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QUESTIONS ABOUT LICENSING |
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Q: Why must Foster Homes be licensed?A: State regulations require that foster parents be licensed. This is to insure that the home meets health and safety standards. Relatives and family members are exempt from licensure, although they must meet the same requirements as licensed foster parents.
Q: Who actually issues the license?A: Sacramento County Foster Care Licensing provides licensing service and issues the license. The licensing regulations are established in the California Administrative Code and are supplemented by local regulations.
Q: Could you describe the licensing process, step-by-step?A: The typical license application is processed as follows:
- The prospective applicant attends an Orientation Meeting and obtains an application packet. (Please see Questions about the Application for the contents of an application packet.)
- Fill out the forms according to the instructions in the packet and send to the appropriate persons or agencies (i.e., DMV, Department of Justice, etc.) In addition, you will need to name four (4) character references from persons not your relatives who know you well. When the application is processed, the people you named as references will receive a form they must complete and return to us.
- Once the forms are completed, they are mailed back to our office.
- The Intake Worker receives all new applications and reviews them for completeness and possible problems such as criminal history, health-related problems and income.
- If there are no problems with the application, you will receive a confirmation letter with the dates and times of the first three Pre-Service Trainings. In order to obtain your license, you will need to attend the following training:
a. Pre-Service 1 (covers Foster Parent Handbook, regulations pertaining to Foster Parenting, etc.)
b. Pre-Service 2 (covers benefits and services available)
c. Pre-Service 3 (covers Cultural Diversity and self-esteem)
d. Pre-Service 4/5 (covers the adoption process, concurrent planning, placement matching criteria, myths and facts of substance abused children, stages of grief and loss and dealing with stress)
e. Pre-Service 5/6 (covers bonding and attachment, the needs/trust cycle, children at risk for attachment difficulties, drug exposure and attachment, and qualities of successful parents)
f. Pre-Service 6/7 (covers the adoption home study process and features a panel of guest speakers which includes successful adoptive parents)
g. Defensive Foster Parenting
h. CPR & First Aid Training
- After you attend the first three Pre-Service Trainings, Defensive Foster Parenting and First Aid/CPR, you will have an appointment for a Home Inspection with the Licensing Evaluator assigned to you. The evaluator will come to your home and assist you in making sure everything is in compliance with licensing regulations. The Evaluator can discuss licensing regulations with you and explain any rules you do not understand. Before leaving your home, the Evaluator will explain any needed corrections and the timeframe in which the necessary corrections must be made. The Evaluator will also leave a business card with you so you can call the Evaluator directly with any questions or concerns.
- All done – you are now fully licensed and ready to receive placements.Once you are licensed, you are expected to attend at least 12 hours of training per year. You will receive notification by mail of available classes. If you attend Foster Parent Association Meetings, you can receive credit for 1 hour of training per month.
Q: I want to adopt a child. Do I still need to obtain a foster home license?A: Yes. Persons who wish to adopt a child must be licensed if the child is not related to them.
Q: I want to care for a child who is related to me. Would I still need to be licensed?A: No, you do not need to be licensed to care for a child who is related to you. Relatives are defined as:
- a) A person related to the child by birth or adoption who, regardless of whether the parent's rights to the child have been terminated or relinquished, is one of the following:
Parent, sibling, half-sibling, nephew, niece.
Grandparent, uncle, aunt, first cousin.
Great-grandparent, great uncle, great aunt.
Great-great-grandparent; or
- b) Stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister; or
- The spouse of any person named in (a) or (b) above, even after the marriage has been terminated by death or dissolution.
Q: What is the cost of securing a license?A: No licensing fee is charged for any home caring for six (6) or less children. You will need to furnish, at your own expense, a medical statement based on an examination from your own doctor, showing you are free of contagious diseases and physically able to care for children. Forms are provided by the Foster Home Licensing Unit for your doctor’s statement. Each member of the household who is 18 years of age and older must have an approved tuberculin test or a chest x-ray at the time of the initial application. This can be obtained from the County Health Department.
Q: Who is allowed to take care of foster children when the foster parents are not home?A: Persons who are themselves licensed foster parents, licensed day care providers, alternate caretakers cleared through Foster Home Licensing, or who have been certified through the State may care for foster children. If the caretaker is a licensed foster parent, licensed day care operator or certified through a foster family agency (FFA), the foster child may be cared for in that person's home. Otherwise, a person cleared through Foster Home Licensing must care for the foster child in the foster parent's home.
Q: What is a Licensing Evaluator?A: A Licensing Evaluator is a social worker who connects the foster parent with the foster care system. The job of the Licensing Evaluator is not just to decide whether a foster parent is licensed or not, but to help the foster parent understand what is necessary to obtain and renew a license.
Q: How many foster children could we care for at any one time?A: Each child needs individual love and care from the foster parents. For that reason the number of foster children in the home shall not exceed six.
An infant needs lots of individual attention from the foster parents for his normal development. Therefore, the number of infants under two years of age, including infants of the foster family, must be strictly limited to two.
Q: Is my license transferable from state to state?A: No
Q: Is on-going education or training required for the foster parent?A: Yes. During each year of licensure, foster parents are required to complete initial and on-going training related to foster parenting and/or child development.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE APPLICATION | QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CARETAKER | QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HOME | QUESTIONS ABOUT PLACEMENT | RETURN TO MAIN FOSTER HOME LICENSING PAGE
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