Maximizing Your Child Family Team (CFT) Meetings
Santa Clara County Social Services Agency
Department of Family and Children’s Services
Presented by Reneé Lay
Roles and Responsibilities
Second languages TDM
Pool of bilingual/bicultural back-up facilitators available in
- Spanish
- Cambodian
- Farsi
- Vietnamese
Confidentiality
The social worker cannot bring up the following information in a TDM:
- The child’s HIV status
- The child’s pregnancy
- The child’s mental health diagnosis
- The child’s psychological evaluation
- The details of the child abuse
- The child’s rap sheet
- The child’s IEP documentation
- The child’s sexual orientation
If you think any of the above items are pertinent to the decision of placing the child you should bring them up in the meeting, the social worker is not at liberty to do so.
What information from the TDM can be reported to the court?
The statement of TDM issues and the TDM action plan. (Quotes from participants, summary statements from participants and notes taken at the TDM cannot be reported to the court.)
Note taking
The TDM action plan prepared by the TDM facilitator should be filed in the social worker’s file. All other notes should be destroyed in order to preserve the confidential nature of the TDM meeting.
Confidentiality Statement
All participants in the TDM shall sign a TDM confidentiality statement prior to participating in the TDM.
Confidentiality information from L. Michael Clark/ TDM Confidentiality/ Revised November 2004