Legal Basis For Licensing

(1) GENERAL: The legal basis for licensing is contained in T.C.A. §§71-3-501 et seq. (2) DEFINITIONS: (a) Child- a person under 17 years of age. (b) Commissioner- The Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. (c) Department- The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. (d) Emergency Shelter Care-Care available on a 24 hour basis. Its purpose is to provide care for children in emergency cases. The length of care should not extend beyond 30 days. In rare instances where longer care is required, the reason should be documented in the case record. (e) Law- Tennessee Code Annotated §§71-3-501 et seq. (f) License- A yearly permit issued to a Group Care or Family Boarding Home giving care to children. Licensing is based on meeting required standards developed and published by the Department. (g) Group Care Home- The home operated by any person, agency, corporation or institution or any group which receives seven or more children under 17 years of age for full-time care outside their own homes in facilities owned or rented and operated by the organization. (h) Family Boarding Home- A home operated by any person society, agency, or facility, whether incorporated or not, which provides full-time care for two or more children under 17 years of age who are not related to such person and whose parents and guardians are not residents of the same house for supervision, care, lodging and maintenance with or without transfer of legal custody. (i) Staff- Full-time and part-time employees. (3) BASIS FOR APPROVAL FOR LICENSE: All child welfare agencies as defined in T.C.A. §71-3-501 shall be licensed annually by the Department, said license to be based on standards developed and published for each child welfare agency in accordance with the following six (6) points of excellence: (a) The present need for the proposed child welfare agency; (b) The good character and intention of the applicant; (c) The adequate financing of the organization; (d) The capability, training, and experience of the workers employed; (e) The facilities for and the methods of care provided, and the consideration of the best interest of the child and the welfare of society in any placements of children to be made; and STANDARDS FOR GROUP CARE HOMES CHAPTER 0250-4-2 AND FAMILY BOARDING HOMES (f) The probability of permanence of the child welfare agency. (4) LICENSING PROCEDURE: (a) Application for license shall be made to the Department upon blanks furnished by it together with a processing fee of $10. Upon receipt of the application for a license, the Department shall issue such child welfare agency a conditional license which shall be valid for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of issuance; provided, that the staff and facility do not present any apparent hazards to any children that may be in care and that the facility has received fire safety and environmental sanitation approval. At the end of the ninety (90) day period, upon evidence provided by the applicant/licensee that such child welfare agency is suitable and property managed as such, the Department shall issue such agency a license which shall be valid for a period of one (1) year; provided, however, such license may at any time be revoked by the Department upon ninety (90) day notice being given to the licensee, or such license may be immediately suspended by the Department, as provided by law, if the public health, safety, or welfare imperatively so requires. (b) When an application for a license has been denied or a license has been revoked on one (1) occasion, the agency may not reapply for a period of sixty (60) days from the date of the denial or revocation. If such license has been denied or revoked on two (2) occasions, the agency may not reapply for a period of six (6) months from the date of denial or revocation. If such license has been denied or revoked on three (3) or more occasions, the agency may not reapply for a period of twelve (12) months from the date of denial or revocation. The Department may waive the time restrictions herein upon a showing that the agency corrected the deficiencies which led to the denial or revocation. For purposes of this chapter, the “date of denial or revocation”, in cases where an appeal has been filed, shall mean the date on which any final administrative or judicial order has been entered finally determining the appeal. (c) Upon written notice to the applicant that a request for a license has been denied, such applicant may request a hearing before the Board of Review. Such request must be made in writing and must be filed within ten (10) days of the mailing date of the notice of denial. Such hearing must be granted at the next regular meeting of said Board of Review provided, however, that no longer than sixty (60) days shall elapse after such request and before such hearing. (d) If a license is issued, revocation can be had at any time before expiration date upon ninety (90) days notice by the Commissioner of the Department, such notice to contain a statement of causes for revocation. The licensee may, upon a written request filed within 10 days of the mailing of the notice of revocation, receive a hearing before the Board of Review; provided that such review shall be within the ninety (90) day period set out in the notice of revocation. Provided, however, that any conduct or conditions which might jeopardize, the safety of children shall be grounds or cause for immediate suspension of the license pending the outcome of revocation procedures. (e) Any child welfare agency, as defined in T.C.A. §71-3-501, operating without being so licensed by the Department shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be imprisoned not more than six (6) months and fined not more than five hundred ($500) dollars, or both. Each day of operation without a license shall constitute a separate offense. (f) It shall be the duty of the Department, through its duly authorized agents, to inspect at regular intervals without previous notice, all child welfare agencies as defined in T.C.A. §71-3-501, within the State. It is given right of entrance, privilege of inspection, access to accounts and records, information regarding the whereabouts of children under care for the purpose of ascertaining the kind and quality of work done to obtain a proper basis for its decisions and recommendations. Any violation of the rights given in this section shall be a misdemeanor. (g) Notwithstanding the provisions of T.C.A. §71-3-527, the Department shall have the following authority and responsibilities in any case in which the Department receives a report of harm in accordance with Part 4. or Part 6. of Chapter I of Title 37 of T.C.A. STANDARDS FOR GROUP CARE HOMES CHAPTER 0250-4-2 AND FAMILY BOARDING HOMES 1. The Department shall have the authority and responsibility to fully investigate, in accordance with the provisions of Part 4. or Part 6. of Chapter 1, Title 37 of T.C.A. any allegation of abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse which it receives regarding any child or children in the care of any agency or person whether or not such agency or person is subject to licensure hereunder. In the conduct of such investigation, the Department shall be granted access to the records of a children in the care of the person or agency and personnel files of the director and all employees of the person or agency, shall be allowed to inspect all premises in which children are kept or cared for, and shall be allowed to interview any and all children in the care of such person or agency if the Department determines such interviews are necessary. 2. If the Department determines that abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse has occurred and the person or agency fails to take appropriate action to prevent future abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse the Department shall take such action as may be necessary to revoke, suspend, or deny the agency’s license, If the person or agency is not licensed or not subject to licensure, the Department may proceed to bring an action in the Chancery Court of the county of the defendant’s residence or the county in which the abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse occurred to enjoin the person or agency or any individual found by the Department to have been responsible for the abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse from continuing to provide care for children on a full-time or part-time basis. (5) PUBLIC AGENCIES: Any child welfare agency, as defined by T.C.A. 71-3-501, which is under management of an administrative department of the state, a county or municipality, or any combination of these three, shall not be subject to license but shall meet the minimum standards of program and care as required of such child welfare agencies. The Commissioner of the Department, through his authorized agent, shall make periodic inspections of such public administrative child welfare agencies. The report of such inspec tions and recommendations shall be made privately to the executive head of the public administrative child welfare agency, the Board of Directors, if any, and/or the Division of the State, County, or Municipal Govern ment which has the duty under the law to operate such agency. It shall be the duty of the Department to cooperate with the public administrative agencies herein referred to, to the end that such recommended changes in program and policies can be adopted. If within a reasonable time, such standards and recommendations are not met, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of the Department to make public in the community in which this agency is located, the report of the above-mentioned inspection. If any serious abuses, derelic tion, or deficiencies are found and are not corrected within a reasonable time, the same shall be reported in writing to the next session of the legislature. (6) PLACEMENT IN TEMPORARY HOMES OR FOR ADOPTION: Private individuals including midwives, physicians, nurses, hospital officials, lawyers, and the officials of any non-chartered and/or non-licensed child caring institution, child placing agency, or maternity home, are forbidden to engage in placing children for temporary care or for adoption. Violation of this restriction shall be punishable by imprisonment for eleven (11) months, twenty-nine (29) days or a fine not to exceed twenty-five hundred ($2,500) dollars, or both. (7) AMENDED ADOPTION LAW: No person, corporation, or agency except the Department of Children’s Services or an agency licensed by the Department as a child-placing agency shall engage in placing children for adoption; provided, however, this section shall not be construed to prohibit any person from advising a natural or prospective adoptive parents of the availability of adoption or from acting as an agent for the natural or prospective adoptive parents in making necessary arrangements for adoption so long as no fees are charged for such service other than the usual and customary legal and medical fees in connection with the birth of the child and the legal proceedings relative to adoption. Any court of competent jurisdiction, upon the filing of a verified bill for injunction by the State of Tennessee, on behalf of the State Department of Children’s Services or by an agency, or by any person aggrieved, may temporarily enjoin or restrain any person, corporation, or agency, from engaging or attempting to engage in placing children for adoption in violation or threatened violation, Part I., Chapter 1, of Title 36 of the T.C.A. relative to adoption, and upon final STANDARDS FOR GROUP CARE HOMES CHAPTER 0250-4-2 AND FAMILY BOARDING HOMES hearing, if the court determines that there has been a violation, or threatened violation, thereof, the injunction shall be made permanent.