| ?Every Child Deserves a Home? |
What Do We Do?
Child Placement and Supportive Services, better known as foster care and adoption, provides services to children, their families, kinship care network, adoptive and foster families when it is necessary to separate a child from his or her own parents or caretakers when the parents or caretakers are unable or unwilling to provide adequate protection and care.
Our Mission
To ensure safe, permanent, nurturing families for children.
Our Vision
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Community Based Support for All Families?promotes a family?s ability to cope with difficult situations and resolve family problems. |
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One Coordinated Assessment Process?involves the family in a comprehensive evaluation of their strengths and needs. |
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One Caseworker ?ensures that everyone is working together toward a permanent plan for the child |
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One Single, Stable Foster Care Placement within the child?s own community?provides temporary stability until a lifelong home for the child is achieved. |
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A Safe and Permanent Home within One Year?for all children for whom a County Department of Social Services has legal custody or placement responsibility. |
Who Are We?
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Administrative Support Services ? provides clerical and administrative support to the Child Placement and Supportive Services Section. |
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Human Services Unit ? provides supportive services through Community Social Services Technicians. These services include transportation, supervision of visits between child?s parents or caretakers, assistance with locating housing, and homemaker services such as parenting and budgeting tips. |
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Foster Care/Permanency Planning ? Social workers who provide intensive social work and case management services to children ages birth to 21 to achieve permanent outcomes of either reunification with parents or caretakers, relative placements, court approved guardians or adoption. |
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Adoption ? Social Workers who provide intensive social work and case management services to children until permanence is achieved through legal adoption. Social workers also provide Pre-placement adoptive home studies, stepparent, relative and independent adoptions and post placement adoption services. |
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Foster Home Licensing and Placement ? Social Workers who license and re-license foster homes, provide supportive services to foster families, conduct pre-service and in-service training for all foster families. This unit facilitates the placement of children needing out of home care in foster homes, group homes or residential treatment facilities. They serve as the liaison to the three group homes operated by Lutheran Family Services for the agency. |
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Special Services ? is designed to provide intensive clinical intervention and support to children with special needs and their foster families. Twenty-four hour emergency support is available to foster families in an effort to stabilize and maintain the placements. The Adoption and Foster Care Recruiter provides written information and regular meetings to introduce prospective parents to foster care and adoption. |
How Can You Help?
Become a Foster or Adoptive Parent. Foster parents must be at least 21 years of age. Although State guidelines say foster parents should be under the age of 65, this requirement may be waived for applicants in good health. Foster parents may be married, single, widowed or divorced. Families must also be financially stable, have adequate sleeping space for a child (at least 40 square feet of bedroom space) and have a telephone. References and criminal background checks are obtained on all applicants.
Durham County Department of Social Services needs foster and adoptive parents to provide temporary and permanent safe, nurturing, stable homes for children ranging from birth to 21 years of age. Contact us today and Help a Child Who Deserves a Home.
Call: (919) 560-8092
Write: PO Box 810 Durham, NC 27702
Visit: 220 East Main Street
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