New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 18 - DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES › Chapter II - Regulations of the Department of Social Services › Subchapter C - Social Services › Article 2 - Family and Children's Services › Part 435 - Respite Care and Services for Families and Foster Families › Section 435.6 - Approval of individual providers of respite care and services for families

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a)
			 Individual providers of respite care and services for families who are not also
			 foster family boarding home providers or emergency foster family boarding home
			 providers or individual providers certified or approved by the Office of Mental
			 Health or the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to
			 care for children must be persons approved by the social services district, or
			 by a voluntary authorized agency or preventive services agency on behalf of the
			 district, in accordance with the local standards and criteria for the approval
			 of such individual providers developed by the social services district pursuant
			 to this section.
(b) Local
			 standards for the approval of individual providers of respite care and services
			 for families must include, but are not limited to, the following criteria:
(1) completion of a background review and
			 evaluation, including employment history, personal and employment references
			 and relevant child-caring experience;
(2) interviews with individual providers to
			 assess their capability to care for children;
(3) consideration of the general health of
			 the prospective provider of respite care and services and each member of the
			 prospective provider's household to ascertain that there are no health needs or
			 problems that could negatively affect the provider's ability to care for a
			 child under his or her supervision;
(4) for each individual provider to be
			 approved to care for children with AIDS, HIV infection or HIV-related illness,
			 documentation that:
(i) the provider has
			 experience caring for children with AIDS, HIV infection or HIV-related illness;
			 or
(ii) the provider has received
			 training to care for children with AIDS, HIV infection or HIV-related illness;
			 or
(iii) the provider will receive,
			 at the same time as the provider is caring for children with AIDS, HIV
			 infection or HIV-related illness, training in caring for such
			 children;
(5) an inquiry
			 to the department whether a prospective provider of respite care and services
			 or any person 18 years of age or older residing in a prospective provider's
			 home is the subject of an indicated report of child abuse or maltreatment on
			 file with the State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment:
(i) Prior to making an inquiry to the
			 department, the social services district must notify, in the form prescribed by
			 the department, the person who will be the subject of the inquiry that such an
			 inquiry will be made.
(ii) If the
			 person about whom the agency has made an inquiry is found to be the subject of
			 an indicated report of abuse or maltreatment, the district must determine
			 whether to approve such person as a provider of respite care and services in
			 accordance with guidelines developed and determined by the department, except
			 that any district which had guidelines for the review of persons who are
			 subjects of indicated reports of child abuse or maltreatment in use prior to
			 January 1, 1986 may continue to use the district guidelines in making the
			 required determination. Whenever a person who is the subject of an indicated
			 report of child abuse or maltreatment is approved to be a provider of respite
			 care and services, the district must maintain a written record, as a part of
			 the application for the person, of the specific reason(s) why such person was
			 determined to be appropriate and acceptable as an approved provider of respite
			 care and services.
(iii) If a
			 denial of an applicant to be a provider of respite care and services is based
			 in whole or in part on the existence of an indicated report of child abuse or
			 maltreatment, the district must provide a written statement to such applicant
			 indicating that such denial was based in whole or in part on the existence of
			 the indicated report and the reasons for the denial. The written statement must
			 also include, in the form prescribed by the department, written notification to
			 the person who is the subject of the indicated report that:
(a) he or she has a right, pursuant to
			 section 424-a  of the Social Services Law, to
			 request a hearing before the department regarding the record maintained in the
			 State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment;
(b) a request for such a hearing must be made
			 within 90 days of the receipt of the notice indicating that the denial was
			 based in whole or in part on the existence of the indicated report;
			 and
(c) the sole issue at any such
			 hearing will be whether the person who is the subject of the indicated report
			 has been shown by a fair preponderance of the evidence to have committed the
			 act or acts of child abuse or maltreatment giving rise to the indicated
			 report.
(iv) If in a
			 hearing held pursuant to a request made in accordance with subparagraph (iii)
			 of this paragraph and section 424-a  of the Social Services Law the
			 department fails to show by a fair preponderance of the evidence that the
			 person who is the subject of the indicated report of child abuse or
			 maltreatment committed the act or acts upon which the indicated report is
			 based, the department will notify the social services district which made the
			 inquiry to the department that, pursuant to the hearing decision, the
			 district's decision to deny approval of the person as a provider of respite
			 care and services should be reconsidered. Upon receiving such notification, the
			 district must review its decision without considering the indicated
			 report;
(6) an inquiry
			 to the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs whether a
			 prospective provider of respite care and services or any person 18 years of age
			 or older residing in a prospective provider's home is listed on the Vulnerable
			 Persons' Central Register. If the person about whom the agency has made an
			 inquiry is found to be listed on the Vulnerable Persons' Central Register, the
			 district must determine whether to approve such person as a provider of respite
			 care and services. Whenever a person who is listed on the Vulnerable Persons'
			 Central Register is approved to be a provider of respite care and services, the
			 district must maintain a written record, as part of the application for the
			 person, of the specific reason(s) why such person was determined to be
			 appropriate and acceptable as an approved provider of respite care and
			 services; and
(7) where respite
			 care and services are to be provided by an individual provider in the
			 provider's own home, an assessment of the suitability of the home conducted
			 according to standards developed by the social services district in order to
			 assure that the home:
(i) is free of fire or
			 safety hazards;
(ii) is clean and
			 sanitary; and
(iii) has adequate
			 space and furnishings to care for a child receiving respite care and
			 services.