Care and treatment of children: General requirements.

1. A foster home shall: (a) Provide a safe, stable and nurturing environment. (b) Encourage a child’s autonomy, respect a child’s privacy and consider a child’s preferences or choices when providing care, supervision, guidance or instruction. (c) Provide care that is respectful toward the beliefs, interpersonal styles, attitudes, behaviors and culture of a child and his or her family. (d) Employ direct care staff who are knowledgeable about and understanding of children who have greater physical or emotional needs. (e) Provide effective supervision and employ staff who possess the vitality, interest and understanding to meet the needs of a child in the care of the foster home. Prospective staff must be selected based upon their ability to care for a foster child with consideration of the ages and needs of any other children in the care of the foster home. (f) Employ staff who have the ability to work with and guide a child within a group setting or individually. Staff must possess the physical and emotional health to carry out the responsibilities of caring for a child. (g) Work cooperatively with the agency which provides child welfare services, teachers and other professionals to meet the needs of a child. (h) Accurately observe and record each child’s progress in the foster home. (i) Provide care, training and guidance to the children in its care and assist those children in learning to control inappropriate patterns of behavior. (j) Cooperate with the agency which provides child welfare services to ensure that children placed in the foster home receive quality, nurturing parenting and are able to experience normalcy in their daily lives. (k) Ensure that all decisions concerning children are made using the reasonable and prudent parent standard in the manner prescribed in NAC 424.573 and in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and chapter 424 of NRS. (l) Comply with all requirements of NRS 432.500 to 432.550 , inclusive. 2. The foster home shall plan activities that provide for and stimulate social relationships, creative activities and hobbies. Children must be afforded an opportunity to participate in neighborhood, school and other community groups appropriate to the age and needs of each child, which may include, without limitation: (a) Activities that promote leisure or play; (b) Activities that promote self-expression and communication; (c) Appropriate physical exercise to encourage development of gross and fine motor skills; (d) Activities to encourage mental or intellectual stimulation and development; (e) Activities appropriate to the child’s ethnicity or culture; (f) Indoor and outdoor recreational activities; (g) Activities that promote appropriate socialization and relationships with others; and (h) Activities that promote normalcy for the child. 3. The foster parent must be nonjudgmental regarding the child’s parents and the family of the child. 4. The foster parent shall: (a) Assist the agency which provides child welfare services with transporting the child to necessary appointments, meetings or other required travel. (b) Attend any appointment related to the health of the child with the child unless other arrangements are approved by the caseworker of the child. 5. The foster parent shall assist the agency which provides child welfare services to ensure that the child is provided with ongoing visitation and contact with siblings or other family members, if requested by the caseworker of the child. 6. The foster home shall see that each child observes curfew and all other requirements specified by law. 7. Smoking is prohibited in a foster home, in a vehicle used to transport foster children and in the direct presence of foster children. 8. The foster parent and direct care staff shall treat all children, including, without limitation, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning children in the same respectful and nonjudgmental manner to ensure that all children feel safe and welcome in the foster home. 9. The foster parent and direct care staff shall ensure that the culture within the foster home maintains the dignity of every foster child and that discrimination or threatened or actual harassment of a foster child is responded to promptly and appropriately. 10. The foster parent and direct care staff shall reinforce respect regarding differences among children, encourage self-esteem building and assist foster children in overcoming any stigma associated with such differences. 11. Except as otherwise provided in NAC 424.485 , the foster parent and direct care staff shall maintain the confidentiality of a foster child in the care of that foster home concerning the gender identity or expression or sexual orientation of the foster child and shall not disclose the gender identity or expression or sexual orientation of the foster child without the consent of the foster child. 12. The foster parent and direct care staff shall allow and respect a foster child’s gender identity or expression with regard to the foster child’s choice of clothing, hairstyle, makeup and jewelry or other accessories as are appropriate for the foster child’s age and development. 13. The foster parent and direct care staff shall address a foster child by the name and pronoun preferred by the foster child, whether or not the name and pronoun conform to the foster child’s assigned sex at birth, and honor the foster child’s wishes with regard to the times and places in which the foster child wishes to be addressed by that preferred name and pronoun or in another manner.