1.1.0 Introduction

Chapter 1 of Volume 1 contains provincial case management standards. They apply to the delivery of service by mandated child and family services agencies.

Chapter Content

This chapter is divided into eight sections as follows:

Section 1 – Intake
Section 2 – Assessment
Section 3 – Planning
Section 4 – Service Provision
Section 5 – Evaluation
Section 6 – Service Completion 
Section 7 – Preparing Youth for Leaving Care
Section 8 – Agreements with Young Adults

• Legislation

  Section 7 of The Child and Family Services Act lists the duties of child and family services agencies.

  The Adoption Regulation contains detailed requirements for the delivery of adoption services by child and family services agencies and licensed adoption agencies.

• Policy

  Manitoba uses a case management approach for the delivery of child, family and services.

• Standards

  Case management is a systematic approach to managing the provision of services to individuals, families and children.

  Need for Case Management Standards

  Case management standards help to ensure that agency workers, supervisors and managers:

  • identify the needs of individuals, families or children requesting or requiring services and match them to available services and resources
  • coordinate the delivery of services in an effective and efficient way
  • follow a consistent process in delivering services

  Case Management Stages

  The case management process involves six interconnected and overlapping stages starting at intake and concluding with service completion.

  While specific issues are to be considered at each stage of the case management process and information is recorded in the same way, the methods used to collect that information and work with the child or family may vary depending on the individual, community or culture.

  Case Management Themes

  These standards are based on the following criteria:

  • response time
  • client contact
  • discussion with or approval by a supervisor
  • documentation

  Levels of Risk to Children

  Child and family services agency workers and supervisors are expected to assess the level of risk to children throughout the case management process to determine the priority that should be given a case.

  Client contact standards are based on levels of risk to children as follows:

  High Risk – A child is likely to be seriously harmed or injured, subjected to immediate and ongoing sexual abuse, or permanently disabled or dies if left in their present circumstances without protective intervention.

  Medium Risk – A child is likely to suffer some degree of harm if they remain in the home. Intervention is warranted. However, there is no evidence that the child is at risk of imminent serious injury or death.

  Low Risk – The home is safe for children. However, there are concerns about the potential for a child to be at risk if services are not provided to prevent the need for protective intervention.

  No Risk – The home is safe for children and there are no indications of potential risk to a child.

  Contact with Children

  The nature and frequency of contact with children is governed by the potential risk to a child and the service provided.

  Intake workers and case managers must see a child, that is, have direct face-to-face contact, to ensure the child is safe and receives appropriate services in relation to the following case management and service activities:

  • Conducting a safety assessment to determine if a child is or might be in need of protection (Standard 11 in Section 1.1.1, Intake).
  • Apprehending a child in need of protection (Standard 17 in Section 1.1.1, Intake).
  • Assessing the risk to and needs of the child to determine what agency services or interventions are required (Child Assessment Standards, Section 1.1.2, Assessment).
  • Involving a child in the planning process to help the child accept a service or prepare for a placement (Care Plan Standards, Section 1.1.3, Planning).
  • Home visits with a family assessed as high or medium risk to ensure the safety and well-being of children in the home (Standard 2, Section 1.1.4, Service Provision).
  • Leaving a child found to be in need of protection in the family home or returning a child to the home (Standard 5, Section 1.3.1, Child Protection Services).
  • Contact with a child in care placed in a place of safety, foster home, group home, treatment centre or other child care facility (Standard 3, Section 1.1.4, Service).
  • Placing or moving a child in care (Section 1.5.3, Foster Home Placements, and Section 1.5.6, Removing Foster Children).
  • Pre-placement visits to and placement of a permanent ward for adoption in an adoption home (Chapter 6 Adoption Services).
  • Assessing a child’s progress in an adoption home during the supervisory or probationary period (Chapter 6 Adoption Services).

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