Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 110 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES › Title 110 CMR 7.000 - Services › Substitute Care › Section 7.113 - Reassessment and License Renewal of Foster/Pre-adoptive Parents and Foster/Pre-adoptive Homes

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1) The Department
				shall annually re-assess foster/pre-adoptive parents and foster/pre-adoptive
				homes whether unrestricted, kinship or other child-specfic, in accordance with
				the procedure set forth in 110 CMR 7.113(1)(a). Every two years a license
				renewal will be conducted in place of the annual reassessment.
(a) The Department shall send re-assessment
				materials to the foster/pre-adoptive parent 45 working days prior to the
				re-assessment due date:
(b) The
				Department will thereafter:
1. interview the
				foster/pre-adoptive parents and other household members in the
				foster/pre-adoptive home;
2. obtain
				information from any Department social worker who has had a child in his/her
				caseload placed in the home in the previous year, and include information from
				any foster child then placed in the home, and thereafter enter a written
				summary of the interview results in the foster/pre-adoptive parent
				file;
3. review the
				foster/pre-adoptive parent file to examine written correspondence between the
				Department and the foster/pre-adoptive parent during the preceding year to
				review the Child Placement Agreements for children in the home in the year
				preceding the reassessment, to determine the foster/pre-adoptive parent's
				compliance with training requirements established by the Department; and
				determine the nature and extent of the foster/pre-adoptive parent's involvement
				in the implementation and review of the service plan for children placed in the
				home during the preceding year;
4.
				prepare a written evaluation of the foster/pre-adoptive parent(s) which may
				include a general description of the foster/pre-adoptive parent's performance
				in providing foster/pre-adoptive care; identification of the
				foster/pre-adoptive parent's particular strengths and weaknesses in providing
				foster/pre-adoptive care; and recommendations for eliminating weaknesses and
				capitalizing on strengths identified;
5. request criminal record and Central
				Registry checks and other background checks as required by Department
				Background Record Check Policy and
				110 CMR 18.00
et
				seq
. for all household members, other than foster children;
6. contact references seem by Department
				staff as useful to the re-evaluation;
7. review and update of the
				foster/pre-adoptive parent professional development plan;
8. review of the physical standards for
				foster/pre-adoptive homes, as set forth in
				110 CMR
				7.105 and Department Family Resource Policy,
				to ensure the home continues to meet these standards;
9. notify the foster/pre-adoptive parent, at
				least 15 working days prior to the re-assessment due date, of any issues that
				need resolution to continue the foster/-pre-adoptive parent license;
10. develop with the foster/pre-adoptive
				parent a plan to meet the identified outstanding issues needing resolution and
				a time frame for completion.
(c) Within ten working days after completing
				the re-assessment, the Department shall reach one of the following decisions
				shall notify the foster/pre-adoptive parents and shall enter a copy of the
				notification in the foster/pre-adoptive parent file:
1. The foster/pre-adoptive parent and
				foster/pre-adoptive home license is continued on the same terms, and with the
				same conditions, as existed prior to the re-assessment. For kinship or
				child-specific placement this means the child currently in the home
				remains.
2. The foster/pre-adoptive
				parent and foster/pre-adoptive home license is continued on terms, and with
				conditions, different from those which existed prior to the re-assessment,
				which new and different terms and conditions shall be set forth in writing. For
				kinship or child-specific placements this may mean that the home was licensed
				for a different or additional specific child.
3. The foster/pre-adoptive parent and/or the
				foster/pre-adoptive home license will not continue unless specific changes in
				circumstances or conditions are effected within a specified time period, not to
				exceed 14 days, and that if such changes are not effected within the time
				allotted, the child or children currently placed in the foster/pre-adoptive
				home will be removed from the placement, and the placement will cease to the
				approved.
4. For an unrestricted
				foster/pre-adoptive parent the license continues but the home's status is
				changed to a child-specific home.
5. The foster/pre-adoptive parent and/or the
				foster/pre-adoptive home are not re-approved, and all foster children residing
				in the home shall be removed.
(d) In any case in which the Department is
				delayed in completing the annual re-assessment, the unrestricted
				foster/pre-adoptive parent(s) and home shall continue to be licensed, until the
				Department completes the re-assessment and sends notice of its decision to the
				foster/pre-adoptive parent(s).
If the foster/pre-adoptive parent(s) appeal the revocation of
				  their license via the fair hearing process, the license shall remain in effect
				  until the fair hearing decision is issued.
(e) The foster/pre-adoptive parents shall
				receive a copy of the written evaluation upon request.