W. Va. Code R. § 78-2-16

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 21, May 23, 2024

Section 78-2-16 - Comprehensive Home Study

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.

W. Va. Code R. § 78-2-16