Current through Vol. 42, No. 1, September 16, 2024
(a)
General.The requirements in Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC)
340:110-5 serve as the framework for families and the Oklahoma Department of
Human Services (DHS) in the mutual assessment process used to select the most
suitable home for the child in DHS custody in need of foster care. Each child
in DHS custody has the right to a safe, affirming, and family-like placement.
As a result, resource parents:
(1) are
responsible, mature, healthy adults capable of meeting the needs of the
children in DHS custody;
(2) apply
the reasonable and prudent parent standard;
(3) demonstrate a capacity for setting
realistic expectations for behavior and performance based on the ages,
abilities, and unique needs of the children;
(4) have stable relationships and a living
arrangement whether married, single, separated, or divorced; and
(5) ensure all members of the household are
informed of and agree to accept the child into the home.
(b)
Age. A resource parent must
be at least 21 years of age. Per Section 1-4-705 of Title 10A of the Oklahoma
Statutes (10A O.S. § 1-4-705), when a potential resource parent meets the
minimum age required per this Section, DHS may not use the age of an otherwise
eligible individual as a reason for denial of placement.
(c)
Income and employment.
Resource parents must have sufficient income to meet their needs and ensure the
security and stability of the household without relying on the foster care
maintenance payment.
(d)
Foster principles. A resource parent commits to demonstrating to
each child in DHS custody basic fostering principles that include:
(1) understanding and meeting the child's
unique needs;
(2) actively
supporting each child's connections and ongoing relationships with family, kin,
culture, and community;
(3)
understanding the impact of separation, grief, loss, and trauma the child has
suffered;
(4) partnering with the
child's professional team to focus on his or her safety, permanency, and
well-being;
(5) recognizing that
foster care is a planned, temporary placement for a child whose goal is family
reunification or other permanency plan;
(6) actively mentoring the parent to help
improve the parent's ability to safely care for the child, when safe to do so;
and
(7) recognizing the impact of
secondary traumatic stress and the importance of the resource parent's
self-care.
(e)
Relationship with DHS. The resource parent acknowledges,
cooperates, and agrees to abide by applicable statutes and DHS rules regarding
the child in care that include, but are not limited to:
(1) DHS, as the legal custodian of the child,
has the right to move any child from any resource home at any time, when in the
child's best interests and, per statutes governing movement of the child in DHS
custody;
(2) the necessity to
maintain and respect the confidential nature of all information regarding a
child placed in the resource home. A breach of confidentiality may be grounds
for resource home closure and termination of the foster care contract;
and
(3) the requirement that DHS
investigate, in the same manner as any other abuse or neglect investigation
conducted by DHS, allegations of abuse, neglect, or maltreatment of any child
in DHS custody placed in an approved resource home;
