Information Gathering

What you have access to

• Your court appointment order gives you a broad range of access to all kinds of things:�
• RCW 13.34.100, RCW 13.34.105, RCW 26.44.053
• “Any agency, hospital, school organization, division or department of the state, doctor, nurse, or other health care provider, psychologist psychiatrist, police or other law enforcement department, or mental health clinic shall permit the appointed Guardian Ad Litem or the Guardian Ad Litem Program Manager or designee to inspect and copy any records relating to the child involved in the case, without the consent of the parent or guardian of the child if the child is under thirteen years of age, unless such access is specifically prohibited by law.”
• What records should you review
• Social worker files (Discovery)
• Police reports
• Medical records
• School records
• Therapy records
• CHET Screen!

​

What you DON’T have access to

• You’ll need a Release of Information (ROI) for:��
• Medical, counseling, therapy reports for any adult (including parents) or child over the age of 13��
• Need an ROI for any of this information, signed by the child or adult whose information you are seeking.

​

Who to talk to – What to talk about

• Child: Family, friends, safety, school, emotions
• Social Worker: Services, past involvement, contact with family, ICWA, parent mental health/drug use, placement information, visitation schedule and what those parameters are, school/daycare information
• Placement: When placed, behaviors and appearance of child upon placement, understanding of needs, how the child is before/after visitation, behavior observations, contact with the social worker
• School/daycare: Attendance history, concerns, academic strengths/weaknesses, social relationships/peers, concentration/attention
• Counselors: How long involved, frequency of visits, keeping appointments, who has participated, number of sessions, goals, meeting those goals, prognosis
• Therapists (feeding, physical, occupational): Special needs, severity, prognosis, goals, history of attendance, long term needs
• Parents: Family history, occupation, work history, education, current living situation, services, needs, understanding of why their child is in care, observation of the parent/child at visitation, future plans, understanding of case plan, contact with social worker
• Relatives: Relationships to parents and children, frequency of contact, perspective of the problem, background information, personal observations, placement option, future relationships with children and parents

​

• REMEMBER – TAKE NOTES!

Home Visits

• Planned vs. Unannounced
• Planned when there are busy schedules for a foster home
• And make sure to tell the FP that you’ll want some 1:1 time with the child as part of the visit.�
• Unannounced (ALWAYS check with supervisor first!) at parents’ homes, unsupervised time with the parents, in-home dependencies, and concerns about foster homes
• �What you should observe
• MSL of cleanliness, food, shelter, running water, power
• Beds, bedding, appropriateness
• Developmentally appropriate toys, books, child activities
• Clothing for the children that is appropriate
• Any safety hazards for children

​

Personal Safety

• Neighborhoods
• Know the neighborhood
• Drive by the home to observe any concerns, fences, animals
• Know the street, is it a cul de sac? Where are you going to park?
• Other people
• Ask if other people are in the home, if there are, who are they?
• Animals
• Dogs, reptiles, other animals
• Timing
• Daylight hours
• While in the home
• Length of time spent
• Stay closest to the doors
• Don’t sit on sofas or soft chairs

Self Care for Volunteers

Self Care

​

​

• Different people respond to details and circumstances of dependency cases in different ways.

​

​

​

• It’s not a question of if - but when - you will somehow be impacted by your advocacy for kids. This is heavy stuff. Don’t let anyone (including your inner voice!) tell you otherwise.

​

Self Care

• You will undoubtedly be frustrated by some aspect of the work as well.
• Parents will miss visitations, relapse or misrepresent their progress.
• Social Workers won’t return phone calls/emails, forget to file important paper work, or make a crucial referral
• Attorneys will act obtuse, rude and/or dismissive
• Foster Parents/Relatives will make excessive demands of you
• Judges will sometimes make the wrong call��
• And all of these are, for the most part, out of your control.

​

Self Care

• In small groups, take a few minutes to review and discuss the “Taking Care of Yourself” handout in your manual:��
• What are things that you already do for yourself?
• What are things that you’d like to do for yourself?��

​

Self Care Assessment

• Take a few minutes to answer (and score) the 30 question “Professional Quality of Life Scale” found in your manual.

How to quit and when you will be dismissed

(YES…A VOLUNTEER CAN BE FIRED!

…BUT IT WON’T AFFECT YOUR SEVERANCE PACKAGE.)

How to quit

• Ideally, the best time for you to hang-up your advocacy spurs is at the conclusion of (all) your case(s). ��At that point, you supervisor will…
• Ask you if you’re sure you just don’t need a break for a while…
• Ask you to turn in/over any case related materials for all your cases.
• This includes both hard copy (paper) materials AND electronic materials (emails, texts, etc.)
• Delete any case related materials from your computer, phones, etc.

​

• If you need to quit while the case is still active…
• Work with your supervisor to develop a “transition plan” of your own. Like placement moves, it’s best to do so gently and with forethought
• Write up a “close out” summary for the next volunteer to let them know where you left things. (And be careful…these “notes” are just as discoverable as any other notes.)
• Please don’t notify us the day before you intend to quit. Work with staff to ensure a successful transition to the next advocate.
• Bottom line…when you need to leave, do so with grace. There’s no need to burn the place down behind you, (though you may want to.)

When you will be let go

• Breaking the law, or any serious breach of the GALRs.

​

• When you advocate for what you think is right instead of what is in the child’s best interests.

​

• When you fail to perform your duties.

​

• Failing to respond to corrective action attempts.

​

• When we have successfully and completely remedied child welfare.

​

Final Thoughts