Foster home licensing. (FE)

This bill provides that if DCF informs a child welfare agency of its intent to revoke or suspend the agency's license to license foster homes or to terminate a contract under which a child welfare agency provides foster home licensing services for DCF or if a child welfare agency informs DCF of its intent to surrender such a license or to terminate such a contract, DCF may do any of the following:

1. Require the child welfare agency to provide DCF with complete copies of the child welfare agency's financial, child placement, and foster care licensing records.

2. Transfer any child placement or foster care licensing records obtained from a child welfare agency to any county department or child welfare agency to which a foster home license issued by the child welfare agency is transferred under the bill or to any public licensing agency or child welfare agency that relicenses a foster home licensed by the child welfare agency as provided in the bill.

3. Prohibit the child welfare agency from accepting new placements or issuing new foster care licenses.

Also under the bill, if DCF revokes or suspends a child welfare agency's license to license foster homes or terminates a contract under which a child welfare agency provides foster home licensing services for DCF, or if a child welfare agency surrenders such a license or terminates such a contract, DCF may transfer each foster home license issued by the child welfare agency to a county department, DCF, or another child welfare agency that consents to the transfer. A license so transferred remains valid until it expires or 180 days after the date of the transfer, whichever is later.

Under current law, a public licensing agency may license a foster home only in the county in which it is located, subject to certain exceptions. The exceptions include if the licensee is a foster parent who has moved to another county with a child who has been placed in the foster parent's home and the license will allow the foster parent to continue to care for that child, or if the foster home is located in an adjacent county. Currently, a license that is issued from an out-of-county public licensing agency is child-specific, meaning that the license is valid only as to certain children who are identified on the license, and terminates immediately upon the removal of all of those children from the foster home. Under current law, a license issued under these two exceptions may be issued only if the public licensing agency of the county where the foster home is located enters into an agreement with the public licensing agency issuing the license.

This bill specifies that if a license is issued by an out-of-county public licensing agency under one of the two exceptions listed above, the license is not child-specific.

However, under the bill, the agreement between the public licensing agencies as required under current law must identify the children that may be placed in the foster home and the license does not expire when the listed children are removed from the foster home. Under the bill, the license is valid only when there is an agreement in effect.