North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 10A - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › Chapter 70 - CHILDREN'S SERVICES › Subchapter H - CHILD-PLACING AGENCIES: ADOPTION › Section .0400 - MINIMUM LICENSING STANDARDS › Section 70H .0405 - PREPLACEMENT ASSESSMENT

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) The agency
				  shall complete a preplacement assessment within 90 days after the application
				  for adoption has been approved and the request for the assessment has been
				  received. In a case involving a single adoptive applicant, there shall be two
				  separate face-to-face interviews occurring on two different dates. In a case
				  involving joint applicants, there shall be a separate face-to-face interview
				  with each applicant and an additional two face-to-face interviews with both
				  applicants. At least one interview shall be conducted in the applicants' home.
				  There shall be separate face-to-face interviews with each member of the
				  household ten years of age or older. The assessment process shall be a joint
				  effort of the adoption agency and the applicants to determine the kind of child
				  the applicants can best parent. Any assessment that was completed 18 months or
				  more before placement of a child occurs shall be updated to include current
				  information about the family. Any agency updating a preplacement assessment not
				  originally completed by that agency assumes responsibility for the entire
				  assessment, and the new assessment shall reflect that it is the responsibility
				  of the agency conducting the update. Physical examinations of family members
				  shall be current to within 18 months of the assessment.
(b) The agency shall assess the following
				  areas and shall record the information in the adoptive applicants' record:
(1) the applicants' reasons for wanting to
				  adopt;
(2) the strengths and needs
				  of each member of the household;
(3) the attitudes and feelings of the family,
				  extended family, and other individuals involved with the family toward
				  accepting adoptive children, and parenting children not born to them;
(4) the attitudes of the applicants toward
				  the birth parents and in regard to the reasons the child is in need of
				  adoption;
(5) the applicants'
				  attitudes toward child behavior and discipline;
(6) the applicants' plan for discussing
				  adoption with the child;
(7) the
				  emotional stability and maturity of applicants;
(8) the applicants' ability to cope with
				  problems, stress, frustrations, crises, and loss;
(9) the applicants' ability to give and
				  receive affection;
(10) the
				  applicants' child-caring skills and willingness to acquire additional skills
				  needed for the child's development;
(11) the applicants' ability to provide for
				  the child's physical and emotional needs;
(12) whether the applicant has ever been
				  convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation;
(13) the strengths and needs of birth
				  children or previously adopted children,
(14) the applicant's physical and mental
				  health, including any addiction to alcohol or drugs;
(15) financial information provided by the
				  applicant, including property and income;
(16) the applicants' personal character
				  references;
(17) the applicant's
				  religious orientation, if any;
(18)
				  the location and physical environment of the home;
(19) the plan for child care if parents
				  work;
(20) recommendations for
				  adoption in regard to the number, age, sex, characteristics, and special needs
				  of children who could be best served by the family;
(21) any previous request for an assessment
				  or involvement in an adoptive placement and the outcome of the assessment or
				  placement;
(22) whether the
				  individual has ever been a respondent in a domestic violence proceeding or a
				  proceeding concerning a minor who was allegedly abused, neglected, dependent,
				  undisciplined or delinquent, and the outcome of the proceeding or whether the
				  individual has been found to have abused or neglected a child or has been a
				  respondent in a juvenile court proceeding that resulted in the removal of a
				  child or has had child protective services involvement that resulted in the
				  removal of a child;
(23)
				  documentation of the results of the search of the Responsible Individual's List
				  as defined in
				  10A NCAC
				  70A .0102 for all adult members of the
				  household that indicates they have not had child protective services
				  involvement resulting in a substantiation of child abuse or serious
				  neglect;
(24) documentation of the
				  results of Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry Checks of states where the
				  applicant has resided the past five years;
(25) whether the applicant has located a
				  parent interested in placing a child for adoption with the applicant, and a
				  brief, non identifying description of the parent and the child;
(26) the applicants' age, date of birth,
				  nationality, race or ethnicity;
(27) the applicant's marital and family
				  status and history, including the presence of any children born to or adopted
				  by the applicant, and any other children in the household;
(28) the applicant's educational and
				  employment history and any special skills; and
(29) any additional fact or circumstance that
				  may be relevant to a determination of the applicant's suitability to be an
				  adoptive parent, including the quality of the home environment and the level of
				  functioning of any children in the household.
When any of the information listed in this Paragraph is not
					 reasonably available, the preplacement assessment shall state why the
					 information is unavailable.