All parties acknowledge that collaboration throughout the life of a case helps to ensure the child’s continued safety, well-being, and opportunities for permanency. All parties acknowledge that information sharing benefits children and helps to prevent disagreements that may impede the progress in meeting the needs, assuring the well-being and safety of the child. Collaboration and information sharing provide the greatest opportunity to secure the best and most timely outcomes for children. 

DFPS and CASA will: 

1. Share Information: Share records and information in accordance with law and court orders. Unless limited by court order, areas of information-sharing may include: 
   1. Investigative information, including current reason for involvement and DFPS history but excluding reporter information unless redacting the reporter information causes significant delay in sharing of the case record. 
   2. Child Caregiver Resource Form 
   3. Parent contact information 
   4. Early and ongoing family search and engagement efforts that include identification of relatives, fictive kin and other natural supports 
   5. Information gathered from CFE tools about important connections and supports 
   6. Information gathered at family meetings 
   7. Placement information and change of placement information including transition plans for placement change  
   8. Education records and information about the child 
   9. Medical and mental health needs and assessments including the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment 
   10. Plans of Service for Child and Family including Family Strengths and Needs Assessment (FSNA) 
   11. Visitation Plans and information for sibling visits and parental visits 
   12. Normalcy activities and plans 
   13. Preparation for adoption plans and activities 
   14. Potential permanent placement home studies 
2. Communicate with Necessary Parties:
   1. DFPS and CASA Appointed at Ex Parte:  Will communicate with one another after CASA appointment and at least one time prior to adversary hearing. 
   2. Caseworker and CASA:  Will communicate with one another after CASA’s appointment and ongoing, with monthly contact at a minimum. 
   3. Current Primary Caregiver:  Meet in person with the child’s current primary caregiver in a timely manner after placement occurs and communicate with the caregiver at least once a month. 
   4. Court:  Inform the court promptly of important developments in the case through appropriate means as determined by court rules and statute. 
   5. Other Parties:  Interface with the mental health, medical, legal, educational and other community systems to advocate for the child’s best interest. DFPS and CASA will work collaboratively to ensure that foster parents, kinship providers, schools, child placing agencies and others providing services have the records needed to appropriately provide services and assistance. Confidential information should be shared to the minimum extent necessary to care for the child.

3. Find and Engage Family and Fictive Kin:  It is of critical importance for children in care to have supportive relationships and connections. CASA and DFPS working together in Collaborative Family Engagement (CFE) cases will lead efforts to search, identify, and engage family, fictive kin and natural supports in both TMC and PMC cases. CASA cases not designated as CFE will have access to CFE tools to assist collaborative efforts with DFPS to identify family, fictive kin, and significant others for children and their families.  All parties will value the importance to children of connections and relationships and support planning, activities and strategies to build supportive networks of appropriate adults to benefit child well-being and permanency.

   All parties will work together to identify and/or engage family members and fictive kin for a child, sharing results and information from their family finding and engagement efforts. 

4. Encourage Self-Advocacy and Participation of Children and Youth:  Encourage children and youth to advocate for their rights as well as ensure that the system respects and enforces their rights. Ensure children have been provided information about their rights as outlined in the Rights of Children and Youth in Foster Care “Bill of Rights” as required by DFPS/HHSC licensing standards and the residential contract provisions. 

   https://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Protection/Foster_Care/Childrens_Rights.asp [sic, broken link] 

   CASA and DFPS will collaborate to empower youth and elevate the youth voice.  CASA and DFPS will encourage child and youth participation in normalcy activities in placements, education, and recreational settings.  For older youth, CASA and DFPS will encourage selfadvocacy related to transitioning to a successful adulthood, higher education, vocational training, and employment. Encourage and support youth attendance and participation in family meetings or planning meetings, as well as asking them who else they would like to be invited to their meetings. 

   Prior to each hearing, if a child is not placed with a relative or fictive kin, each child in the conservatorship of DFPS shall be asked in a developmentally appropriate manner to identify any adult who could be a relative or designated caregiver for the child. Pursuant to Texas Family Code, this question should be posed by the guardian ad litem, attorney ad litem or amicus attorney, the parent or other person with legal custody, and DFPS. 

   Provide options to the child or youth for meaningful participation in court through attendance in person, by teleconference, Zoom, other electronic means for participation, and local court practices that best support the child or youth’s desire. Encourage youth to communicate their needs, desires, and wishes with the court.  Support, as children and youth wish, the opportunity to provide their own reports for hearings.

5. Submit Court Reports:  Provide written court reports for statutorily mandated hearings.
   1. Collaborate, Discuss, and Share prior to submitting a court report. Hearings are usually scheduled in advance and will allow time for discussion of information considered important. A practice of communicating and sharing information that supports and provides the basis for recommendations related to placement, visitation, maintaining connections, normalcy, permanency, concurrent plans, and provision of services will benefit all parties. It can be expected that different recommendations will be made. However, the collaboration, discussion and sharing of information prior to the submission of court reports is important and should promote better solutions and outcomes for children and families.
   2. Distribute Copies of court reports prior to hearings as outlined in Policy 5241.4 Communicating With the Child’s Attorney Ad Litem and Guardian Ad Litem [sic, broken link]. DFPS shall follow policy and Texas Family Code requirements in providing written court reports to CASA ten calendar days prior to a court hearing.  CASA shall provide copies of its written court reports to caseworkers in a similarly timely manner. At a minimum, CASA should provide written court reports no less than five calendar days prior to the hearing.   
   3. Local jurisdictions will agree upon the method by which these court reports will be shared. 
6. Cross-Train: Work together on a statewide and local level to develop opportunities to share training information or participate together in training. Training for new staff and new volunteers in both organizations is a critical time to share information about roles and responsibilities. Ongoing training that can be shared, facilitated, or trained together includes topics such as trauma, family finding and engagement, and dual status youth. Cross-training  will strengthen service and advocacy to children and families. 
7.  Address Disproportionality: Work together to create collaborative efforts to address the issue of quality service for all children and families with the goal of positively impacting the mental health and well-being of all children in foster care and their families. Explore joint training opportunities to examine issues of generational trauma, racism, disproportionality, implicit bias, cultural competency and the disparate outcomes in child welfare and other systems. 

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