Chapter 39 includes how child welfare professionals must engage incarcerated parents, including case plan development, and offering available services while incarcerated and are outlined below.  

• When parents are incarcerated or become incarcerated, child welfare professionals must obtain information from the facility to determine how they can participate in the Case Plan services.
• A parent who is incarcerated must be included in case planning and be provided with a copy of their Case Plan.
• An incarcerated parent Case Plan must consider the regulations of the facility where they reside and the services available at the facility.
• Child welfare professionals must attach a list of all services available at the facility to the Case Plan OR if the facility does not have a list of available services, note the unavailability of the list in the Case Plan.
• The incarcerated parent must comply with the facility procedures and policies to access services or maintain contact with their children as provided in the Case Plan.
• If a parent becomes incarcerated after a Case Plan’s initial development, the parties must move to amend the Case Plan if the incarceration has an impact on permanency for the child including, but not limited to:
• Modification of provision regarding visitation and contact with the child
• Identification of services within the facility; or
• Changing the permanency goal or establishing a concurrent case plan goal
• If the Case Plan has not expired upon a parent’s release, the case plan is to include tasks to be completed and accessed by the parent upon release.
• If an incarcerated parent was unable to participate in case plan development, the child welfare professional must include a full explanation of the circumstances surrounding non-participation and the efforts to secure participation.

Case Management Responsibilities:

• Case Managers must coordinate with Children’s Legal Services and other parties to ensure participation of the incarcerated parent in the development of the Case Plan.
• Upon completing the Family Functioning Assessment-Ongoing and developing the Case Plan, Case Managers must send a notification/introduction letter to the parent notifying them of their assignment and contact information.
• Case Managers must send a letter to the correctional institution introducing themselves and their role and asking the Classification Officer to respond via e-mail with their contact information. Mark letter “Attention Classification Department”.
• When a parent is incarcerated, Case Managers must identify the appropriate services and classes for the parent in order to make recommendations to the court regarding tasks that should be included in the parent’s Case Plan. The Florida Department of Correction’s website has information about programs and services that are available, such as mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling, parenting classes, and anger management, and can be accessed at the various correctional institutions by the parent.
• Upon obtaining a verified list of available services, Case Managers must ensure the list is attached to the copy of the Case Plan filed with the courts.
• A copy of the Case Plan must be provided to the incarcerated parent via mail, e-mail, or provided through the attorney.

Prison Resources:

The incarcerated parent’s information can be located on the Florida Department of Correction’s website: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ Click on “Offender Search” to locate their Department of Corrections’ number and the address of the assigned correctional institution.

Information on parents incarcerated outside of the state of Florida can be found using Vinelink at https://www.vinelink.com/#/home

Resources: F.S. 39.6021, s. 39.6011 (1)(a), F.S. and HB 281