How are local child welfare offices held accountable for the decisions they make on foster placement, adoptions and other matters?

The Department of Children and Family Services’ child welfare offices work with families, judges, medical professionals and law enforcement officers to ensure children are placed in the environments that are best for them, agency officials said.

The agency uses “an advanced safety model to assure immediate and longer-term safety decisions are a priority,” said spokeswoman Tia Embaugh.

“Through the Family Teaming Model, parents and others are empowered to identify safe placements for their children as well as strategies for remedying the circumstances that warranted the child coming into care,” Embaugh wrote in an email.

“Additionally, multidisciplinary team decision making is utilized across all levels of the child welfare system … removing the responsibility for decisions from any one individual.”

The family-team model takes into account the opinions of family friends, neighbors, medical professionals, school officials and others involved in the lives of the children in an effort to support families and ensure the children’s safety and well-being, officials said.

Embaugh said that “the most comprehensive accountability provision” in the child welfare system is the judicial system’s regular review of all case plans and recommendations once children are placed in foster care.

She said the post-placement reviews occur, at a minimum, after 72 hours and then after 45 days. Thereafter, Embaugh said, reviews are done every six months.

“At each court review, all parties (parents, children, agency) have legal representation who receive regular written reports as to the status of the case, plans and recommendations,” she wrote.

“It is through this court review process, that the needs of each child, case plans, placement, and actions of all parties are reviewed and subsequent findings and decisions rendered.”

Online: dcfs.louisiana.gov.

Spokesman: Carriers not withholding mail

Is it true that postal carriers in Lake Charles are purposely withholding mail, delivering it only once or twice a week, as a way of striking?

“Letter carriers in Lake Charles are delivering mail each day,” U.S. Postal Service spokesman McKinney Boyd wrote in an email.

“They are not intentionally delaying any mail to business and residential customers.”

Those who fail to receive mail should contact their local post office to file a complaint or call 800-ASK-USPS.

Online: usps.com.

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The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.