Current through September 24, 2024
(1) GENERAL: The
legal basis for licensing is contained in T.C.A.
§§71-3-501 through
71- 3-531.
(2)
DEFINITIONS: For the purpose of clarification the following definitions are
given and will hereafter be used:
(a)
Maternity home shall mean any place in which any person,
society, agency, corporation, or facility receives, treats or cares for more
than one (1) illegitimately pregnant woman, either before, during, or within
two (2) weeks after childbirth. Provided, however, that licensed child-placing
agencies and licensed maternity homes may use family boarding homes approved
and supervised by the agency, as a part of its work, for as many as three (3)
pregnant women in each home and provided, further, that the provisions of this
definition shall not include women who receive maternity care in the home of a
relative within the sixth degree of kindred computed according to civil law or
general, or special hospitals licensed according to law, in which maternity
treatment and care is part of the medical services performed and the care of
children only brief and incidental. T.C.A.
§71-3-501.
(b)
Department - The
Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
(c)
Commissioner - The
Commissioner of the Department of Children's Services.
(d)
Staff - Full-time and
part-time employees.
(e)
Law - T.C.A. §§
71-3-501 through
71-3-531.
(f)
License - A yearly permit issued to a maternity home.
Licensing is based on achievement in meeting minimum standards developed and
published by the department.
(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;
(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
(f) The probability of permanence of the
child welfare agency.
(4) LICENSING PROCEDURE:
(a) Conditional License Fees: Application for
license shall be made to the department upon blanks furnished by it. Upon
receipt of the application for a license, the department shall issue the
applicant 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. A processing fee of ten dollars ($10) shall be submitted
with the application.
(b) Issuance
of Annual License. If at the end of the ninety (90) day period set forth above,
evidence is provided by the applicant/licensee that the child welfare agency is
suitable and properly 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 on ninety (90) days
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. The notice shall contain the cause of the
revocation. The licensee may upon written request filed with the commissioner
within ten (10) days of the mailing of the notice of revocation, receive a
hearing before the board of review, with such hearing to be held within the
ninety (90) day period set out in the notice of revocation.
(c) When an application for a license has
been denied or a license has been revoked on one 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. 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. The department may waive the time
restrictions herein upon a showing by the agency to the satisfaction of the
department that the agency has corrected the deficiencies which led to the
denial or revocation.
(d) Upon
written notice to the applicant that a request for 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 with the commissioner 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.
(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 fined not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than
two hundred dollars ($200) for each such offense. 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 chapter 4 or chapter 6
of Title 37 of
T.C.A..1. The
department shall have the authority and responsibility to fully investigate in
accordance with the provisions or chapter 4 or chapter 6 of Title 37 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 all
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 in T.C.A. §
71-3-501, which is under
the direct management of an administrative department of the state, a county or
a 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. Through his authorized agent, the commissioner
of the department shall make periodic inspections of such public administrative
child welfare agencies. The report of such inspections 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 government 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 inspections.
If any serious abuses, derelictions, 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) REPORTING OF BRUTALITY, ABUSE, NEGLECT,
OR CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE (T.C.A. §
37-1-403)
(a) Any person, including but not limited to
any:
1. Physician, osteopath, medical
examiner, chiropractor, nurse, or hospital personnel engaged in the admission,
examination, or treatment of persons;
2. Health or mental health professional other
than one listed in subdivision (a)(1);
3. Practitioner who relies solely on
spiritual means for heating;
4.
School teacher or other school official or personnel;
5. Judges of all courts of the
state;
6. Social worker, day care
center worker, or other professional child care, residential, or institutional
worker;
7. Law enforcement officer;
or
8. Neighbor, relative, friend,
or any other person who knows or has reasonable cause to suspect, that a child
has been sexually abused or having knowledge of or called upon to render aid to
any child who is suffering from or has sustained any wound, injury, disability,
or physical or mental condition which is of such a nature as to reasonably
indicate that it has been caused by brutality, abuse, or neglect or which on
the basis of available information reasonably appears to have been caused by
brutality, abuse, or neglect, shall report such harm immediately by telephone
or other- wise to the local office of the Department of Children's Services or
the judge having juvenile jurisdiction or to the county office of the sheriff
or the chief law-enforcement official of the municipality where the child
resides. Any person, including judges of all courts of this state, who knows or
has reasonable cause to suspect that a child has been sexually abused shall
report such information in accordance with Acts 1985, chapter 478, relative to
the sexual abuse of children, regardless of whether such person knows or
believes that the child has sustained any apparent injury as a result of such
abuse.
(b) If a
hospital, clinic, school, or any other organization responsible for the care of
children has a specific procedure, approved by the director of the county
office of the department, for the protection of children who are victims of
brutality, abuse, or neglect, any member of its staff whose duty to report
under the preceding sentence arises from the performance of his services as a
member of the staff of the organization may, at his option, fulfill that duty
by reporting instead to the person in charge of the organization or his
designee who shall make the report in accordance with the preceding
sentence.
(c) The report shall
include, to the extent known by the reporter, the name, address, and age of the
child, the name and address of the person responsible for the care of the
child, and the facts requiring the report. The report may include any other
pertinent information.
(d) If a law
enforcement official or judge becomes aware of known or suspected child abuse,
through personal knowledge, receipt of a report, or otherwise, such information
shall be reported to the department immediately and where appropriate the child
protective team shall be notified to investigate the report for the protection
of the child in accordance with the provisions of this part. Further criminal
investigation by such official shall be appropriately conducted in coordination
with the team or department to the maximum extent possible.
(e) Any person required to report or
investigate cases of suspected child abuse who has reasonable cause to suspect
that a child died as a result of child abuse shall report his suspicion to the
appropriate medical examiner. The medical examiner shall accept the report for
investigation and shall report his findings, in writing, to the local law
enforcement agency, the appropriate district attorney, and the department.
Autopsy reports maintained by the medical examiner shall not be subject to the
confidentiality requirements provided for in T.C.A. §
37-1-409.
(f) Reports involving known or suspected
institutional child sexual abuse shall be made and received in the same manner
as all other reports made pursuant to Acts 1985, chapter 478 relative to the
sexual abuse of children. Investigations of institutional child sexual abuse
shall be conducted in accordance with the provision of T.C.A.
§37-1-606.
(g) Every physician or other person who makes
a diagnosis of, or treats, or prescribes for any venereal disease set out in
T.C.A. §
68-10-101, or venereal
herpes and chlamydia, in children thirteen (13) years or younger, and every
superintendent or manager of a clinic, dispensary or charitable or penal
institution, in which there is a case of any of the diseases, as set out in
this subsection, in children thirteen (13) years of age or younger shall report
the case immediately, in writing on a form supplied by the Department of Health
and Environment to that department. If the reported cases are confirmed and if
sexual abuse is suspected, the Department of Health and Environment will report
the case to the Department of Children's Services. The Department of Children's
Services will be responsible for any necessary follow-up.
(7) VIOLATIONS PENALTIES
(a) Any person required to report known or
suspected child abuse or child sexual abuse who knowingly and willfully fails
to do so, or who knowingly and willfully prevents another person from doing so,
is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) Any
person who knowingly and willfully makes public or discloses any confidential
information contained in the abuse registry or in the records of any child
sexual abuse case, except as provided in Acts 1985, chapter 478, is guilty of a
misdemeanor. (Acts 1985, chapter 478, §16).
(c) All staff of the agency whether paid,
contracted or volunteer, must report any suspected child abuse or neglect of
any child enrolled in the agency, in conformance with parts 4 and 6 of chapter
1, Title 37 of the T.C.A. Failure to do so will, standing
alone, be sufficient basis for denial or revocation of the agency's
license.
(8) 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 fine of not less than one
hundred dollars ($100) and no more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each
offense.
(9) 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 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 or 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,
of the chapter of the T.C.A. relative to adoption, and upon
final hearing, if the court determines that there has been a violation or
threatened violation, thereof, the injunction shall be made
permanent.
Authority: T.C.A. §§
4-5-226(b)(2);4-5-320;
36-1-134; 37-1-403; 37-1-409; 37-1-605; 37-1-612; 37-1-616; 37-5-101;37-5-105;
37-5-106; 37-5-112(a); 71-1-105 and 71-3-501 through 71-3-531.
