Foster childern visiting friends

My daughter just made friends with a boy who is in foster care. He lives
across town but not too far. His foster father told me that he was not
supposed to come over and visit at my house without clearance from the
social worker which according to him would require a background check and
fingerprinting. It is apparently OK for her to visit at his house or for
them to meet at a public place like a park or mall. He mentioned some
possible "legal issues" etc but was not specific.

What's going on? Is this SOP? What possible legal or liability issues
apply to a foster child visiting a friends house? Was he just trying to
deter us with BS. Does a social worker really need to approve his friends
parents before he can come over to visit? Will the social worker pop in for
a visit at my house if I were to have him visit?

Thanks for any Info. A link to an informative FAQ on the subject would
help? We live in CA.

CO

PipeDown wrote:
My daughter just made friends with a boy who is in foster care. He lives
across town but not too far. His foster father told me that he was not
supposed to come over and visit at my house without clearance from the
social worker which according to him would require a background check and
fingerprinting. It is apparently OK for her to visit at his house or for
them to meet at a public place like a park or mall. He mentioned some
possible "legal issues" etc but was not specific.

What's going on? Is this SOP? What possible legal or liability issues
apply to a foster child visiting a friends house? Was he just trying to
deter us with BS. Does a social worker really need to approve his friends
parents before he can come over to visit? Will the social worker pop in for
a visit at my house if I were to have him visit?

Thanks for any Info. A link to an informative FAQ on the subject would
help? We live in CA.

Could be any number of things. CA has a county by county system without
their central division providing close support and supervision.

Hence the rules can vary...though all must come under state CPS policy,
which of course must be, for the most part, based on statute.

First, be clear that if the boy is in the legal temporary custody of the
state, it is by court order. That places the state in loco parentis with
all the responsibilities.

Foster children have already usually been abused and or neglected, which
places them at greater risk of a repeat. They don't usually have the
same built in self protection un-abused children have.

They can be offenders themselves, and the foster parent CANNOT tell you
that. It would be a violation of privacy laws for the child. He or she,
of course, knows to keep close supervision on such a child. Many such
children are simply doing what they were taught; to abuse.

It's not fair to demonize them, but it is smart to provide supervision.

Since it's you that are being asked to undergo a bg check etc. it would
be fair to assume that in this case the child is one of those more
likely at risk themselves. YOU know you aren't a molester (presumably)
but the state does not.

Parents should know who their children are with and the state is simply
doing the same. Finding out about you. Would that bio parents were so
careful about who their children hang with, both adults and peers.

Some think it is being overprotective, but if something happens to a
child while in state care you can be sure that if the state is sued, and
it often is, and settles or loses, YOUR tax dollars are paid to end the
case.

And it's not protective of the child to take them from a parent and then
subject them to more risks.

Your patience and understanding with this would be noted. In fact you
might be asked yourself to provide foster care at some point. Personally
I wouldn't do it, but that's because of my personal circumstances. Just
don't have the time to properly supervise.

Often with older children caseworkers have slightly smaller caseloads so
they can get to know the children better. My best guess is that this
child's worker assesses the child at being vulnerable and wants to make
sure he will be as safe as possible while still affording him the social
interactions that teens so much need.

CO

Please remember, it's not the kid's "fault" for his circumstances.

Best, Kane

--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

On Fri, 05 May 2006 20:10:59 GMT, "PipeDown"
wrote:

My daughter just made friends with a boy who is in foster care. He lives
across town but not too far. His foster father told me that he was not
supposed to come over and visit at my house without clearance from the
social worker which according to him would require a background check and
fingerprinting. It is apparently OK for her to visit at his house or for
them to meet at a public place like a park or mall. He mentioned some
possible "legal issues" etc but was not specific.

What's going on? Is this SOP? What possible legal or liability issues
apply to a foster child visiting a friends house? Was he just trying to
deter us with BS. Does a social worker really need to approve his friends
parents before he can come over to visit? Will the social worker pop in for
a visit at my house if I were to have him visit?

Thanks for any Info. A link to an informative FAQ on the subject would
help? We live in CA.

CO

The short answer is its not BS the foster kid is in state care and if
state says you need a BG check then you need one.
But please the kid did nothing wrong.
You might try going to
http://www.westworld.com/~barbara/states4/ca.html
and look around for a FAQ or do a search for laws on Fostercare.
Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18