11 Pa. Stat. § 2645

Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-92

Section 2645 - Obligations of department

The Office of Children, Youth and Families of the department shall do all of the following:

(1) Require, as a condition of licensure for county and private foster family care agencies and facilities providing out-of-home placements, the development of standards and training relating to the reasonable and prudent parent standard. The standards and training shall include, but are not limited to, the following:

(i) knowledge and skills relating to the developmental stages of the cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioral capacities of a child; and

(ii) knowledge and skills relating to applying the reasonable and prudent parent standard to:

(A) decisions such as whether to allow a child to engage in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural and social activities, including sports, field trips and overnight activities lasting one or more days;

(B) decisions involving the signing of permission slips and arranging transportation for the child to and from extracurricular, enrichment, cultural and social activities; and

(C) Methods for appropriately considering the concerns of the biological parents of a child in decisions related to participation of the child in activities, with the understanding that those concerns should not necessarily determine the participation of the child in any activity.

(2) Verify, at yearly licensure reviews, that county and private agencies providing out-of-home placement do all of the following:

(i) Promote and protect the ability of a child to participate in age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate activities and experiences.

(ii) Implement policies consistent with this act.

(iii) Provide and document that the required training under paragraph (1) has been provided to caregivers.

(3) Develop standards and a process by which individuals employed by facilities providing out-of-home placements are designated to make decisions for children based on the reasonable and prudent parent standard.

(4) Develop a template for the required training related to the reasonable and prudent parent standard in accordance with this act.

(5) Work with interested parties, including children, to develop age-appropriate written materials that explain the requirements under this act.

11 P.S. § 2645

Added by P.L. TBD 2015 No. 75, § 5, eff. 12/10/2015.