Iowa Code § 237.10 — IA Code / Title VI / Chapter 237 / Section 237.10
Individual licensees and approved kinship caregivers.
Status: in_force

(1) (a) The department shall notify an individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver of any appropriate meetings relating to the case permanency plan of a child in the care of the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver.

(1) (b) The department shall notify an individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver of any meetings known to the department relating to the individualized education program of a child in the care of the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver.

(1) (c) The department shall notify an individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver of any medical appointments required or scheduled in consultation with the department relating to a child in the care of the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver.

(1) (d) The department shall notify an individual licensee or an approved kinship caregiver, and the parents or guardians of a child, if the department delegates the department’s right to consent to emergency medical care and routine medical care on behalf of the child under section 232.2, subsection 14, paragraph “c”, to the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver.

(1) (d) The department shall notify the department of education, an individual licensee or an approved kinship caregiver, and the parents or guardians of a child, if the department delegates the department’s right to consent to participation in an individualized education program on behalf of the child under section 232.2, subsection 14, paragraph “c”, to the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver.

(2) The department or the department’s agent may share otherwise confidential information about a child with an individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver being considered as a possible placement for the child to the extent such disclosure is relevant to the placement decision and the proper care of the child. The department or the department’s agent may facilitate sharing the contact information of previous individual licensees and approved kinship caregivers for a child with the next individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver in an effort to support the continuity of care for a child.

(3) Upon placement of a child with an individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver, the department shall provide the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver with information that would allow the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver to contact the department or an agent of the department for assistance relating to child foster care.

(4) Prior to disclosing an individual licensee’s or approved kinship caregiver’s private address, work address, or contact information, the department shall evaluate possible safety concerns to determine whether such information may be released without posing a risk to the safety of the individual licensee, the approved kinship caregiver, the child, or any other person.

(5) The department shall notify an individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver within a reasonable amount of time of any change in a law or rule that would have a substantive impact on the individual licensee’s or approved kinship caregiver’s obligations and responsibilities relating to child foster care.

(6) (a) The department shall provide written notice to an individual licensee, or an approved kinship caregiver, a minimum of ten days prior to the removal of a child from the care of the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver. Such notice shall include the reasons for the child’s removal.

(6) (b) This subsection shall not apply if the health or safety of the child or another person is threatened by the child’s presence in the child’s current placement, if the court orders the removal of a child from the individual licensee or the approved kinship caregiver, if the child is absent from the placement without authorization, if the child is being moved to the home of a biological parent or legal guardian, or if the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver is alleged to have committed child abuse or neglect.

(7) (a) An individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver shall provide written notice to the department a minimum of ten days prior to a request to remove a child from the individual licensee’s care or the approved kinship caregiver’s care.

(7) (b) This subsection shall not apply to a situation where the health or safety of the child or another person is threatened by the child’s presence in the child’s current placement.

(8) At the conclusion of an investigation conducted by the department that may affect an individual licensee’s ability, or an approved kinship caregiver’s ability, to provide child foster care in the future, the department shall provide the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver with a written report that details the conclusions of the investigation.

(9) (a) The department shall require an individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver to attempt, to the extent reasonably possible, to maintain a child’s culture and beliefs.

(9) (b) An individual licensee or an approved kinship caregiver shall be allowed to provide child foster care, according to the individual licensee’s or the approved kinship caregiver’s own culture and beliefs, if such child foster care does not actively discourage a child to disregard the child’s own culture and beliefs and a biological parent whose parental rights have not been terminated or a legal guardian for the child does not object to the practice or activity that is consistent with the individual licensee’s or the approved kinship caregiver’s own culture and beliefs.

(10) (a) The department or the department’s agent shall consider the needs and scheduling demands of a child, the child’s parents, the child’s siblings, and the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver caring for the child when scheduling supervised or any other visitation between the child and the child’s siblings, family members, or fictive kin.

(10) (b) The department shall not require an individual licensee or an approved kinship caregiver to conduct, or to be present during, supervised visits scheduled pursuant to paragraph “a”.

(11) The department shall accept information from an individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver relating to medical appointments, treatment needs, educational progress, and educational services for a child placed with the individual licensee or approved kinship caregiver. The department shall consider all such information when developing or modifying a child’s case permanency plan, and in the coordination of care and decisions related to services and care necessary for the child. The information the department receives from an individual licensee or an approved kinship caregiver shall be reviewed and considered as decisions about the child’s progress and needs are made.

(12) The department shall maintain a process to allow each individual licensee and each approved kinship caregiver to file a complaint with the department electronically for an alleged violation relating to this section.

(13) The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to implement this section.

2023 Acts, ch 80, §3; 2025 Acts, ch 135, §22; 2025 Acts, ch 159, §10; 2025 Acts, ch 165, §7, 8