Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 110 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES › Title 110 CMR 7.000 - Services › Substitute Care › Section 7.105 - Standards for Licensure of Foster/Pre-adoptive Homes

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
In order to be licensed as a foster/pre-adoptive parent, a
				  foster/pre-adoptive parent applicant must live in a home which meets the
				  requirements of 102 CMR 5.10(4) and the following requirements:
(1) The home must be clean; safe; free of
				obvious fire and other hazards; and of sufficient size to accommodate
				comfortably and appropriately all members of the household and the approved
				number of foster/pre-adoptive children.
(2) The home must have safe and adequate
				lighting, ventilation, hot and cold water supply, plumbing, electricity, and
				heat.
(3) The home must be
				furnished with a refrigerator and cooking stove in safe, working
				condition.
(4) No foster child over
				one year of age shall share a bedroom with an adult, except if the foster
				children had been sharing a bedroom in the foster home prior to their
				18th birthday and one of the children turns 18 years
				of age.
(5) The home must have
				sufficient furniture to allow each child to sleep in a separate bed and to have
				adequate storage space for his or her personal belongings.
(6) No foster child over four years of age,
				except for siblings up to age eight, shall share a bedroom with a child of the
				opposite sex.
(7) The home must
				have bedrooms which provide at least 50 square feet per child, except the
				Department may waive this requirement for kinship homes if the bedrooms provide
				at least 35 square feet per child, and shall accommodate no more than four
				children per bedroom.
(8) No
				bedroom to be used by foster children shall be located above the second floor
				unless any such floor has two safe means of egress.
(9) No bedroom to be used by foster children
				shall be located below the first floor unless it contains a ground level,
				standard door exit and at least one operable window.
(10) Each floor of the home, including the
				basement, shall be equipped with smoke detectors in working order.
(11) If the home uses well water, it shall be
				tested and determined safe, and a report of the test shall be furnished to the
				Department.
(12) No more than four
				foster children shall reside in the foster/pre-adoptive home at any one time,
				and at no time shall the total number of children residing in the
				foster/pre-adoptive home exceed six. Of the total of six children being cared
				for in the foster/pre-adoptive home, up to two children may be age 24 months or
				younger; however, only one child may be age one month or younger, provided,
				however:
(a) The Regional Director whose area
				office oversees the foster/pre-adoptive home may authorize additional children
				to be placed in a foster/pre-adoptive home under the following circumstances,
				as long as the total number of foster children in the foster home does not
				exceed six and the total number of children in the home does not exceed eight:
1. in the event of a multiple birth to allow
				siblings under the age of one month to be placed together; or
2. for an emergency short-term placement in a
				Hotline, respite, or family child care home; or
3. to place siblings together; or
4. for the replacement of a
				foster/pre-adoptive child in a foster/pre-adoptive home where she or he
				previously resided; or
5. to place
				siblings together where one sibling is already residing in the foster/
				pre-adoptive home; or
6. to place
				siblings together where one or more of the siblings has a previously
				established relationship with the foster/pre-adoptive home.
A capacity waiver for reasons 110 CMR 7.105(12)(a)1., 2., or
				  3. is not permitted unless there are no more than three foster children in the
				  home and no more than five children in the home at the time the waiver is
				  granted.