26 Tex. Admin. Code § 749.2551 - What is the maximum number of children a foster family home may care for?
(a) A one-parent foster
family home with one additional full-time, live-in caregiver or a two-parent
foster family home may care for up to six children, except as noted in the
chart below:
(b) A
one-parent foster family home with one additional full-time, live-in caregiver
or a two-parent foster family home may care for seven or eight children if all
of the following criteria are met:
(1) Each
foster or adoptive child that you place in the home that expands the home's
capacity to more than six children is placed in the home for the purpose of
allowing:
(A) Siblings to remain
together;
(B) A child with an
established meaningful relationship with the foster family (including a
relative or close family friend) to remain with the family;
(C) A parenting youth in care to remain with
the child of the parenting youth; or
(D) A family with special training or skills
to provide care to a child who has a severe disability;
(2) The foster family home cares for a
maximum of two infants and two more children less than six years old, unless
the placement is necessary to maintain a sibling group of children;
(3) The foster family home cares for a
maximum of three children with primary medical needs requiring total care,
unless the placement is necessary to maintain a sibling group of
children;
(4) You complete a Foster
Family Home Capacity Exception Form with the appropriate signatures and place
the form in the foster family home record; and
(5) After you complete the exception form,
you lower the home's capacity each time a child listed on the form leaves the
home until the home's capacity does not exceed six. This applies to both a
foster child that leaves and a child who was placed in the home to be adopted
leaves without the adoption being consummated.
(c) A one-parent foster family home or
two-parent foster family home with one foster parent absent for extended
periods of time (such as military service or out-of-town job assignments) may
care for up to six children, except as noted in the chart below:
(d)
Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section, a child-placing
agency may request an exception for a foster family home to care for seven or
eight children by using the process for requesting a variance that is in 26 TAC
Chapter 745, Subchapter J of this title (relating to Waivers and Variances for
Minimum Standards) and meeting the requirements of that subchapter. When
processing a request for a variance related to a foster home's capacity, we
will consider any limitations in state or federal law.
(e) The maximum number of children that a
foster family home may care for includes any biological and adopted children of
the caregivers who live in the foster home, any children receiving foster or
respite child-care, and any children for whom the family provides day care. All
adults in care must also be counted in the capacity of the home as required by
§
749.2651(b) of
this chapter (relating to May a foster home accept adults into the home for
care?).
Notes
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No prior version found.