be available for selection from within the Semi-Annual Review to satisfy the SAR requirements. See Linking a Reunification Assessment from within the SAR.