REFUGE HOUSE, INC.

PURPOSE:

To establish the contact and monitoring minimums Refuge House must meet for every child in care and every verified foster home, cited to the regulating entity that imposes each requirement, and to establish leadership's authority to enhance monitoring beyond those minimums.

POLICY:

Refuge House maintains contact with children in care and monitors its verified foster homes at no less than the minimums imposed by each regulating entity with jurisdiction over the placement: HHSC Minimum Standards (26 TAC Chapter 749), the DFPS 24-Hour Residential Child Care Contract, the T3C System Blueprint, and the provider manual of the SSCC holding the child's case. Where more than one requirement addresses the same contact, the strictest applicable requirement controls.

The minimums in this policy are enumerated requirement-by-requirement in Exhibit A — Contact & Monitoring Minimum Requirements Matrix (MIN-01 through MIN-36), which is adopted with and forms part of this policy. Where the narrative sections below and Exhibit A address the same requirement, they are to be read together; the cited source text controls both.

This policy states the minimum requirements. Contact and monitoring are enhanced procedurally — through FC-WCM-01.1 and leadership directive — to ensure appropriate coverage, either agency-wide or as needed on a case-by-case basis (see ENHANCEMENT AUTHORITY). Enhanced schedules are operational standards, not policy minimums, and may be adjusted by leadership without Board action provided the minimums stated here are always met.

MINIMUM CONTACT REQUIREMENTS — BY REGULATING ENTITY:

HHSC — 26 TAC Chapter 749 (all placements)

1. Child contact: monthly face-to-face contact with each child in care; no more than two missed visits per year and never more than 60 days between visits (§749.1291(a)). At least half of all contacts occur in the foster home (§749.1291(c)).
2. Primary medical needs: face-to-face contact twice monthly by child placement staff or a nurse, no more than 20 days between visits and never more than 30 days without a visit (§749.1291(b)).
3. Kinship placements: monthly face-to-face contact, at least half in the foster home, with the same safety, privacy, and expression elements (§749.4451).
4. Content of every contact: verify the child is safe, the child's needs are met, and the placement remains appropriate; contact is of sufficient length, provides a private opportunity, and allows the child to express feelings about the placement — with appropriate observation for non-verbal or pre-verbal children (§749.1291(d)–(f)).
5. Foster home supervision: supervisory visits in each foster home at least quarterly; with both foster parents at least every six months; with all household members at least annually; and at least two unannounced supervisory visits per year (§749.2815(a)–(b)). Quarterly visits evaluate and document household changes, major life events, disaster-plan changes, and child/family stressors (§749.2815(c)). These cadences continue for verified homes with no children placed unless the home is on formal inactive status (§749.2817), and a supervisory contact in the home precedes any placement into a reactivated home (§749.2825(1)).
6. Home evaluation cycle: full compliance evaluation of every foster home at least every two years, including the weapons-storage discussion (§§749.2801(b), 749.2965(c)); event-triggered evaluations on any alleged deficiency, major life change, verification-affecting change, or DFPS family-violence report (§749.2801(a)); deficiencies cited at any contact and followed to correction (§§749.2807(5), 749.2811). Kinship foster homes are evaluated annually (§749.4429(a)).
7. Post-crisis: weekly suicide screening for 30 days following a mental-health crisis (§749.137(f)).
8. Adoption program: quarterly contact with a child being prepared for adoption with the §749.3341 face-to-face minimums; adoptive post-placement supervision per §749.3425 (monthly face-to-face for the first six months for a child two or older or receiving treatment services, including two in-home whole-family contacts, then quarterly in-home whole-family contacts until the decree; the §749.3425(b) schedule for younger children), and §749.3427(b) quarterly in-home contacts where finalization is delayed.

DFPS — 24-Hour Residential Child Care Contract

The RCC contract imposes no contact frequency of its own; it binds Refuge House to the Chapter 749 minimums above by incorporation and to contract-specific documentation duties, including maintenance and periodic review of each school-aged child's Educational Portfolio (RCC §§6700, 6840; FC09-01.1).

T3C System Blueprint (April 2026 edition; credentialed scope)

The Blueprint imposes no staff-child or staff-home visit cadence during placement. For Refuge House's credentialed scope (T3C Basic; Kinship, Transition, and Pregnant & Parenting add-ons) it requires: post-discharge aftercare contact weekly, transitioning to twice monthly, for six months following discharge, with dates set in the aftercare plan and monthly documentation to the SSCC or DFPS caseworker (Blueprint, add-on Aftercare sections); 24/7 immediate-response availability to kinship caregivers (Kinship add-on §Expectations); Service Plan review at least every six months and annual CANS 3.0 for the Basic package.

SSCC provider manuals (per the SSCC holding the child's case)

1. New placements — contact with the child and caregiver within one business day, not to exceed 72 hours of placement, with 24/7/365 crisis-support capacity (2INgage Provider Manual Rev. 1.2026 §4; EMPOWER Provider Manual Rev. 1.2026 §4; Belong Provider Manual Aug 2025, Placement Stability; OCOK Network Management Operations Manual Rev. 7-1-2025 §§6.00, 6.03; SFCS Placement Provider Manual July 2020 §2.12).
2. First parent–child visit — within five calendar days of removal, with Refuge House ensuring transportation (2INgage §6; EMPOWER §6; Belong p.14; OCOK §6.00; SFCS §3.2).
3. Sibling contact when siblings are placed apart — SFCS: weekly, with distance not an approved exception (SFCS §3.1.9.1); Belong: weekly (face-to-face within 100 miles, electronic beyond — Belong p.14); OCOK: monthly (face-to-face within 100 miles — OCOK §1.02). OCOK additionally requires monthly contact with designated family connections (OCOK §1.02).
4. OCOK-specific: quarterly contact with caregivers/foster parents in the home, documented (OCOK §6.00 item 7); monthly in-home verification of hygiene products, clothing, and personal items (OCOK §4.03); Exceptional Care placements: home visits at least every other week (OCOK §6.24); Professional Home-Based Care: in-home visit within three days of placement, weekly in-home face-to-face visits, and monthly in-home family meetings (OCOK §6.21); frequent face-to-face contact with a hospitalized child and facilitation of family visits as a condition of payment (OCOK §7.04).
5. Belong-specific: quarterly belongings inventory and monthly hygiene-products inventory (Belong pp.23–24); Belong and DFPS may make unannounced visits to Refuge House-verified foster homes (Belong p.16).
6. Adoptive placements: monthly post-placement supervision with documentation to the SSCC (2INgage §9; EMPOWER §9; Belong Adoption Services, which also requires at least three pre-placement visits and monthly reports).
7. 4Kids4Families imposes no contact or monitoring frequency on CPAs in its Joint Operations Manual (Dec 2025); Chapter 749 minimums govern. TFCN (Texas Family Care Network) and DePelchin Children's Center are prospective SSCCs — contracts in negotiation as of July 2026; their requirements are not yet incorporated and will be added upon contract execution.

REFUGE HOUSE OPERATIONAL FLOOR:

To satisfy the minimums above through a single coherent schedule, Refuge House conducts at least one documented face-to-face visit in the foster home per month with each child in care. A properly documented monthly in-home visit satisfies §749.1291(a) and (c) and §749.2815(a)(1) concurrently, and is scheduled across the year so that supervisory visits include both foster parents at least semiannually, all household members at least annually, and are unannounced at least twice per year (§749.2815(a)–(b)). Placements and homes matching a stricter scenario — PMN, kinship, OCOK Exceptional Care or PHBC, adoptive placements, hospitalized children, and post-discharge aftercare — follow the stricter cited minimum. Scheduling mechanics, visit elements, and the Home Monitoring Checklist instruments (Monthly Standard Review with its inline Quarterly Deep Check; printable renditions, including the unified Quarterly Visit form with its downloadable PDF, are published at forms/home-monitoring/) are maintained in FC-WCM-01.1.

WHO MAY CONDUCT CONTACTS AND MONITORING:

1. Child contact (§749.1291; §749.4451): conducted by child placement staff — an employee qualified under §749.673 and designated to perform child placement activities. For a child receiving treatment services for primary medical needs, a nurse may conduct the contact (§749.1291(b)); this nurse allowance exists only for PMN children. Virtual or telephone contact never counts toward these face-to-face requirements. A face-to-face contact need not occur in the foster home — contact at a medical, medication, or other appointment counts for the month provided it meets the §749.1291(d)–(f) content elements (sufficient length, private opportunity, child able to express feelings) and is documented as significant (§749.1291(g)) — but at least half of all contacts must occur in the foster home (§749.1291(c); §749.4451(b)(1)), so out-of-home contacts cannot become the routine pattern.
2. Foster home supervisory visits (§749.2815): conducted by child placement staff — the rule's own text assigns the visit to child placement staff (§749.2815(a)), makes conducting and documenting these visits a child placement staff responsibility (§749.663(a)(3)(C)), and requires the documentation to be signed by "the child placement staff conducting the visit" (§749.2815(e)). Child placement management staff review and approve the documentation (§749.667(1)(B)). A staff member outside the placement function may conduct a supervisory visit counted toward §749.2815 only if that person meets the §749.673 qualifications and is designated by the agency to perform this child placement activity.
3. Home Monitoring Checklist completion: the checklist is a Refuge House instrument, not itself a TAC artifact. Completion of the checklist walk-through may be delegated to trained staff who are not child placement staff (e.g., compliance or quality staff) as an agency monitoring activity. However, a delegated checklist visit does not satisfy §749.2815 or §749.1291 unless the person conducting it qualifies under paragraphs 1–2 above — when the checklist is completed by non-qualifying staff, a qualifying supervisory visit must still occur within the quarter and the child's monthly face-to-face contact must still be made by child placement staff.

THIRD-PARTY ACCESS, COURT PARTICIPATION & TESTIMONY:

Beyond the contacts Refuge House itself conducts, the RCC contract imposes access, court-participation, and testimony minimums on every placement:

1. Access to each child — at all times, private and unmonitored (RCC FY26 §3400): Refuge House "permits, at all times, access to each Child placed in its care by CPS," and ensures these visits "are private, without any Caregivers or staff present, and that during this time the Child is not monitored by an open intercom, video, or other monitoring system." This access is provided to: DFPS and HHSC employees and designees; the DFPS third-party contractor for the Texas Service Level System and its employees; the Foster Care Ombudsman; properly identified individuals appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction, such as volunteer or Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), guardians ad litem, and attorneys ad litem; staff with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) or a county Juvenile Probation Department (JPD); and individuals on the child's contact list (§3400). Visits are planned and coordinated in cooperation with the parties to minimize disruption of the child's care, but "DFPS staff may still make unannounced visits" to Refuge House facilities or its verified foster homes (§3410).
2. Court hearing notices and attendance (RCC FY26 §3310): Refuge House "must give the Child copies of court hearing notices" and "must ensure that Children ages four and older attend permanency court hearings, unless prohibited by court order"; if the child cannot attend in person, the child is "available to participate through Telecommunication, or other means allowed by the court" (§3310).
3. Testimony (RCC FY26 §3100): if CPS requests it, Refuge House "must appear and testify in judicial proceedings, depositions, and administrative hearings relating to the Child"; if past employees or subcontractors are needed, Refuge House "helps CPS to locate and notify them that they must come to court"; and Refuge House "pays for costs associated with providing testimony" (§3100).
4. DFPS-convened meetings (RCC FY26 §3200): Refuge House "must make every effort to attend and participate in" conferences required by DFPS — including medical, school, Single Case Plan meetings, Family Group Conferences, Permanency Conferences, Circles of Support Conferences, CPS Transition Plan Meetings, STAR Health Case Conferences, and legal staffings — meetings required by the court, PAL activities consistent with the child's service plan and/or CPS Transition Plan, and any meetings necessary to ensure Caregiver compliance with a child's plan of service (§3200).

Operational steps (arranging private space, notice handling, court transport, testimony coordination) are in FC-WCM-01.1 (steps 32–35).

ENHANCEMENT AUTHORITY:

Leadership may, at its discretion, enhance contact and monitoring beyond the minimums in this policy — agency-wide (for example, a standing schedule of additional face-to-face visits, phone visits, or foster-family contacts) or on a case-by-case basis (for example, increased visit frequency for a specific child, home, or period of elevated risk). Enhancements are established and adjusted procedurally: agency-wide enhancements are documented in FC-WCM-01.1, and case-specific enhancements are documented in the child's or home's record by directive of the Program Director, Treatment Manager/CPMS, or Executive Director. Enhancements do not amend this policy; the minimums stated here remain the compliance floor at all times, and no reduction of an enhanced schedule may fall below them.

DOCUMENTATION AND SUPERVISORY REVIEW:

All required contacts are significant and documented in the child's record in sufficient detail to address §749.1291(e)–(f) (§749.1291(g)); supervisory visits are documented in the foster home record and signed by each foster parent present and the visiting staff (§749.2815(d)–(e)); deficiencies noted at any contact are cited and addressed (§749.2807(5)). Child Placement Management Staff review and approve contact documentation. The operational documentation set — Contact Log, Case Manager Weekly Log, Home Monitoring Checklist (Monthly Standard Review with inline Quarterly Deep Check), and Quarterly Agency Home Evaluation — and the supervisory review chains are maintained in FC-WCM-01.1.

CASELOAD CAPACITY TO SUPPORT CONTACT:

Required contact and monitoring frequency is sustainable only when caseloads are sized to protect each Case Manager's capacity to deliver it. Refuge House manages caseloads through the T3C caseload point system (Basic 6, MBH/IDD-Autism/Substance Use 8, Short-Term Assessment 10, Treatment Foster Family Care 20 points per child; aftercare 0.5 points per active case; maximum 120 points per Case Manager). Caseload assignment, monitoring, and adjustment are operational functions of Treatment Managers / Child Placement Management Staff (see the T3C Caseload Point System & Staffing Ratios reference).

STAFF QUALIFICATIONS:

Contact and monitoring are performed by qualified Child Placement Staff and Child Placement Management Staff who meet the qualifications of TAC §§749.673 and 749.675.

NO SUBSTITUTION:

Video and telephone contact do not count toward the face-to-face contacts required by §749.1291, §749.4451, or §749.2815 (where Chapter 749 intends to permit video or teleconference it says so expressly — e.g., service planning team meetings). Telephone and electronic contact satisfy only those requirements that expressly permit them (sibling contact beyond 100 miles under the applicable SSCC manual; T3C aftercare calls). A face-to-face contact conducted at an appointment outside the foster home counts toward the monthly contact but not toward the §749.1291(c) in-home share.

QUALITY ASSURANCE:

Compliance with each cited minimum — contact frequency, in-home share, the 60-/30-/20-day backstops, supervisory-visit cadence including the unannounced-visit count, evaluation cycles, and documentation timeliness — is monitored through CPMS review and the agency's CQI process, with patterns reviewed at least quarterly. Any enhanced schedule in effect is monitored at its enhanced level for coverage purposes, while compliance is measured against the minimums in this policy.

REGULATORY ALIGNMENT:

• 26 TAC §749.1291 — post-placement contact (monthly face-to-face; half in-home; PMN twice monthly; content, privacy, documentation)
• 26 TAC §749.4451 — post-placement contacts, kinship foster homes
• 26 TAC §749.2815 — foster home supervisory visits (quarterly in-home; both parents semiannually; all household annually; two unannounced per year; content and documentation)
• 26 TAC §§749.2801, 749.2807, 749.2811, 749.2813–.2814, 749.2817, 749.2825 — foster home evaluation cycle, deficiency follow-up, monitoring of homes without placements, reactivation
• 26 TAC §749.2965(c) — weapons discussion at the two-year evaluation
• 26 TAC §749.4429(a); §749.4403(a)(9) — annual kinship home evaluation; Subchapter N applicability to kinship homes
• 26 TAC §§749.3341, 749.3425, 749.3427 — adoption preparation and post-placement supervision
• 26 TAC §749.137(f) — post-crisis suicide screening; §§749.661–.667, 749.673, 749.675 — child placement staff/management responsibilities and qualifications (who may conduct contacts and supervisory visits)
• DFPS 24-Hour RCC Contract (FY26) — incorporation of Minimum Standards; Educational Portfolio (§§6700, 6840); testimony (§3100); meeting participation (§3200); court notices/attendance (§3310); third-party access to children (§§3400–3410)
• T3C System Blueprint (April 2026) — aftercare contact cadence (Kinship, Transition, Pregnant & Parenting add-ons); 24/7 kinship response; Service Plan review and CANS cadence
• SSCC Provider Manuals: OCOK Network Management Operations Manual Rev. 7-1-2025 §§1.02, 4.03, 6.00, 6.03, 6.21, 6.24, 7.04; Belong Stage I & II Provider Manual Aug 2025 (Placement Stability; Visitation & Communication p.14; Access p.16; pp.23–24; Adoption Services); 2INgage Provider Manual Rev. 1.2026 §§4, 6, 9; EMPOWER Provider Manual Rev. 1.2026 §§4, 6, 9; SFCS Placement Provider Manual July 2020 §§2.12, 3.1.9.1, 3.2 (partial capture — see companion reference); 4Kids4Families Joint Operations Manual Dec 2025 (no CPA-facing contact requirements); TFCN and DePelchin: prospective — contracts in negotiation, requirements to be added on execution

RELATED POLICIES AND PROCEDURES:

• FC-WCM-01 Exhibit A — Contact & Monitoring Minimum Requirements Matrix (adopted with this policy; MIN-01–MIN-36)
• FC-WCM-01.1 Worker Contact and Monitoring Procedure (operational schedules; enhanced coverage; Home Monitoring Checklist instruments)
• Contact & Monitoring Minimums by Regulating Entity (companion citation reference / analysis of record)
• FC-04 Crisis Management Policy · FC-SIR-01 Serious Incident Reporting Policy · FC-OC-01 On-Call Policy · FC-AF Aftercare Services · FC09-01 Educational Supports · FC-16 Staff and Caregiver Training Policy

DEFINITIONS:

Face-to-face contact: in-person contact providing the opportunity to speak privately, observe the child, and assess safety and well-being; video is not a substitute (§749.1291).

Supervisory visit: the foster-home-facing visit required by §749.2815, distinct from (though combinable with) the child contact required by §749.1291 when a single documented in-home visit covers the content of both.

Unannounced visit: a supervisory visit conducted without advance notice to the foster home, counted toward §749.2815(b).

Enhancement: any contact or monitoring standard exceeding the minimums in this policy, adopted agency-wide (FC-WCM-01.1) or case-by-case (documented directive), adjustable by leadership without Board action.

Primary Medical Needs (PMN): as defined in the DFPS glossary; triggers §749.1291(b).

Adopted minimums are those in force per the editions listed in the frontmatter review basis; when a regulating entity revises its requirements, the stricter of the revised requirement or this policy's stated minimum applies pending policy review.