Before the adversary hearing, the caseworker must complete the following tasks to determine if it is in the child’s best interest to be placed with a potential caregiver identified on Form 2625 Child Caregiver Resource:

• Contact potential caregivers listed on Form 2625 and determine their level of interest.
• Inform the potential caregiver of the requirement for DFPS and criminal history checks on household members and regular visitors before beginning the home assessment process.
• Request demographic information on all household members and regular visitors including:
  • Dates of birth.
  • Social Security or legal permanent resident numbers.
  • Current address.
  • Addresses for any residences outside of Texas in the previous three years.
• Conduct and review a DFPS history check and a criminal history check of each interested person listed on Form 2625.
• Conduct and review a DFPS history check and a criminal history check of each household member who is 14 years old or older, and for regular visitors. See 6612 Conducting Background Checks.
• Provide a Form 0399 Kinship Release of Information and Acknowledgement [sic, broken link] for all kinship caregivers and adults living in the home who have unsupervised access to the child. The caseworker must collect the signed Form for the case file and upload to OneCase.
• Conduct a preliminary kinship caregiver home assessment of the potential kinship caregiver determined to be the most suitable (see Form 6587 Preliminary Kinship Caregiver Home Assessment). If the child is in a Parental Child Safety Placement (PCSP) at the time of removal and the PCSP has been approved, a preliminary home assessment is not required.
• Conduct a home visit to ensure that CPS has identified and addressed any physical safety threats.

At placement, the caseworker must provide Form 2279 Placement Summary and the child’s sexual history report, Attachment A, to the kinship caregiver, obtain signatures from all adults living in the home who have unsupervised access to the child, and upload the signed document into One Case. The caseworker uploads Form 2279 into the Child’s Placement Records tab in OneCase, and uploads Attachment A form into the Sexual History Report Attachment A tab in OneCase.

Within 48 hours of the placement, the caseworker must do the following:

• Initiate a full kinship assessment (to include a PCSP home where the child was living at the time of the removal).
• Refer for immediate assignment of a kinship development worker.

For specific requirements about locating and providing notification to relatives, see 3221 Removal of a Child.