Prohibition of Employee Conflicts in the Placement and Care of Children

Section 437 Section 437.70  Prohibition of Employee Conflicts in the Placement and Care of Children a)         No employee shall take a child for whom the Department is legally responsible to the employee's residence, or in any way be involved in arranging or facilitating the transportation of such a child to the employee's residence, unless: 1)         the employee is a licensed foster parent or unlicensed relative caregiver and the child has been placed with the employee for foster care or adoption purposes.  Placement of a child with an employee must be approved by the administrator responsible for the region or the private agency administrator responsible for case management and documented in writing; 2)         the person responsible for the day to day care of the child has consented to the child's visit to the employee's residence or has authorized the employee to transport the child in-state, and the employee's supervisor has given prior written approval for this activity (for purposes of transportation, the employee has a valid driver's license, insurance as required by law, and uses appropriate child safety restraint devices); 3)         a child age 16 or over has been placed in a transitional or independent living arrangement, supervised by a different employee or another agency, the child is residing in an apartment or other separate unit of the building where the employee resides, and the employee's supervisor has given prior written approval for this activity; or 4)         the administrator responsible for the region has approved the child staying overnight at the employee's residence because of inclement weather or other emergency.  Verbal approval by the administrator must be confirmed in writing the next business day. b)         If an employee believes that his or her professional involvement with a client may be compromised for any reason, the employee shall immediately seek direction from his or her immediate supervisor.  Reassignment of the case may resolve the conflict of interest.  Examples of professional involvement that may pose a conflict of interest include, but are not limited to, the existence of a social friendship between the employee and the client, hostile interaction between the employee and client, and personal bias or animus between the client and employee.