4325. Creating A Legally Free File

Approval: Connie Lambert-Eckel, Assistant Secretary

Original Date:

Revised Date: September 30, 2017

Policy Review Date: September 30, 2022

Purpose

To provide Children's Administration (CA) caseworkers direction on how to create a hard file record and FamLink electronic case file for children who become legally free.

Scope

This policy applies to CA Children and Family Welfare Services (CFWS) and Adoption caseworkers.

Laws

RCW 13.34.200

RCW 13.34.210

RCW 26.33

RCW 70.02

RCW 74.13.031

RCW 74.13.290

RCW 74.13.300

RCW 74.14A.020

Policy

When the child becomes legally free, the assigned CA worker must:

  1. Deactivate the child’s case from the family case file and create a legally free child case file in FamLink within ten days of a child becoming legally free.
  2. Follow the Legally Free Child Hard Case File Instructions located on the CA intranet and include all the information about the child from:
    1. The family’s hard case file.
    2. The family’s electronic records in Application Extender (AX), Management Operations Document Imaging System (MODIS), and FamLink.
  3. If the information about the child is copied from the family hard file, place a copy of the information in the family hard case file and the original in the legally free child’s hard file.
  4. If the family case information is from AX or MODIS, the information should be extracted, printed, and placed in the legally free child’s hard file or extracted and uploaded into the child’s legally free electronic file in FamLink.
  5. Place any information pertaining to the legally free child received after the termination of parental rights in the child’s legally free hard case file or electronic FamLink file. This information must not be placed in the family electronic or hard case files.