North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 75 - Department of Human Services › Article 75-03 - Community Services › Chapter 75-03-14 - Family Foster Home for Children › Section 75-03-14-05 - Provisions of service

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
Foster care providers shall ensure the health and safety of
				  children placed in their dwelling and provide a safety service to best meet the
				  needs of the child in foster care. The provision of service may be accomplished
				  in many ways, including meeting the daily needs of the child, supporting family
				  connections, and complying with goals and tasks to assist the child in
				  achieving timely permanency. The foster care provider shall:
1. Participate in the child and family team
				meetings. Child and family team meetings are held at least quarterly,
				facilitated by the supervising agency to address and review the permanency plan
				of the child.
2. Cooperate in
				carrying out the objectives and goals of the permanency plan for the child
				developed and implemented in collaboration with the supervising agency and
				child and family team. Foster care providers shall meet the needs of the child
				while placed in the foster care provider's dwelling.
3. Acknowledge their role as a service
				provider and recognize, as a foster care provider, they may be considered, but
				are not guaranteed, to be a permanent option for the child. Foster care
				providers shall sign an acknowledgment that federal law establishes a
				permanency preference for children eligible under the Indian Child Welfare Act
				and North Dakota Century Code chapter 27-19.1 and with identified relatives of
				the child.
4. If requested by the
				supervising agency or the juvenile court, provide information concerning the
				child in foster care and the child's family.
5. Allow public officials to enter the
				provider's dwelling as determined necessary by the public official to ensure
				child safety.
6. Allow personnel of
				the authorized licensing agent or supervising agency to enter the provider's
				dwelling at any reasonable time. For the purposes of this subsection, "any
				reasonable time" means a time mutually convenient to the foster care provider
				and authorized licensing agent or supervising agency personnel or any time the
				authorized licensing agent or supervising agency determines that a child in
				foster care's health, safety, or welfare requires the admittance.
7. Cooperate with the supervising agency to
				make efforts to maintain and improve the relationships between the child in
				foster care and the child's family, whenever appropriate and possible. The
				foster care providers may not attempt to diminish the relationship between the
				child in foster care and the child's parents or between the supervising agency
				and the child in foster care.
8.
				Cooperate with the supervising agency to develop an approved visitation plan
				with the child's parents or guardian. If it is appropriate, visitation may take
				place in the foster care provider's dwelling or in a community setting to allow
				for formal or informal mentoring and support by the foster care provider. If
				visitation occurs in the foster care provider's dwelling, the provider does not
				have to allow entry to any individual who has been using alcohol, drugs, or any
				other intoxicating substance, or who attempts a visit in a manner that is not
				in accordance with the approved visitation plan.
9. Inform the authorized licensing agent if a
				child or adult is moving into the dwelling. All changes in the number of
				individuals living in the foster care provider's dwelling must be reported
				immediately.
10. Communicate with
				the supervising agency if a child in foster care is in need of substitute care
				during the absence of the foster care provider. Prior approval of the
				substitute care must be given by the supervising agency, not to exceed fourteen
				calendar days. Prior approval is not required for short periods of substitute
				care such as a portion of one day. A child in foster care may not be removed
				from this state without the prior approval of the supervising agency.
11. Make opportunities available for a child
				in foster care to attend religious ceremonies chosen by the child in foster
				care, or that child's parents, within the community in which the foster family
				resides. The foster care provider must respect and not interfere with the
				religious belief of the child in foster care and the child's family.
12. Engage in appropriate discipline that is
				constructive or educational in nature and may include diversion, separation,
				discussions with the child in foster care about the situation, praise for
				appropriate behavior, and gentle therapeutic physical restraint, for providers
				with proper training.
a. No child in foster
				care may be kicked, bitten, punched, spanked, shaken, pinched, roughly handled,
				or struck with an object by a foster care provider or any other individual
				residing in the family foster provider's dwelling.
b. Cruel and unusual punishments are
				prohibited.
c. Authority to
				discipline may not be delegated to or be accomplished by children.
d. Separation, when used as discipline, must
				be brief and appropriate to the age and circumstances of the child in foster
				care, and when used to discipline a child in foster care, must be within
				hearing of an adult in a safe, lighted, well-ventilated room. A child in foster
				care may not be separated from the household in a locked room or
				closet.
e. A child in foster care
				may not be disciplined for lapses in toilet training.
f. Verbal abuse or derogatory remarks about a
				child in foster care, the child's family, race, religion, sexual orientation,
				gender identity, or cultural background may not be used and are not
				permitted.
g. A child in foster
				care may not be force fed unless medically prescribed and administered under a
				physician's care.
h. Deprivation of
				means, including food, clothing, shelter, hygiene, and medical care is not
				permitted.