Current through Register Vol. 41, No. 3, September 23, 2024
A. The local
department shall ensure that preservice training is provided for foster and
adoptive providers. This training shall address but not be limited to the
following core competencies:
1. Factors that
contribute to neglect, emotional maltreatment, physical abuse, and sexual
abuse, and the effects thereof;
2.
Conditions and experiences that may cause developmental delays and affect
attachment;
3. Stages of normal
human growth and development;
4.
Concept of permanence for children and selection of the permanency
goal;
5. Reunification as the
primary child welfare goal, the process and experience of
reunification;
6. Importance of
visits and other contacts in strengthening relationships between the child and
his birth family, including his siblings;
7. Legal and social processes and
implications of adoption;
8.
Support of older youth's transition to independent living;
9. The professional team's role in supporting
the transition to permanency and preventing unplanned placement
disruptions;
10. Relationship
between child welfare laws, the local department's mandates, and how the local
department carries out its mandates;
11. Purpose of service planning;
12. Impact of multiple placements on a
child's development;
13. Types of
and response to loss, and the factors that influence the experience of
separation, loss, and placement;
14. Cultural, spiritual, social, and economic
similarities and differences between a child's primary family and foster or
adoptive family;
15. Preparing a
child for family visits and helping him manage his feelings in response to
family contacts;
16.
Developmentally appropriate, effective and nonphysical disciplinary
techniques;
17. Promoting a child's
sense of identity, history, culture, and values;
18. Respecting a child's connection to his
birth family, previous foster families or adoptive families;
19. Being nonjudgmental in caring for the
child, working with his family, and collaborating with other members of the
team;
20. Roles, rights, and
responsibilities of foster parents and adoptive parents;
21. Maintaining a home and community
environment that promotes safety and well-being;
22. Mandated child abuse and neglect reporter
laws and responsibilities; and
23.
Normalcy for youth in foster care.
B. Local departments shall ensure that each
foster and adoptive home provider receives annual in-service training.
1. Training shall be relevant to the needs of
children and families and may be structured to include multiple types of
training modalities (for example, online foster parent training courses;
seminars and conferences).
2. The
department shall provide opportunities for training on an annual
basis.
C. The provider
is required to complete preservice and annual in-service trainings. As a
condition of reapproval each provider shall complete in-service
training.
D. Local departments
shall explain confidentiality requirements to providers and require providers
to keep confidential all information regarding the child, his family, and the
circumstances that resulted in the child coming into care.
Statutory Authority: §§
63.2-217
and
63.2-319
of the Code of Virginia.
