Children’s Services

Hanford - Main Office
Kings County Government Center
1400 W. Lacey Blvd., Bldg., 8
Hanford, CA 93230
(559) 582-3241or Toll Free:  1-800-289-9981

Click on links below to see program details.

Emergency Response (ER)
Family Maintenance
Family Reunification
Permanent Placement
Independent Living Program (ILP)
Foster Parent Recruitment and Training
Adoption Services
Family Preservation/Support Board

Child Welfare’s primary goal is to prevent or remedy neglect, abuse, or exploitation of children while preserving, rehabilitating, or reuniting families. Another major responsibility is to assure adequate care of children who are in "Out-of-Home" placement, i.e. foster children. Child Welfare Services (CWS) programs include: Emergency Response, Family Maintenance, Family Reunification, and Permanent Placement services.

Emergency Response (ER)
Emergency Response provides 24-hour daily response to allegations of child abuse and neglect. Community members reporting abuse call our ER Hotline where a social worker assesses each report and makes a determination of the appropriate response.
If an investigation reveals a child is at risk of abuse or neglect, emergency response prevention services may be offered for a maximum of 30 days. Services include case management, counseling, emergency in-home caretaker, parenting training, teaching and demonstrating homemakers and transportation.

Family Maintenance
Family Maintenance is a program that serves "at risk" families in their own homes. The goal is to work alongside the family in identification of risk factors and development of a family/community plan to ensure child safety.
A range of service-funded activities include; case management, counseling, respite care, teaching and demonstrating homemakers, parenting training, and transportation.
Outside referrals for services include: adult education, behavioral health services, domestic violence, drug treatment, employment training, group therapy (e.g. Parents Anonymous), housing services, and mental and medical services.
Family Maintenance can be provided through a voluntary agreement between the parents and CWS or under order by the Juvenile Court.

Family Reunification
Family Reunification is a program that serves families in which children were removed due to neglect or abuse. The program goal is two-fold; case managers concurrently work alongside the family to address risk factors in order to return child (ren) to the family: and concurrently develop plans to include adoption, guardianship or long-term foster care if those reunification efforts are not successful.
Time limited family reunification services are designed to prevent or remedy neglect, abuse, or exploitation, while pursuing reunification of the family.


Permanency Placement
Permanent Placement services are designed to provide an alternate permanent family structure for children who because of abuse or neglect cannot safely return home. These services are provided on behalf of children for whom there has been a judicial determination of a permanent plan for adoption, legal guardianship, or alternative living arrangement.

Permanent Placement services are meant to ensure that children from families where there has been neglect or abuse can grow up in a permanent, safe, and secure living arrangement. When children cannot live safely with their birth parents, federal policy prefers adoption as a first alternative option. If adoption is not possible, legal guardianship, preferably with a relative, is the second favored choice. If, for whatever reason, these options are not available, then children may continue in foster care with annual permanency reviews until their 18th birthday when they emancipate from the Child Welfare System, although the deadline can be extended for a year (up to their 19th birthday) to allow a youth to complete high school.

Independent Living Program (ILP)
Kings County Human Services offers the Independent Living Program (ILP) to current and former foster youth. ILP focuses on helping youth gain the basic life skills and information needed to become successful self-sufficient adults. Youth ages 16 and over whom are in foster care, or were in foster care on or after their 16th birthday, are eligible for services up to the age of 21.

The Department of Social Services provides ILP services to enable youth to achieve self-sufficiency prior to leaving the foster care system by providing independent living skills assessments, support training, services, and a written transitional independent living plan is designed for each participant to meet the goal of being self-sufficient.
Services include:

• Educational Planning
• Career/Job Planning
• Computer Training
• Social Skills Training
• Social Security Card, Birth Certificate and California ID Card Applications
• Budgeting and Money Management
• Banking Information
• College Applications
• Financial Aid Applications
• Apartment Hunting
• Tax Forms
• Resumes
• Job Training
• Housing Assistance Program
• Transitional Housing Program for emancipated youth (coming 2008)
• Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth Teens

Foster Parent Recruitment and Training
Foster Care parents are ordinary people who want to provide love, security and nurturing to a child (ren) in need. Out of home care may be necessary for children removed from their own family due to inability or unwillingness to accept services that would keep their child (ren) at home.

Foster parents receive monthly foster care payments to feed, clothe and meet the material needs of child (ren) placed in their care. Medical and dental care is provided for foster children through the Medi-CAL program. Foster parents can be male, female, married or single, retired or employed, and be any age over 18 as long as their health, energy and desire are appropriate.

Foster parents provide the child(ren) with the physical and emotional care that only a family can provide. At the same time, they must be committed to reunification and work in partnership with the agency, the courts, and the birth parents. 
Information on Foster Parenting:  (559) 582-3241, extension 2334 or:
http://www.countyofkings.com/foster%20care/index.html.

Adoption Services
ADOPTION SERVICES for Kings County are provided by the California State Adoptions Unit in Fresno.  The telephone number is (559)243-8200.  Services include home studies to determine suitability as adoptive parents, placement and post-placement services, Adoption Assistance Payment (AAP) reviews and relinquishment of children for adoptive placement.  Initial approval of AAP and ongoing processing of payments is completed by Kings County staff. 
Adoption website:  http://www.cdss.ca.gov/cdssweb/PG89.htm

Family Preservation/Support Board
FAMILY PRESERVATION/SUPPORT BOARD provides and oversees special funding for intensive family preservation services, as well as, community based grant funds for programs aimed at reducing the likelihood of abuse, neglect and delinquency.  This Board also acts as the County’s Child Abuse Council, a multidisciplinary council, administered through the Human Services Agency, aimed at providing efforts to reduce the likelihood of abuse and neglect. 

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