10A NCAC 70I .0504         ORIENTATION

(a)  A residential child-care facility shall provide information and discuss the program policies governing residential care and services for children with the child's parents, guardian, or legal custodian and the child at or before admission. These include:

(1)           family time, mail, gifts, personal possessions, money, and telephone calls and restrictions that may be imposed on these;

(2)           discipline and behavior management, including the use of searches of children's rooms and possessions;

(3)           program of religious training and practices;

(4)           educational resources;

(5)           trips away from the facility;

(6)           use of volunteers, if any;

(7)           physical restraint practices;

(8)           client rights and grievance procedures;

(9)           daily and seasonal schedules; and

(10)         reasonable and prudent parent standard.

(b)  The residential child-care facility shall obtain the out-of-home family services agreement from the county department of social services at or before admission when the county department of social services is the legal custodian. In the case of a private placement, the facility shall develop an out-of-home family services agreement within 30 days of admission. The out-of-home family services agreement shall be reviewed initially within 60 days, the second review shall be within 90 days of the initial review and all subsequent reviews shall be held every six months, inviting the parent, guardian, legal custodian, and the child, as well as any individual or agency designated as providing services to participate.

(c)  The out-of-home family services agreement shall be developed utilizing information from an assessment of the child's and family's needs and include goals based on normal developmental tasks and needs. The goals and objectives shall be based on identified issues, be behaviorally specific, time-limited and measurable and include staff assignments and strategies to be taken to meet the goals in the following areas:

(1)           special interests and personal aspirations;

(2)           intellectual, academic, and vocational;

(3)           psychological and emotional;

(4)           medical;

(5)           social and family relationships;

(6)           cultural and spiritual; and

(7)           basic living skills.

(d)  A visitation and contact plan shall be developed for each child by the parents, guardian, or legal custodian, if different.

(e)  A written discharge plan shall be part of the out-of-home family services agreement.

(f)  Direct care staff shall be informed about the child's out-of-home family services agreement by the executive director of the residential child-care facility or his or her designee and shall participate or provide input at the reviews set forth in Paragraph (b) of this Rule.

(g)  A copy of the child's out-of-home family services agreement shall be provided to the parents, guardian, and the executive director of the residential child-care facility or his or her designee by the county department of social services serving as the legal custodian. The child's out-of-home family services agreement shall be provided to other agencies and individuals listed as providing services to the child and his or her parents or guardian. Each child shall receive a version of the out-of-home family services agreement that is appropriate for the child's age, intelligence, emotional makeup, and past experiences.

(h)  The child's out-of-home family services agreement review shall include:

(1)           an evaluation of progress towards meeting identified issues;

(2)           any new needs identified since the child's out-of-home family services agreement was developed or last reviewed and behaviorally-specific strategies to meet these needs, including instructions to staff;

(3)           an update of the estimated length of stay and discharge plan; and

(4)           the signatures of the persons participating in the review.

(i)  If the legal custodian is a county department of social services, the residential child-care agency, department of social services, parents or guardian, other service providers, and child shall develop a single out-of-home family services agreement. The residential child-care staff shall attend court reviews, child and family team meetings, and permanency planning action team meetings. The out-of-home family services agreement ("Out-of-Home Services Agreement" DSS-5240) or the transitional living plan ("Transitional Living Plan for Youth/Young Adults in Foster Care" DSS-5096a) may serve as the out-of-home family services agreement for the residential child-care facility if the documents reflect input and participation by the residential child-care facility. Both forms contain the client's name and demographic information, the names and contact information for other relevant individuals, the client's permanency plan, the client's goals and objectives, supportive services to meet these goals and objectives, and the signatures of all individuals who participated. These forms can be obtained from the Division or found on the Division's website at https://www.ncdhhs.gov/division/dss.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 131D-10.5; 143B-153;

Eff. July 1, 1999 (See S.L. 1999, c.237, s. 11.30);

Amended Eff. October 1, 2008;

Pursuant to G.S. 150B-21.3A, rule is necessary without substantive public interest Eff. April 5, 2016;

Amended Eff. October 1, 2017.