Iowa Code
Chapter 237 - CHILD FOSTER CARE FACILITIES
Section 237.3 - Rules.

237.3 Rules.
1. Except as otherwise provided by subsections 3 and 4, the administrator shall promulgate, after their adoption by the council on human services, and enforce in accordance with chapter 17A, administrative rules necessary to implement this chapter. Formulation of the rules shall include consultation with representatives of child foster care providers, and other persons affected by this chapter. The rules shall encourage the provision of child foster care in a single-family, home environment, exempting the single-family, home facility from inappropriate rules.
2. Rules applicable to licensees shall include but are not limited to:
a. Types of facilities which include but are not limited to group foster care facilities and family foster care homes.
b. The number, qualifications, character, and parenting ability of personnel necessary to assure the health, safety and welfare of children receiving child foster care.
c. Programs for education and in-service training of personnel.
d. The physical environment of a facility.
e. Policies for intake, assessment, admission and discharge.
f. Housing, health, safety, and medical care policies for children receiving child foster care. The medical care policies shall include but are not limited to all of the following:
(1) Provision by the department to the foster care provider at or before the time of a child’s placement of the child’s health records and any other information possessed or known about the health of the child or about a member of the child’s family that pertains to the child’s health.
(2) If the health records supplied in accordance with the child’s case permanency plan to the foster care provider are incomplete or the provider requests specific health information, provision for obtaining additional health information from the child’s parent or other source and supplying the additional information to the foster care provider.
(3) Provision for emergency health coverage of the child while the child is engaged in temporary out-of-state travel with the child’s foster family.
g. (1) The adequacy of programs available to children receiving child foster care provided by agencies, including but not limited to:
(a) Dietary services.
(b) Social services.
(c) Activity programs.
(d) Behavior management procedures.
(e) Educational programs, including special education as defined in section 256B.2, subsection 1, paragraph “b”, where appropriate, which are approved by the state board of education.
(2) The department shall not promulgate rules which regulate individual licensees in the subject areas enumerated in this paragraph “g”.
h. Policies for involvement of biological parents.
i. Records a licensee is required to keep, and reports a licensee is required to make to the administrator.
j. Prior to the licensing of an individual as a foster family home, a required, written social assessment of the quality of the living situation in the home of the individual, and a required compilation of personal references for the individual other than those references given by the individual.
k. Elements of a foster care placement agreement outlining rights and responsibilities associated with an individual providing family foster care. The rights and responsibilities shall include but are not limited to all of the following:
(1) Receiving information prior to the child’s placement regarding risk factors concerning the child that are known to the department, including but not limited to notice if the child is required to register under chapter 692A.
(2) Having regularly scheduled meetings with each case manager assigned to the child.
(3) Receiving access to any reports prepared by a service provider who is working with the child unless the access is prohibited by state or federal law.
3. Rules governing fire safety in facilities with child foster care provided by agencies shall be promulgated by the state fire marshal pursuant to section 100.1, subsection 5 after consultation with the administrator.
4. Rules governing sanitation, water and waste disposal standards for facilities shall be promulgated by the Iowa department of public health pursuant to section 135.11, subsection 12, after consultation with the administrator.
5. In case of a conflict between rules promulgated pursuant to subsections 3 and 4 and local rules, the more stringent requirement applies.
6. Rules of the department shall not prohibit the licensing, as foster family homes, of individuals who are departmental employees not directly engaged in the administration of the child foster care program pursuant to this chapter.
7. If an agency is accredited by the joint commission on the accreditation of health care organizations under the commission’s consolidated standards for residential settings or by the council on accreditation of services for families and children, the department shall modify facility licensure standards applied to the agency in order to avoid duplicating standards applied through accreditation.
8. The department, in consultation with the judicial branch, the division of criminal and juvenile justice planning of the department of human rights, residential treatment providers, the foster care provider association, and other parties which may be affected, shall review the licensing rules pertaining to residential treatment facilities, and examine whether the rules allow the facilities to accept and provide effective treatment to juveniles with serious problems who might not otherwise be placed in those facilities.
9. The department shall adopt rules specifying the elements of a preadoptive care agreement outlining the rights and responsibilities associated with a person providing preadoptive care, as defined in section 232.2.
10. The department shall adopt rules to administer the exception to the definition of child care in section 237A.1, subsection 3, paragraph “l”, allowing a child care facility, for purposes of providing respite care to a foster family home, to provide care, supervision, or guidance of a child for a period of twenty-four hours or more who is placed with the licensed foster family home.
[C27, 31, 35, §3661-a52; C39, §3661.066; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, §237.11; C81, §237.3]
83 Acts, ch 96, §157, 159; 89 Acts, ch 283, §26; 90 Acts, ch 1023, §1; 92 Acts, ch 1231, §39; 93 Acts, ch 172, §40; 94 Acts, ch 1046, §5; 97 Acts, ch 164, §5, 6; 98 Acts, ch 1047, §25; 2001 Acts, ch 105, §1, 2, 4; 2002 Acts, ch 1102, §1, 2; 2006 Acts, ch 1160, §2; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §241; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §232; 2010 Acts, ch 1193, §115, 116
Referred to in §135H.4, 135H.6
2006 amendment to subsection 2, paragraph k, may be cited as the “Foster Parents Bill of Rights”;
2006 Acts, ch 1160, §1