Siblings
By Deborah Dentler, Attorney
Social workers and judges today favor maintaining sibling relationships when possible after a child is placed into foster care. This is a significant change from past practice. Adoptees, former foster youth, and researchers helped bring this issue to greater public awareness. We know from research that sibling bonds can often be stronger than the parent-child bond, especially for children who have been abused or neglected by parents. Too often, foster children are forced to grow up apart due to lack of foster and adoptive families open to taking sibling groups.
Recent laws and social work practices designed to help protect sibling relationships have created new challenges for foster parents. What are your obligations and rights?
How can I learn if sibling contact is required?
Start with your foster child’s written case plan. If you do not have a copy, ask the child’s worker to provide you with at least that portion of the plan pertaining to siblings. If the worker will not give it to you, ask the supervisor or child’s attorney. Every child’s case plan is now required by law to state whether the child has siblings. The case plan (and every report filed by the worker for periodic court “review hearings”) must explain why siblings are not placed together. The worker is required to make an effort to place siblings together, and if that is not possible then the case plan must include a plan for contact between siblings to take place. The case plan is confidential from foster parents unless they have “de facto” status in court. Under a new law passed in 2003, written by this columnist, any information about sibling contact that is ordered to take place by a judge must be provided in writing to the child’s caregiver right away. If the child’s worker or attorney tells you that the court-ordered case plan requires you to help with sibling contact (making dates, transportation, etc.), then you should ask for that in writing. Without a written plan, or a clear written summary of what has been ordered by the court, you cannot know for sure if you are following court orders. To see the court form a child, parent or other “interested person” (you!) can file to ask the judge to order a placement near or with a sibling, or make any other request in a child’s best interest concerning sibling contact, go to: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/newforms/jv180.pdf.
What about siblings who barely know each other or never lived together?
Not all biologically-related children will necessarily be helped by the worker or judge to stay in contact. The extent of the bond between the children is something the judge will have to make a legal determination about. If you want to help encourage your child’s bond with the sibling, you can provide useful information to the judge before this determination is made. Consider filing a court form known as the Caregiver Information Form (Form # JV-290), or write the social worker, child’s attorney, or even the judge a letter describing your foster’s child’s statements and wishes concerning siblings. You may be the best source of this important information!
What are my rights if I do not want to help or if I change my mind about helping?
Often, sibling issues arise well after you have taken a child into your busy home. You may resent having to perform transportation and visit supervision duties that you were unaware of at the time of placement. There are currently no guarantees you will be reimbursed for mileage or other expenses associated with sibling visits—but you should ask the worker or judge.
If for reasons of health or emotional or physical safety you are not comfortable associating with your child’s siblings or their caregivers, you should make your reasons clearly known to the worker. Put your concerns in writing and send a copy to the child’s attorney. Consider carefully whether you want to be the monitor of sibling visits if they make you uncomfortable or if you do not want to become involved as a potential witness in your child’s court case. Instead, ask the worker to arrange supervised visits at her office. If your child is adoptively placed in your home (and you have a signed adoption placement agreement) but the adoption is not yet final, you can decide to end sibling contact if, within 10 days, you tell the court in writing the reasons why sibling contact threatens the “health, safety, or well-being” of the child.
Can I find out about siblings of the child I am adopting?
You should, must, and can (for the sake of your child’s future health and your own peace of mind). In L.A. County, make sure DCFS Form 5643 has been completed by your adoption caseworker. It must disclose the existence of siblings or half-siblings and should give you information you will need about the birth family’s medical history. You can ask for a note to be placed in your adoptive child’s computer record, stating you would like to be considered as a placement for any siblings that may come into the system in the future, but you are not required to do so. Also, consider helping your adopted child, upon reaching age 21, sign a “Waiver of Rights to Confidentiality” form and file it with the California Dept. of Social Services. It will allow your adopted child to contact adult non-adopted sibs.
Sibling contact after adoption
When the plan for a child is adoption, the court must consider whether siblings should be helped to maintain contact and, if that is appropriate, the adoptive parents will be “encouraged”—not obligated—to facilitate post-adoption contact. Even adoptive parents who sign a “post-adoption sibling contact” agreement are free later to change their minds and may even move away with their adopted child.
Find the law at: CA Welfare and Institutions Code sections: 361.2(i), 366.21(e) and 366.26(c)(1)(E), 366.29, 16002(b), 16002(e), 16002(f), 366(a)(1)(D), and 366.3(e)(9).
Note: Legal opinions expressed are the columnist’s alone, not Child SHARE’s, and nothing in this column is intended to substitute for professional legal advice for a specific situation.
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