OAR 413-030-0210: Eligibility Criteria for Substitute Care Placement

For a child to be eligible for initial and continuing substitute care, the Department must meet the following criteria: (1) Legal Basis. The Department must have a current legal basis for placement: (a) Temporary custody under ORS 419B.165; (b) Legal custody of the child through a juvenile court order; (c) A voluntary custody agreement in accordance with OAR 413-020-0005 to 413-020-0005; (d) A voluntary placement agreement in accordance with OAR 413-020-0060 to 413-020-0090; (e) Permanent custody based on a permanent commitment or release and surrender agreement of a parent; or (f) Verification that the child is an unaccompanied refugee minor. (2) The child must be under 18 years of age at the time the child is placed in the legal custody of the Department and placement services are first initiated. (3) Reasonable or Active Efforts. Except in those cases with a Voluntary Custody Agreement or Voluntary Placement Agreement, the Department will make reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child and to alleviate the barriers that keep the child from returning home. This includes an assessment of appropriate treatment and supportive services and providing such services when available through the Department or by referral to other community resources. To aid the court or Citizen Review Board (CRB) in making the findings required by this section, the Department shall present documentation to the court or CRB showing its reasonable efforts or, if the Indian Child Welfare Act applies, active efforts, to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child and services provided to safely return the child to the home. The department shall seek a reasonable efforts judicial determination within 60 days of a child’s removal from the home, or a determination that due to aggravated circumstances reasonable efforts were not required to prevent the child’s removal from the home. If the court does not make the reasonable efforts determination within 60 days, the child is not eligible for Title IV-E foster care maintenance payments program throughout the duration of that child’s stay in substitute care. Refer to OAR 413-100-0240. (4) The child requires substitute care placement because there is no parent, guardian or Indian custodian available and able to provide safe care for the child even with the assistance of available supportive resources, and no relative is willing and appropriate to assume full responsibility for the child. (5) Placement is needed for one of the following reasons: (a) The parent, guardian, or Indian custodian is not available to care for the child due to death, abandonment, desertion, incarceration, institutionalization, or catastrophic illness; (b) The child is at significant risk of abuse or neglect; (c) The child is in the permanent custody of the Department for adoption planning; (d) The child has a severe disabling condition requiring skilled care that the family cannot provide even with the assistance of community resources but the Department can provide the care the child requires in an available substitute care resource; or (e) The child's behavior is a serious danger to the child, the child's family, or the community but the child can, without threat to self or others, be managed in an available and appropriate substitute care resource.