Standards for Licensure of Foster/Pre-adoptive Homes

In order to be licensed as a foster/pre-adoptive parent, a foster/pre-adoptive parent applicant must live in a home which meets the requirements of 102 CMR 5.10(4) and the following requirements: (1) The home must be clean; safe; free of obvious fire and other hazards; and of sufficient size to accommodate comfortably and appropriately all members of the household and the approved number of foster/pre-adoptive children. (2) The home must have safe and adequate lighting, ventilation, hot and cold water supply, plumbing, electricity, and heat. (3) The home must be furnished with a refrigerator and cooking stove in safe, working condition. (4) No foster child over one year of age shall share a bedroom with an adult, except if the foster children had been sharing a bedroom in the foster home prior to their 18th birthday and one of the children turns 18 years of age. (5) The home must have sufficient furniture to allow each child to sleep in a separate bed and to have adequate storage space for his or her personal belongings. (6) No foster child over four years of age, except for siblings up to age eight, shall share a bedroom with a child of the opposite sex. (7) The home must have bedrooms which provide at least 50 square feet per child, except the Department may waive this requirement for kinship homes if the bedrooms provide at least 35 square feet per child, and shall accommodate no more than four children per bedroom. (8) No bedroom to be used by foster children shall be located above the second floor unless any such floor has two safe means of egress. (9) No bedroom to be used by foster children shall be located below the first floor unless it contains a ground level, standard door exit and at least one operable window. (10) Each floor of the home, including the basement, shall be equipped with smoke detectors in working order. (11) If the home uses well water, it shall be tested and determined safe, and a report of the test shall be furnished to the Department. (12) No more than four foster children shall reside in the foster/pre-adoptive home at any one time, and at no time shall the total number of children residing in the foster/pre-adoptive home exceed six. Of the total of six children being cared for in the foster/pre-adoptive home, up to two children may be age 24 months or younger; however, only one child may be age one month or younger, provided, however: (a) The Regional Director whose area office oversees the foster/pre-adoptive home may authorize additional children to be placed in a foster/pre-adoptive home under the following circumstances, as long as the total number of foster children in the foster home does not exceed six and the total number of children in the home does not exceed eight: 1. in the event of a multiple birth to allow siblings under the age of one month to be placed together; or 2. for an emergency short-term placement in a Hotline, respite, or family child care home; or 3. to place siblings together; or 4. for the replacement of a foster/pre-adoptive child in a foster/pre-adoptive home where she or he previously resided; or 5. to place siblings together where one sibling is already residing in the foster/ pre-adoptive home; or 6. to place siblings together where one or more of the siblings has a previously established relationship with the foster/pre-adoptive home. A capacity waiver for reasons 110 CMR 7.105(12)(a)1., 2., or 3. is not permitted unless there are no more than three foster children in the home and no more than five children in the home at the time the waiver is granted. (b) The Commissioner/designee may authorize the placement of additional children in a foster/pre-adoptive home over the 4/6 limits outlined above for any reason other than the reasons listed in 110 CMR 7.104(12)(a) when the placement of a child(ren) is in the best interest of the child(ren) and the Commissioner/designee has received a recommendation of a Department clinical review team and consulted with professionals or others involved with the child(ren). The Department may limit the number of children placed in a foster/pre-adoptive home during the first six months a home is licensed. For the purpose of 110 CMR 7.000, the Department includes in the four/six limits any youth over the age of 18 who is in the Department's care or custody unless the youth receives care and maintenance payments directly. Commentary: The Department establishes capacity limits regarding the maximum number of foster/pre-adoptive children a familycan accept for a number of reasons. Bylimiting the number of children placed with a foster/pre-adoptive family, the Department seeks to ensure that the family is able to meet each placed child's needs as well as those of other household members. The Department is particularly concerned that the family is able to meet these needs on the sustained, intensive level required when caring for children who have been abused or neglected, while carrying out their other responsibilities in this important partnership role. (13) Any home which is used for family childcare must be in compliance with the requirements of the EEC, as set forth in 102 CMR 8.07 through 8.09. (14) The home may not have any household member, frequent visitor or alternative caretaker, who would, in the judgment of the Department, pose a threat of abuse or neglect to foster children placed in the home, or who would impede or prevent the provision of adequate foster care in the foster home. (15) The home must be equipped with a telephone in working order for both incoming and outgoing calls. (16) Any firearm located in the home shall be licensed and registered in accordance with state law and shall be trigger-locked or fully inoperable, and stored without ammunition in a locked area. Ammunition shall be stored in a separate locked area. (17) Any pet/animal maintained on the premises of the foster/pre-adoptive home must have up to date vaccinations, rabies shots, and be licensed in accordance with the municipality in which the pet/animal is maintained. (18) If the safety or well-being of foster children may be impacted by an animal's presence in the foster/pre-adoptive home, the Department shall follow M.G.L. c. 119, § 26D.