Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 38, September 20, 2024
16.1. An
agency shall conduct a comprehensive written home study with the prospective
foster or adoptive parents and all household members prior to placing a child
in the home including a minimum of one individual in-person interview for each
parent and two joint interviews.
16.2. An agency shall write a narrative
report on the home study that lists the contact dates, times, locations and
participants, and is signed and dated by the agency employee who conducted it
and the agency director, or his or her designee.
16.3. The study shall describe and evaluate
aspects of the home and family and shall include:
16.3.1. The composition of the household and
intra-family relationships;
16.3.2.
The family's attitudes, values, and level of understanding of child development
and sex education;
16.3.3. The
family decision making process, including descriptive examples;
16.3.4. The manner in which the family
handles conflict, stress, and frustration, including descriptive
examples;
16.3.5. Individual and
family hobbies, recreation, community activities, and social life;
16.3.6. The family's values and attitudes and
how they relate in the community and to religious, ethnic, and cultural
differences;
16.3.7. Each parent's
personal history, attitudes, feelings, and values;
16.3.8. The parent's financial
situation;
16.3.9. The parent's
motivation to become foster or adoptive parents;
16.3.10. The family's attitudes about having
a foster child in the home, and about a foster child's biological parents and
family;
16.3.11. An account of
discipline methods discussed with the family including:
16.3.11.a. Methods acceptable to the agency;
and
16.3.11.b. The family's
attitude about discipline and their past experiences with discipline
methods;
16.3.12. A
summary of the agency's discussion of the multiple aspects of foster child care
including the circumstances surrounding placement of a child in foster care,
the family's expectations of a foster child's presence in the home, anticipated
problem situations and coping skills, and possible reactions of the child
placed;
16.3.13. An assessment of
the adoptive parent's ability and willingness to make a lifetime commitment to
the adopted child, and their understanding of the legal rights of the adopted
child;
16.3.14. A summary of the
agency's discussion with the adoptive parents about who would become the
adopted child's guardian if both of the adopted parents died;
16.3.15. An account of the agency's
discussion with the adoptive parents about open adoption;
16.3.16. The agency's discussion with the
adoptive parents about health insurance coverage for the adoptive child before
the adoption is finalized;
16.3.17.
The agency's discussion with the adoptive parents about adopting a child with
special needs, subsidies, and the availability of community resources;
and
16.3.18. A statement of the
number, ages and gender of children desired by the foster or adoptive
parents.
16.4. The home
study shall identify the foster or adoptive parents' strengths, attributes,
abilities, weaknesses, potential problem areas, or concerns as the basis for
approval.
16.5. The home study
shall make a recommendation regarding the number, ages, and gender of children
for which the home may be approved for placement and any other special
conditions or circumstances that may apply.
