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 family can accept for a number of reasons. By limiting 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) No foster child under the age of 12 will
be placed in a home where a Rottweiler, Pit Bull or German Shepard dog, or a
mixture of the these three breeds, is maintained on the premises of a
foster/pre-adoptive home, unless the Department after review determines that
such a placement is in the best interest of the child(ren), except for a dog
which is being used as a service animal for a household member whose disability
has been verified.
In reviewing a request for the placement of a child under the
age of 12 in a foster/pre-adoptive home that maintains a Rottweiler, Pit Bull,
or German Shepherd, or a mixture of these three breeds, on the premises the
Department shall contact the animal control officer in any town where the
animal has been maintained and the Department may consider, but is not limited
to, the following factors:
(a) Any
prior relationship between the child and the dog;
(b) The age, sex and size of the
child;
(c) The age, sex and size of
the dog;
(d) Whether the dog has
been neutered;
(e) Any prior
incidents of dangerous behavior/incidents by the dog;
(f) Behavioral aspects of the
child(ren);
(g) Number of dogs on
the premises; and
(h) Whether the
dog is penned or caged at anytime, and if so, under what circumstance and for
what purpose.
The Department reserves the right to request that a
foster/pre-adoptive parent applicant or foster/pre-adoptive parent obtain and
provide a copy of a behavior/temperament assessment and/or provide veterinary
records on any animal maintained on the premises used as a foster/pre-adoptive
home. The cost of the behavior/temperament assessment will be borne by the
foster/pre-adoptive parent or applicant.
