The goal of the service plan is to develop a strategy for the parent to eliminate or reduce identified threats to the child’s safety and risk of future abuse or neglect. In the family’s service plan, the caseworker must identify:

  •   the actions the parent must take;

  •   the skills the parent must develop and demonstrate; and

  •   the goals the parent must achieve.

If a service plan is well-crafted with the parents and the parents meaningfully participate in the services identified by it, the child should usually be able to return home.

This does not mean that the parents have to complete every service in the plan for the child to be able to return home. Rather, the caseworker must outline the logical series of steps that must be taken for the child to return home at some point in the case, if the parents are making the necessary changes.