| Action | Establish Resource, Foster and Adoptive Family Home Standards for Local Departments of Social Services |
| Stage | Proposed |
| Comment Period | Ended on 10/3/2008 |
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13 comments
I am in favor of basic requirements, but I believe that they should have a process whereby they may be easily waived when the situation suggests itself.
Dr. Samuel Peters
Osteopathic Physician
"Good health insurance is all in the mind. Please care."
22VAC40-211-20 A
If an applicant only chooses to provide only Foster Care Services and not Adoption, do they still have to meet the same requirements as a Resource Family? Will Kinship Care Families have to meet the same requirements? The proposed Standards do not address Emergency Approvals. Will Emergency Approvals still be an option and if so what will the procedures be for completing an Emergency Approval? Many of the LDSSs do not complete adoption home studies unless it is court ordered or it benefits a current foster child. People inquiring about adoption only are otherwise referred to Private Adoption Agencies. Will LDSS be obligated to complete an approval on an applicant only interested in adoption?
22VAC40-211-30 B
This should be spelled out more? Does this included National Criminal Backgrounds Checks and Sex Offender Registry Checks?
22VAC40-211-30 D
The change from requiring all adult members to all household members to submit to tuberculosis screening or test will increase the cost of approving resource families. Who is responsible for paying for the cost of the screenings? In addition there will be an extra burden for parents having to now get this done on their children, children who already potentially come into contact with our foster children through the school system. Will there be a standard physical form for resource parents to have completed that specifically addresses their mental or physical condition relative to taking care of a child? Currently most physicians do not address this issue during a routine physical; therefore it may not be enough to simply get a copy of a current physical. Again, who is responsible for paying for the cost of the physical? Not all insurance companies will pay for this cost and even if they do, the resource family is likely to have a co-pay. I believe this would significantly increase the cost of approving resource families. In addition, I believe that this would significantly increase the amount of time it takes to approve a resource family because they would have to schedule appointments with their physicians which could add at a minimum of two months to the approval process.
22VAC40-211-30 E
What offenses or how many points would make a resource parent ineligible? I believe if the state is going to mandate this, then they should also provide guidance on how to use the information we receive. If a resource family has in their home an 18-21 year old foster child, does that child have to comply with the same background and DMV checks?
I believe that the additional required paperwork should also be submitted before the burden to complete the home study falls to the department. We have many incidences where we receive a completed application from a prospective foster parent, but they never complete the fingerprinting requirements or never submit the tuberculosis screening. I do not believe the burden of completing a lengthy home study process should fall to the department until all of the necessary documentation as been completed by the applicant.
Will there be a form developed for this purpose?
Can we run credit reports to meet this standard? If so where will the money come from to pay for them?
Is it necessary to keep a copy of this form in the child’s file when it will already be in the provider’s file? If you make this form child specific then you would have to get providers to sign this from for each child in their care.
Please define secure.
Although we like the idea of requiring Pre-Service
Again we approve of requiring annual training; however we believe that additional money is needed from the state for training and positions in order for the LDSS to comply with these standards.
22VAC40-211-70 The following issues are not addressed:
Drinking water shall be available at all times.
The provider shall have first aid supplies easily accessible in case of accident.
The out-of-home provider shall keep medicines and drugs separate from food except those items that must be refrigerated.
Sufficient space and equipment for food preparation, service and proper storage.
The provider shall immediately report any suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of any adult or child in care to the agency.
The provider shall permit an inspection of the home’s private water supply and sewage disposal system by the local Health Department if conditions indicate a need for approval and the agency requests it. 22VAC40-211-70 I3 What exactly are the federal, state, and local ordinances? 22VAC40-211-70 I4
Again what are the state and local ordinances? What will be considered as verification of provider compliance? What about exotic pets?
If a provider does not own an ABC class fire extinguisher, will there be money available to purchase them for the family?
What are the specific requirements?
This sounds like a pretty extensive plan. Will we be given an example of a plan that would meet these requirements to use as a guide? Again I believe that the extensiveness of this plan will lengthen the approval process.
Will the identified adult have to complete the same background checks?
If a provider is not allowed to discriminate based on these factors then how would we be able to justify not allowing cohabitating and/or homosexual couples from becoming resource families?
Will there be a form developed for this purpose?
We believe that this requirement will add significantly to worker hours. Can the monitoring be done by either the staff person who approved the provider or a staff person who has placed clients with the provider as stated in past standards and regulations?
We currently only do this step at approval. Why is it necessary to complete this step at re-approval? If the provider is caring for children at the time of re-approval, the children have already been exposed to any potential threat of tuberculosis. This requirement will only add time and cost to the re-approval process.
A Compliance Form for Agency Approved Provider should be completed for each provider.
The provider must receive written notification regarding action on the application or at renewal. A Certificate is adequate written notice for providers who receive one.
Emergency Approval
Inability to Continue to Meet Standards.
Relocation of Out-Of-Home Provider.
22VAC40-211-20 A
If an applicant only chooses to provide only Foster Care Services and not Adoption, do they still have to meet the same requirements as a Resource Family? Will Kinship Care Families have to meet the same requirements? The proposed Standards do not address Emergency Approvals. Will Emergency Approvals still be an option and if so what will the procedures be for completing an Emergency Approval? Many of the LDSSs do not complete adoption home studies unless it is court ordered or it benefits a current foster child. People inquiring about adoption only are otherwise referred to Private Adoption Agencies. Will LDSS be obligated to complete an approval on an applicant only interested in adoption?
22VAC40-211-30 B
This should be spelled out more? Does this included National Criminal Backgrounds Checks and Sex Offender Registry Checks?
22VAC40-211-30 D
The change from requiring all adult members to all household members to submit to tuberculosis screening or test will increase the cost of approving resource families. Who is responsible for paying for the cost of the screenings? In addition there will be an extra burden for parents having to now get this done on their children, children who already potentially come into contact with our foster children through the school system. Will there be a standard physical form for resource parents to have completed that specifically addresses their mental or physical condition relative to taking care of a child? Currently most physicians do not address this issue during a routine physical; therefore it may not be enough to simply get a copy of a current physical. Again, who is responsible for paying for the cost of the physical? Not all insurance companies will pay for this cost and even if they do, the resource family is likely to have a co-pay. I believe this would significantly increase the cost of approving resource families. In addition, I believe that this would significantly increase the amount of time it takes to approve a resource family because they would have to schedule appointments with their physicians which could add at a minimum of two months to the approval process.
22VAC40-211-30 E
What offenses or how many points would make a resource parent ineligible? I believe if the state is going to mandate this, then they should also provide guidance on how to use the information we receive. If a resource family has in their home an 18-21 year old foster child, does that child have to comply with the same background and DMV checks? I believe that the additional required paperwork should also be submitted before the burden to complete the home study falls to the department. We have many incidences where we receive a completed application from a prospective foster parent, but they never complete the fingerprinting requirements or never submit the tuberculosis screening. I do not believe the burden of completing a lengthy home study process should fall to the department until all of the necessary documentation as been completed by the applicant. Will there be a form developed for this purpose? Can we run credit reports to meet this standard? If so where will the money come from to pay for them? Is it necessary to keep a copy of this form in the child’s file when it will already be in the provider’s file? If you make this form child specific then you would have to get providers to sign this from for each child in their care. Please define secure. Although we like the idea of requiring Pre-Service Again we approve of requiring annual training; however we believe that additional money is needed from the state for training and positions in order for the LDSS to comply with these standards. Drinking water shall be available at all times. The provider shall have first aid supplies easily accessible in case of accident. The out-of-home provider shall keep medicines and drugs separate from food except those items that must be refrigerated. Sufficient space and equipment for food preparation, service and proper storage. The provider shall immediately report any suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of any adult or child in care to the agency. The provider shall permit an inspection of the home’s private water supply and sewage disposal system by the local Health Department if conditions indicate a need for approval and the agency requests it. 22VAC40-211-70 I3 What exactly are the federal, state, and local ordinances? 22VAC40-211-70 I4 Again what are the state and local ordinances? What will be considered as verification of provider compliance? What about exotic pets? If a provider does not own an ABC class fire extinguisher, will there be money available to purchase them for the family? What are the specific requirements? This sounds like a pretty extensive plan. Will we be given an example of a plan that would meet these requirements to use as a guide? Again I believe that the extensiveness of this plan will lengthen the approval process. Will the identified adult have to complete the same background checks? If a provider is not allowed to discriminate based on these factors then how would we be able to justify not allowing cohabitating and/or homosexual couples from becoming resource families? Will there be a form developed for this purpose? We believe that this requirement will add significantly to worker hours. Can the monitoring be done by either the staff person who approved the provider or a staff person who has placed clients with the provider as stated in past standards and regulations? We currently only do this step at approval. Why is it necessary to complete this step at re-approval? If the provider is caring for children at the time of re-approval, the children have already been exposed to any potential threat of tuberculosis. This requirement will only add time and cost to the re-approval process. A Compliance Form for Agency Approved Provider should be completed for each provider. The provider must receive written notification regarding action on the application or at renewal. A Certificate is adequate written notice for providers who receive one. Emergency Approval Inability to Continue to Meet Standards. Relocation of Out-Of-Home Provider.
22VAC40-211-30 Background checks and health standards
D. A tuberculosis test should be required instead of a screening in order to get a baseline.
22VAC40-211-40 Home study requirements
6.B A confidentiality form signed by the foster parents needs to be filed in the foster parent file, not the child’s file. It is assumed that this would be a blanket form. Requiring it to be placed in the child’s record creates an unnecessary administrative burden..
22VAC240-211-50 Approval period and documentation of approval
A.B Increasing the provider approval period from 24 months to 36 months is too risky. The period should remain 24 months per the current standards. Requiring monthly face to face visits by workers to children in their placement and increasing the provider approval period are incongruent. A home should be recertified every two years in order to minimize risk to children and to document changes in the provider home.
22VAC40-211-60 Training
B.B The standards should state a minimum number of in-service training hours for providers since the training can be accomplished in a variety of ways. It is recommended that providers be required to attend at least 8 hours of in-service training every year.
C.B The standards should require a minimum number of in-service training hours. We recommend a minimum of 8 hours per year.
22VAC40-211-70 Standards for the home of the provider
D. The standards should specify whether the phone needs to be a land line telephone or whether a digital phone or a cellular phone would suffice. A land line is preferable. If a parent has only a cellular phone, it will not be available to the people at home when the parent takes the phone out of the home.
F.B The maximum age for children to be allowed to share a bed should remain at the current standard of two years old. The proposed standard of 16 months is too narrow. Is there serious concern that children between the ages of 16 and 24 months will molest or abuse each other? The proposed standards do not take into account siblings where it would be appropriate for them to continue to share a bed iin.
L. It is of great concern that the standards do not place any limits or guidelines on the number of children who can be placed in the home at the same time. Under the previous standards, there were limits on capacity depending on variables such as age of child, special needs of child, and if there were one or two parents in the home. It is recommended that the same capacity limits be included in the current standards for foster homes. By not including capacity limits, some agencies may overcrowd homes and place children in inappropriate living situations. In addition, a variance to the standard can be requested by a locality when the standard needs to be exceeded.
22VAC40-211-100 Monitoring and re-approval of providers
A. This standard, requiring quarterly visits to the home of the provider to support and monitor performance and to provide quarterly documentation in the foster home file, is an UNFUNDED MANDATE and should be removed. If the standard were instituted, our pool of 173 foster homes would require 1,211 additional instances of documentation in foster home files over a two year period (173 x 7 documentations, not counting the biannual recertification). The proposed standard is unnecessary because social workers are already required to visit children in their foster homes on a monthly basis at which time they are reviewing performance and providing support. Coordinating the scheduling and documentation of visits between our 50+ case carrying social workers and our foster home review staff would be extremely cumbersome. In addition, the proposed standard does not indicate whether the agency must visit only families where a child is placed, or whether quarterly visits are required for all approved providers.
4.B A tuberculosis screening should not be required at time of renewal. It would be disruptive and harmful to children to have to remove them from homes where the screening had not taken place on time. Also, there is a cost to the family associated with this requirement.
Definitions - Should these definitions include respite parents as well.
Dual approval process - the definition states at the end foster and/or adoptive - the premise of dual means both so the or should be ommited. Foster parent - the definition should include "understand and support reunification" . Resource parent - this definition should also include approved before the word provider.
22VAC40-211-30 - (B) - fourth line should include the word "of " after approval (C) should be inclusive of CPS checks as well. (E) The requirement states and any other adult in the home - suggestion to omit in the home. There could be a supportive person outside of the home transporting the child.
22VAC40-211-40 - (B) - The statement says that upon submission of a completed application the department is responsible for completing a homestudy - should there not be any training first?(D) Three references per person or a total of three? (F) (4-b) Unclear about the intent of this sentence - Is able to sustain positive and constructive relationships with others in thier care??? (4-e) - Is ther a list of appropriate motivations for fostering or adoption? Ambiguous language (4-6) - It does not seem to make sense to keep a confidentiality form in the child's file when it is required to be in the parents file. - This section should include references to a back up plan, supportive persons, ability of person to accept birth parents (or not)...
22VAC40-211-50 (C) 1 - In an effort to go paperless this seems to add to the file in tremendous ways, OASIS documents placements - information can easily be gathered. The resource parents file should contain the parents information. (C) 4 This section should include information on medical care authorization, visiting plan, service plan, court dates....
22VAC40-211-60 (D) - This provides that the family is fully approved if he meets all other requirments...and is enrolled in and completes... Does this replace the emergency approval process and is it open to any and everyone and not just family and/or kin?
22VAC40-211-70 - Standards for the home of the provider. (A) Does this stipulation refer to all persons in the home? A-3 Comfortable sleeping furnishings - as evident by???? (I) 3 - The provider shall store any firearms...activated safety mechanisms - what is it?. (I) 4 - ensure?? request verification of provider compliance - what does that mean? (I) 6 - What are the stipulations when the provider is also a daycare provider?
22VAC40-211-100 - B-4 How frequently is it recommended? B-7 Is a home study addendum necessary - the information is in reference to the reevaluation. The homestudy would become very lenghty for NDHS as we do our reevals annually. (C) Seems as though this statement does not go far enough - if there are issues which document significant changes.... seems as though there should be actions taken further than an addendum in the file. (D) reads strictly for small agencies at the larger agencies this would be cumbersome to the director - the supervisor can sign off on this document of the program manager not the director.
It is NDHS's contention that extending the reeval timeframe to three years and mandating criminal checks every 4 years is not consistent with bringing the public and private agencies closer in the requirements and regulations. There would be a reevaluation of a family without the benefit of an updated clearance. On page 3413 of the regs, third paragraph last two sentences - "The cost is likely exceeded by the benefit of increased rest for affected children. Increased rest will improve affected children's health and ability to learn". Not sure what the thought process is here, and the age of 16 months does not seem to have a significant foundation. Age 2 should be sufficient. Also the children may spend more time awake seeing as though they have been separated. The top of page 3414 the sentence ends with ... without haveing the care of affected children be adversely affected. Seems as though it can be reworded so not to sound redundant.
Are these regulations an attempt to bring the public and private agencies more in line with expectations and responsibilities of workers and providers?
Generally we realize that this was written to access Title IV-E funds. If 22VAC40-211 is approved then it is clear that things will become "looser" for private agencies and "tighter" for public agencies. Please exclude the brief statements below as it was hard for me to create bullet lists.
Specific Items:
1.)the last part of page 3411 requiring DMV record checks is a good idea 2.)on page 3412, in the first paragraph, under number 7, annual training should be changed to at least quarterly. 3.)same page, at the end of the first paragraph, the last sentence allows for re-evaluations to be done every three years, that should be at least every 2 years or less. 4.)On 3412, the first sentence of the third paragraph states that 8 foster children shall be allowed in a home. That number should be six or less, and the number should include the foster parent's biological children. What if a foster parent has six kids of thier own, and then eight foster children are added? 5.) On page 3413, in the middle of the first complete paragraph, the sentence says"...DSS will provide opportunites for training on an annual basis at no charge." Providing opportunities is not the same as mandating training. Quarterly training should be free and mandatory. 6.)
Thanks for your consideration,
Eliot Faircloth
Carpe Diem Children's Services
22VAC40-211-31
A. The minimum age to become a resource parent should be 21 not 18. I have never known an 18 yr. old responsible enough to successfully parent the types of kids we get into foster care.
D. T.B. tests should only be done on the adults in the home. Subjecting all the household children to T.B. tests is unnecessary and costly.
22VAC40-211-40
B. UPON SUBMISSION OF AN APPLICATION THE DHS IS RESPONSIBLE TO COMPLETE THE STUDY. I understand this to mean that we have to proceed with the home study (and not just a denial letter) even if the applicant has an obvious violation of the standards (i.e. barrier crime, Founded CPS,etc.). Moral of this story...get lots of info on the applicant BEFORE they complete the application!
F.6. The CONFIDENTIALITY FORM should only be kept in the Resource Parents' record NOT in the child's file. It makes sense to keep it with the Resource record as they are the ones to sign it. This form is NOT "child-specific" & would add unnecessarily to the bulk of the child's file and if the child was adopted, the form would be purged with the record anyway.
G. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES WITH THE PROVIDER REQUIRE AN UPDATED STUDY. Wouldn't any changes with the providers be documented in our contacts and visits documentation which should be found in their record? Why write an updated study also? If the significant change effects their certification, we would need to take action accordingly regarding the appropriateness of continuing their certification and document this in the record as well, but not necessarily write an updated study.
22VAC40-211-50
A. The approval period needs to be 24 months not 36 months. Too much can happen in 3 years.
22VAC40-211-70
F. CHILDREN OVER THE AGE OF 16 MOS. SHALL NOT SHARE A BED. Shouldn't this read "Children under the age of 16 mos. shall not share a bed"? A baby sharing a bed, especially with adults, is extremely dangerous. We've had several fatalities involving infants who have suffocated while sleeping with adults. On the other hand, why couldn't two school-age sisters or brothers who have no sexual acting out issues share a full or queen-size bed??
22VAC70-211-100
A. THE LOCAL DEPT.'S REP. SHALL VISIT THE HOME AT LEAST QUARTERLY. Semi-annual visits (every 6 mos.) by the foster home staff is enough especially with the new policy requiring monthly visits by the foster care workers. For our agency, visiting 100+ foster homes every 3 months would be quite time consuming. If the foster care worker has concerns re: a foster home, we would definitely visit that particular home more often.
B.3. THE RE-APPROVAL PROCESS SHALL INCLUDE COMPLETING STATE CRIMINAL CHECKS & CPS BACKGROUND CHECKS. State criminal checks should be done, however CPS checks seem unnecessary as the approving agency should always be made aware of and be involved in any CPS complaint made on one of their foster families.
B.3. THE RE-APPROVAL PROCESS SHALL INCLUDE OBTAINING THE RESULTS OF A NEW TUBERCULOSIS SCREENING. I think this is not only unnecessary, but is an additional financial burden on our foster families. (Our local health dept. charges $13 per individual for a TB screening & an additional $7 if a skin test is deemed necessary.) In my 16 years of doing studies on foster parents, I've never seen a result of an active case of communicable TB on any foster parent. Wouldn't it make more sense to require a physical exam be done in the past 12 months on all adults in the home at the time of renewal?? Why is TB the only targeted disease? How about HIV?
We believe the Foster Home Regulations need to be reviewed and updated; however, we are concerned the unintended impact on children and families and small agencies.
We are particularly concerned about 22VAC40-211-20 A lack of attention to Emergency Approvals, which are necessary and help children make the transition during a traumatic time. We are concerned about the "Kinship Care" families, who may be all the family a child has and if the family can not meet these standards, we would in essence be removing children from their family again. There needs to be a special exception or at least alternatives for kinship families. In many cases these children have been in and out of their kinship families their entire lives and the emotional bond often outweighs the physical standard set by an agency.
22VAC40-211-40 G We believe that this proposed home study process will add considerable time to the approval process and social worker hours. Many LDSSs in small rural areas do not have staff available or specifically designated to approve resource homes. How will these LDSSs be able to meet these new standards without money for additional positions?
We believe these regulations are not complete and are not ready for implementation and if enacted will leave gaping holes in the resources available to children and workers. At a time when agencies are being fiscally pressed to develop local resources these regulations will make the approval of local resource homes more difficult and less likely. Children should stay in their own communities and we need to work to make that a reality.
22VAC40-211-70 D This requires access to a working telephone. Should not there be a telephone in the home (as opposed to next door or down the stairs)? And will a cell phone meet this requirement? If a cell phone is allowed, what happens when the cell phone is taken away from the home with its owner, while a caretaker at home with the child has no phone, or when the cell phone no longer has a charge or drops and breaks, etc?
22VAC40-211-80 F If a provider regularly transports the child...The requirement for a valid driver's license and liability insurance should exist no matter how often a provider transports a child. Indeed the same requirement should be for any substitute care provider who transpsorts the child including teenaged members of the household, relatives, neighbors, friends.
22VAC40-211-100 B5 Requires reviewing confidentiality and corporal punishment requirements and completing new agreements seems redundant. Why not just complete new agreements. In the process of completing them, a review of the provisions must be read and signed.
We are interested in the proposed standards as these changes will most likely be replicated for private agencies as well. We recommend the following: