Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 016 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES › Division 22 - Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education › Rule 016.22.20-004 - Minimum Licensing Standards for Child Welfare Agencies (Placement And Residential)

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
INTRODUCTION
The Child Welfare Licensing Act, (Ark. Code Ann. §
								9-28-401 et. seq.),
				is the legal authority under which the Child Welfare Agency Review Board
				establishes minimum licensing standards for child welfare agencies, as defined
				under the statute.
Child Welfare Agency Review Board
The Child Welfare Agency Review Board (the board) shall
				promulgate and publish rules setting minimum standards governing the granting,
				revocation, refusal, conversion, and suspension of licenses for a child welfare
				agency and the operation of a child welfare agency.
The board may consult with such other agencies, organizations,
				or individuals as it deems proper.
The board shall take any action necessary to prohibit any
				person, partnership, group, corporation, organization, or association not
				licensed or exempted from licensure pursuant to this regulation from
				advertising, placing, planning for, or assisting in the placement of any
				unrelated minor for purposes of adoption or for care in a foster home. The
				prohibition against advertising shall not apply to persons who are seeking to
				add to their own family by adoption.
The board may amend the rules promulgated pursuant to this
				section, from time to time, in accordance with the rule promulgation procedures
				in the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, §
								25-15-201 et
				seq.
The board shall promulgate rules that:
1. Promote the health, safety, and welfare of
			 children in the care of a child welfare agency;
2. Promote safe and healthy physical
			 facilities;
3. Ensure adequate
			 supervision of the children by capable, qualified, and healthy
			 individuals;
4. Ensure appropriate
			 educational programs and activities for children in the care of a child welfare
			 agency;
5. Ensure adequate and
			 healthy food service;
6. Include
			 procedures for the receipt, recordation, and disposition of complaints
			 regarding allegations of violations of this subchapter, of the rules
			 promulgated under the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act, or of child
			 maltreatment laws;
7. Include
			 procedures for the assessment of child and family needs and for the delivery of
			 services designed to enable each child to grow and develop in a permanent
			 family setting;
8. Ensure that
			 criminal record checks and central registry checks are completed on owners,
			 operators, employees, volunteers, foster parents, adoptive parents, and other
			 persons in the homes as set forth in this subchapter;
9. Require the compilation of reports and
			 making those reports available to the division when the board determines it is
			 necessary for compliance determination or data compilation;
10. Ensure that a child placement agency:
a. Treats clients seeking or receiving
			 services in a professional manner, as defined by rules promulgated pursuant to
			 this act; and
b. Provides clients
			 seeking or receiving services from a child placement agency that provides
			 adoption services with the phone number and address of the Child Welfare Agency
			 Licensing Unit of the Department of Human Services where complaints can be
			 lodged.