237.3 - RULES.
237.3 RULES.
1. Except as otherwise provided by subsections 3 and 4, the
administrator shall promulgate, after their adoption by the council
on human services, and enforce in accordance with chapter 17A,
administrative rules necessary to implement this chapter.
Formulation of the rules shall include consultation with
representatives of child foster care providers, and other persons
affected by this chapter. The rules shall encourage the provision of
child foster care in a single-family, home environment, exempting the
single-family, home facility from inappropriate rules.
2. Rules applicable to licensees shall include but are not
limited to:
a. Types of facilities which include but are not limited to
group foster care facilities and family foster care homes.
b. The number, qualifications, character, and parenting
ability of personnel necessary to assure the health, safety and
welfare of children receiving child foster care.
c. Programs for education and in-service training of
personnel.
d. The physical environment of a facility.
e. Policies for intake, assessment, admission and discharge.
f. Housing, health, safety, and medical care policies for
children receiving child foster care. The medical care policies
shall include but are not limited to all of the following:
(1) Provision by the department to the foster care provider at or
before the time of a child's placement of the child's health records
and any other information possessed or known about the health of the
child or about a member of the child's family that pertains to the
child's health.
(2) If the health records supplied in accordance with the child's
case permanency plan to the foster care provider are incomplete,
provision for obtaining additional health information from the
child's parent or other source and supplying the additional
information to the foster care provider.
(3) Provision for emergency health coverage of the child while
the child is engaged in temporary out-of-state travel with the
child's foster family.
g. (1) The adequacy of programs available to children
receiving child foster care provided by agencies, including but not
limited to:
(a) Dietary services.
(b) Social services.
(c) Activity programs.
(d) Behavior management procedures.
(e) Educational programs, including special education as defined
in section 256B.2, subsection 1, paragraph "b", where
appropriate, which are approved by the state board of education.
(2) The department shall not promulgate rules which regulate
individual licensees in the subject areas enumerated in this
paragraph "g".
h. Policies for involvement of biological parents.
i. Records a licensee is required to keep, and reports a
licensee is required to make to the administrator.
j. Prior to the licensing of an individual as a foster family
home, a required, written social assessment of the quality of the
living situation in the home of the individual, and a required
compilation of personal references for the individual other than
those references given by the individual.
k. Elements of a foster care placement agreement outlining
rights and responsibilities associated with an individual providing
family foster care. The rights and responsibilities shall include
but are not limited to all of the following:
(1) Receiving information prior to the child's placement
regarding risk factors concerning the child that are known to the
department.
(2) Having regularly scheduled meetings with each case manager
assigned to the child.
(3) Receiving access to any reports prepared by a service
provider who is working with the child unless the access is
prohibited by state or federal law.
3. Rules governing fire safety in facilities with child foster
care provided by agencies shall be promulgated by the state fire
marshal pursuant to section 100.1, subsection 5 after consultation
with the administrator.
4. Rules governing sanitation, water and waste disposal standards
for facilities shall be promulgated by the Iowa department of public
health pursuant to section 135.11, subsection 12, after consultation
with the administrator.
5. In case of a conflict between rules promulgated pursuant to
subsections 3 and 4 and local rules, the more stringent requirement
applies.
6. Rules of the department shall not prohibit the licensing, as
foster family homes, of individuals who are departmental employees
not directly engaged in the administration of the child foster care
program pursuant to this chapter.
7. If an agency is accredited by the joint commission on the
accreditation of health care organizations under the commission's
consolidated standards for residential settings or by the council on
accreditation of services for families and children, the department
shall modify facility licensure standards applied to the agency in
order to avoid duplicating standards applied through accreditation.
8. The department, in consultation with the judicial branch, the
division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department
of human rights, residential treatment providers, the foster care
provider association, and other parties which may be affected, shall
review the licensing rules pertaining to residential treatment
facilities, and examine whether the rules allow the facilities to
accept and provide effective treatment to juveniles with serious
problems who might not otherwise be placed in those facilities.
9. The department shall adopt rules specifying the elements of a
preadoptive care agreement outlining the rights and responsibilities
associated with a person providing preadoptive care, as defined in
section 232.2.
10. The department shall adopt rules to administer the exception
to the definition of child care in section 237A.1, subsection 3,
paragraph "m", allowing a child care facility, for purposes of
providing respite care to a foster family home, to provide care,
supervision, or guidance of a child for a period of twenty-four hours
or more who is placed with the licensed foster family home. Section History: Early Form
[C27, 31, 35, § 3661-a52; C39, § 3661.066; C46, 50, 54, 58,
62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, § 237.11; C81, § 237.3] Section History: Recent Form
83 Acts, ch 96, § 157, 159; 89 Acts, ch 283, § 26; 90 Acts, ch
1023, § 1; 92 Acts, ch 1231, § 39; 93 Acts, ch 172, §40; 94 Acts, ch
1046, §5; 97 Acts, ch 164, § 5, 6; 98 Acts, ch 1047, §25; 2001 Acts,
ch 105, §1, 2, 4; 2002 Acts, ch 1102, §1, 2; 2006 Acts, ch 1160, §2;
2009 Acts, ch 41, §241; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §232
Referred to in § 135H.4, 135H.6
2006 amendment to subsection 2, paragraph k, may be cited as the
"Foster Parents Bill of Rights"; 2006 Acts, ch 1160, §1 Footnotes
Multidimensional treatment level foster care pilot project for
children transitioning from psychiatric medical institutions for
children; 2006 Acts, ch 1123, §1; 2007 Acts, ch 218, §46, 47