§ 26-6-909 — Standards for facilities and agencies - rules
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(1) The department
shall prescribe and publish standards for licensing. The standards must be
applicable to child placement agencies and the various types of residential and day
treatment child care facilities regulated and licensed by this part 9; except that the
department shall prescribe and publish separate standards for the licensing of
child placement agencies operating for the purpose of adoptive placement and
adoption-related services. The department shall seek the advice and assistance of
persons representative of the various types of facilities and agencies in
establishing the standards, including the advice and assistance of the department
of public safety and councils and associations representing fire marshals and
building code officials in the promulgation of any rules related to adequate fire
protection and prevention, as allowed in subsection (2)(e) of this section. The
standards must be established by rules promulgated by the state board and be
issued, published, and become effective only in conformity with article 4 of title 24.
(2) Standards prescribed by state board rules pursuant to this section are
restricted to:
(a) The operation and conduct of the facility or agency and the responsibility
it assumes for child care;
(b) The character, suitability, and qualifications of the applicant for a license
and of other persons directly responsible for the care and welfare of children
served, including whether an affiliate of the licensee has ever been the subject of a
negative licensing action;
(c) The general financial ability and competence of the applicant for a
license to provide necessary care for children and to maintain prescribed standards;
(d) The number of individuals or staff required to ensure adequate
supervision and care of children served;
(e) (I) The appropriateness, safety, cleanliness, and general adequacy of the
premises, including maintenance of adequate fire protection and prevention and
health standards in conformance with state laws and municipal ordinances, to
provide for the physical comfort, care, well-being, and safety of the children served.
(II) A facility that provides child care exclusively to school-age children and
operates on the property of a school district, district charter school, or institute
charter school may satisfy any fire or radon inspection requirement required by law
by providing a copy of a satisfactory fire or radon inspection report of the property
of a school district, district charter school, or institute charter school where the
child care is provided if the fire or radon inspection report was completed within the
preceding twelve months. The department shall not require a duplicate fire or radon
inspection if a satisfactory fire or radon inspection report of the property was
completed within the preceding twelve months.
(f) Keeping of records for food, clothing, equipment, and individual supplies;
(g) Provisions to safeguard the legal rights of children served;
(h) Maintenance of records pertaining to the admission, progress, health, and
discharge of children;
(i) Filing of reports with the department;
(j) Discipline of children;
(k) Standards for seclusion of a child in accordance with article 20 of this
title 26. Standards for seclusion must include:
(I) The basis for the use of seclusion in accordance with section 26-20-103;
(II) Duration and frequency of the seclusion;
(III) Facility staff requirements;
(IV) Criteria for the short-term placement of a child in seclusion;
(V) Documentation and review of the seclusion;
(VI) Review and biannual inspection by the department of the seclusion room
or area;
(VII) Physical requirements for the seclusion room or area;
(VIII) Certification or approval from the department prior to the
establishment of the seclusion room or area;
(IX) A neutral fact finder to determine if the child's situation merits
seclusion;
(X) At a minimum, a fifteen-minute checking and review by staff of a child
placed in seclusion;
(XI) Review by staff of any seclusion subsequent to each period of seclusion;
(XII) Daily review of the use of the seclusion rooms or areas; and
(XIII) Revocation or suspension of licensure for failure to comply with the
standards set forth in this subsection (2)(k).
(l) Standards for security in secure residential treatment centers and
residential child care facilities provided through the physical environment and
staffing. The standards must include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(I) Locked doors;
(II) Fencing;
(III) Staff requirements to ensure security;
(IV) Inspections;
(V) Physical requirements for program space and for secure sleeping of the
residents in the secure residential treatment center or residential child care facility;
and
(VI) Other security considerations that are necessary to protect the residents
of the secure residential treatment center or residential child care facility or the
public.
(m) Standards for the appropriateness, safety, and adequacy of
transportation services of children to and from facilities;
(n) Except as provided in subsection (2)(o) of this section, provisions that
ensure that foster care homes and child care centers verify, in accordance with part
9 of article 4 of title 25, that each child has received appropriate immunizations
against contagious diseases as follows:
(I) Children up to twenty-four months of age are required to be immunized in
accordance with the Infant Immunization Act, part 17 of article 4 of title 25;
(II) Children over twenty-four months of age are required to be immunized in
accordance with part 9 of article 4 of title 25;
(o) Provisions that allow a facility that allows a child to enroll and attend the
facility on a short-term basis of up to fifteen days in a fifteen-consecutive-day
period, no more than twice in a calendar year, with each fifteen-consecutive-day
period separated by at least sixty days, to do so without obtaining verification of
immunization for that child, as provided in section 25-4-902. A facility that chooses
to allow children to enroll and attend on a short-term basis pursuant to the
provisions of this subsection (2)(o) shall provide notification to all parents that the
facility allows children to enroll and attend on a short-term basis without obtaining
proof of immunization.
(p) Standards for adoption agencies that may include, but need not be
limited to:
(I) Specific criteria and minimum credentials, qualifications, training, and
education of staff necessary for each of the types of adoption for which an
applicant may seek to be licensed, including, but not limited to:
(A) Traditional adoptions with adopting parents who are unknown;
(B) Family adoptions, including stepparent and grandparent adoptions;
(C) Interstate adoptions;
(D) International adoptions;
(E) Identified or designated adoptions; and
(F) Special needs adoptions;
(II) The continuing education requirements necessary to maintain the
adoption agency's license, taking into account the type and specialty of such
agency's license;
(III) The operation and conduct of the agency and the responsibility it
assumes in adoption cases;
(IV) The character, suitability, and qualifications of the applicant for a license
and for all direct service staff employed or contracted with by the agency;
(V) The general financial ability and competence of the applicant for a
license, either original or renewal, to provide necessary services for the adoption of
children and to maintain prescribed standards;
(VI) Proper maintenance of records; and
(VII) Provisions to safeguard the legal rights of children served;
(q) (I) Standards for the training of foster care parents, which must include,
at a minimum:
(A) Twenty-seven hours of initial training, consisting of at least twelve hours
of training prior to the placement of a child and completion of the remaining
training within three months after such placement;
(B) Twenty hours per year of continuing training;
(C) In addition to the hours described in subsection (2)(q)(I)(B) of this section,
twelve hours per year for foster care parents providing therapeutic foster care;
(D) Training concerning individualized education programs, as defined in
section 22-20-103 (15). The departments of human services and education shall
ensure coordination between local county departments and local school districts or
administrative units to make such training available upon the request of a foster
parent.
(E) The training described in section 19-7-104.
(II) The training described in subsection (2)(q)(I) of this section may include,
but need not be limited to, in-home training.
(III) The department shall consult with county departments and child
placement agencies in prescribing the training standards in order to ensure a more
uniform application throughout the state.
(IV) The hours of training prior to the placement of a child described in
subsection (2)(q)(I)(A) of this section may be completed within four months after the
placement if the placement was an emergency placement, as defined by rule of the
state board.
(r) Initial and ongoing training of providers of foster care services in facilities
and agencies licensed and certified pursuant to this part 9, including orientation
and prelicensing training for child placement agency staff; and
(s) Standards for the training of providers of cradle care home services that
must be substantially similar to the training required of adoptive parents prior to
adopting an infant, including ongoing training hours appropriate to the services
provided.
(2.5) Kinship foster care homes are exempt from the minimum standards set
forth in this section. Training standards for kinship foster care homes are
established pursuant to section 19-7-104 (4).
(3) If all of the requirements in section 22-1-119.5 and any additional rules of
the state board are met, a child enrolled in a residential or day treatment child care
facility may possess and self-administer medication for asthma, a food allergy, or
anaphylaxis. The state board may adopt additional rules concerning the authority to
possess and self-administer medication for asthma, a food allergy, or anaphylaxis.
(4) An applicant or person licensed to operate a facility or agency under the
provisions of this part 9 has the right to appeal any standard that, in the applicant's
or person's opinion, creates an undue hardship or when, in the applicant's or
person's opinion, a standard has been too stringently applied by representatives of
the department. The department shall designate a panel of persons representing
various state and local governmental agencies with an interest in and concern for
children to hear the appeal and to make recommendations to the department. The
membership of the appeals review panel must include, but need not be limited to, a
representative from a twenty-four-hour child care facility; a representative from a
licensed child placement agency; a representative with child placement experience
from a county department; and a representative from at least one other state
department, or from the division within the department that is responsible for child
welfare, who has education and expertise in trauma-informed care and child
welfare. The executive director, or the executive director's designee, shall appoint
all members to the appeals review panel. Representatives to the appeals review
panel serve terms of no more than three years and may serve successive terms.
(5) The state board may promulgate rules to regulate the operation of out-of-home placement provider consortia. The regulation shall not include licensing of
out-of-home placement provider consortia.
(6) Repealed.
(7) (a) A county director, or the county director's designee, may approve, at
the county director's discretion, a waiver of non-safety licensing standards for
kinship foster care. A waiver may be approved only if:
(I) It concerns non-safety licensing standards, as set forth by rule of the
state board pursuant to subsection (7)(d) of this section;
(II) The safety and well-being of the child or children receiving care is not
compromised; and
(III) The waiver request is in writing.
(b) A county director of human or social services, or the county director's
designee, may limit or restrict certification issued to a kinship foster care home or
require the kinship foster care home to enter into a compliance agreement to
ensure the safety and well-being of the child or children in the kinship foster
home's care.
(c) A kinship foster care entity may not appeal a denial of a waiver requested
pursuant to subsection (7)(a) of this section.
(d) The state board shall promulgate rules concerning the waiver of non-safety licensing standards for kinship foster care. The rules must include, but need
not be limited to, a listing of non-safety licensing standards that may not be waived
and circumstances in which waivers do not apply. The state board shall also define
by rule the meaning of kinship foster care for the purposes of this subsection (7).
(8) The executive director has the power to direct the administration or
monitoring of medications to persons in facilities pursuant to section 25-1.5-301
(2)(e).
(9) To ensure compliance with state and federal laws and regulations related
to secure facilities, the state board shall adopt rules for admission to a state-owned
psychiatric residential treatment facility. The rules must comply with rules adopted
by the state department and rules adopted by the department of health care policy
and financing and the department of public health and environment, as those rules
relate to the operation.
Colorado § 26-6-909 (Standards for facilities and agencies - rules) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.