§283. Determination of fitness; award of contract

            A. The office of children and family services shall determine the fitness and eligibility of each person who applies for a contract to provide foster care services to which the provisions of this Subpart apply.

            B. The office of children and family services may award a contract for foster care services to any person who is determined to be eligible for such contracts, but no contract shall be awarded prior to such determination.

            C.(1)(a) No new contract for foster care services shall be awarded to any person who has not completed a training program approved by the department, that includes but is not limited to the following areas:

            (i) Obtaining needed services for foster children.

            (ii) Discipline and foster children.

            (iii) Legal aspects of foster care.

            (iv) Working with parents and the agency.

            (v) Knowledge and skills relating to the reasonable and prudent parent standard for participation by the child in age- or developmentally-appropriate activities as defined in Subsection D of this Section.

            (b) The Department of Children and Family Services shall provide such training through its own personnel or by contracting with outside persons or agencies.

            (2)(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, in emergency situations, relatives and friends of the foster child who have applied to be foster parents and who appear to meet eligibility criteria for such foster homes may be certified by the department for one ninety-day period without such training.

            (b) All other foster parent applicants may be certified in emergency situations by the department for one ninety-day period provided that such applicants have:

            (i) Participated in a home visit by the department.

            (ii) Met requirements for a criminal record clearance.

            (iii) Completed at least one-half of the preservice training.

            (c) One ninety-day extension may be granted by the department in emergency situations when it judges such extension to be in the best interests of the foster child. There shall be no more than one ninety-day extension granted under the provisions of this Section.

            (d) The department may establish separate minimum training requirements for relatives of a foster child or foster parents certified to care only for a specific child or children in those homes not open to placement of other children. These minimum requirements shall include ten hours of preservice training as specified in Paragraph (C)(1), requirements for a criminal records clearance as specified in Item (C)(2)(b)(ii), participation with the department in periodic home visits and legally mandated status reviews, and annual training as prescribed in the child's service plan at the status review.

            (3) The provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection shall not apply to persons acting as foster parents prior to the effective date of this Subsection.

            D.(1) For purposes of this Section, the following definitions shall apply:

            (a) "Age- or developmentally-appropriate" means activities or items that are generally accepted as suitable for children of the same chronological age or level of maturity, or that are determined to be developmentally appropriate for a child, based on the development of cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities that are typical for an age or age group; and in the case of a specific child, activities or items that are suitable for the child based on the developmental stages attained by the child with respect to the cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities of the child.

            (b) "Caregiver" means a person with whom the child is placed in foster care, or a designated official for a child residential facility licensed by the state.

            (c) "Reasonable and prudent parent standard" means the standard characterized by careful and sensible parental decisions that maintain the health, safety, and best interests of a child while at the same time encouraging the emotional and developmental growth of the child, that a caregiver shall use when determining whether to allow a child in foster care under the responsibility of the state to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, social, and sporting activities.

            (2) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize any decision that conflicts with the residual parental rights, as defined in Children's Code Article 116, of a parent of a child.

            E.(1) Each caregiver shall use the reasonable and prudent parent standard in determining whether to give permission for a child living in foster care under the responsibility of the state to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, social, or sporting activities.

            (2) When using the reasonable and prudent parent standard, the caregiver shall consider all of the following:

            (a) The child's age, maturity, and developmental level in order to maintain the overall health and safety of the child.

            (b) The potential risk factors and the appropriateness of the extracurricular enrichment, cultural, social, or sporting activity.

            (c) The best interest of the child, based on information known by the caregiver.

            (d) The importance of encouraging the child's emotional and developmental growth.

            (e) The importance of providing the child with the most family-like living experience possible.

            (f) The behavioral history of the child and the child's ability to safely participate in the proposed activity.

            F. Each child in foster care shall be allowed to travel out of state with his foster parent or another department-approved adult so long as the foster parent confirms with the department in advance of the departure date that no reason exists to prevent such travel and provides a travel itinerary to the department.

            G.(1) A foster caregiver who approves a foster child's participation in an age- and developmentally-appropriate extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, social, or sporting activity is not liable for harm caused to the child at such activity, provided that the caregiver has acted in accordance with the reasonable and prudent parent standard.

            (2) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to remove or limit any existing liability protection afforded by law.

            Added by Acts 1978, No. 741, §1. Acts 1983, No. 710, §1; Acts 1987, No. 595, §1, eff. July 9, 1987; Acts 1995, No. 696, §1, eff. June 21, 1995; H.C.R. 115, 2001 R.S; Acts 2015, No. 124, §2, eff. June 19, 2015; Acts 2015, No. 278, §2, eff. June 29, 2015; Acts 2015, No. 310, §1.