ICPC State Pages

Massachusetts Licensing/Certification/Approval

Licensing

Dual Licensing state:

• No

Massachusetts uses the following terms to authorize a resource family for foster care and (or) adoption after completion of education and training in state:

• Approve (Adoption)
• Verified (Foster Home)

Massachusetts requires the following types of placement resources to be licensed/approved/certified:

• Foster Care
• Relative-Foster Care
• Adoption

Massachusetts resource training program is as follows:

• MAPP

• N/A

Massachusetts will give full or partial credit for foster care and adoption education and training completed in another state:

• Adoption
  Full Credit
• Foster Care
  Full Credit

Requirements (Licensing)

Licensing Requirements:

• All families with whom DCF places children must be licensed, including those that are utilized on a temporary, short-term basis such as respite homes and visiting resources. Respite homes are licensed foster/pre-adoptive families who accept short-term, temporary placements of children in order to provide a break to the foster/pre-adoptive family with whom the child normally resides. Visiting resources are licensed foster/pre-adoptive families with whom children are placed on a short-term basis such as during the vacation period of a community residential program.

  • Pre-Licensing Education, Support and Training Program: The preparation of each prospective foster/pre-adoptive family through participation in the program specified for the type of licensing they are seeking, taking into consideration their previous experience and/or preparation and their individual training needs, particularly related to the needs of the children who are to be placed in their care.
  • Licensing Study: The participation of each applicant in the completion of a comprehensive family assessment, the purpose of which is to determinethat the family meets Department standards for licensing as a DSS foster/pre-adoptive family.

Foster Care Placements:

• Standards for Eligibility to Apply

  • Any individual providing foster/pre-adoptive care must have reached her/his 18th birthday. The parent of a child to be placed in foster/pre-adoptive care is not eligible to be a foster/pre-adoptive parent for that child. All approved foster/pre-adoptive parents are eligible to receive reimbursement for children placed in their home. This reimbursement is equal to the standard foster care rate for a child of that age.
  • All household members, age 14 years and older, must have a record which is free of criminal conduct which, in the judgment of the Department, bears upon the foster/pre-adoptive family’s ability to assume and carry out the responsibilities of a foster/pre-adoptive parent. (See Policy #86-014, Background Records Check Policy, and Regulations, 110 CMR 18.000 et seq.)
  • No member of the household has currently or, during the 12 months prior to completion of Initial Eligibility Screening, has had a DSS open case. The hosting Regional Director may approve a waiver, based on a review of supporting information and the approval of a clinical review team, for one of the following exceptions:
  • The individual/household member has a DSS open case to receive services following an adoption legalization.
  • The individual/household member has a DSS open case to receive services on behalf of a child for whom a household member is a guardian.
  • The family is a prospective KINSHIP placement (ONLY), and the household member who has the open case is the teen parent of a child to be placed, the teen parent is not the person alleged to be responsible for the physical or sexual abuse of any child in a supported 51B investigation, and it is considered to be in the child’s best interests for the teen parent to be a member of that kinship household
  • Any other circumstance approved by the Regional Director, upon the recommendation of a Regional clinical review team.
  • No member of the household has been identified as the person alleged to be responsible for abuse or neglect of a child in a supported 51B investigation and the report which identified her/him is referred to the District Attorney.
  • No member of the household has a history of involvement with the Department which would bear adversely on the prospective foster/pre-adoptive parent’s ability to assume and carry out foster/adoption responsibilities.
  • The family/individual has a stable source of income for support of current household members (in situations other than emergency placement, the Department will consider whether the family whose stable source of income is T-AFDC has a plan for maintaining a stable income if the T-AFDC will terminate during the child’s anticipated period of placement with the family).
  • The family/individual has a stable housing history and current housing which meets the Department’s physical requirements and currently has sufficient space to accommodate at least one additional household member within the Department’s limits for maximum number of children residing in the home.
  • At least one prospective applicant in the household has a basic ability to read and write in English or in the family’s primary language.
  • The prospective applicant(s) has sufficient time and availability to be a foster/ pre-adoptive parent(s). A foster/pre-adoptive parent may place a foster/pre-adoptive child in work-related child care for no more than 50 hours per week for a pre-school age child or 25 hours per week for a child in grade 1 or up.
  • No animal that poses a danger to a foster/pre-adoptive child is maintained on the premises of the home.

  Standards for Foster/Pre-Adoptive Homes

  • Home must be clean, safe, free of obvious fire and other hazards, and of sufficient size to accommodate comfortably and appropriately all members of the household and the approved number of foster/pre-adoptive children. (See Appendix 3, “Enhanced Safety Assessment Guidelines”)
  • Home must have safe and adequate lighting, ventilation, hot and cold water supply, plumbing, electricity and heat.
  • Home must be furnished with a refrigerator and cooking stove in safe, working condition.
  • No foster/pre-adoptive child over age one year shall share a bedroom with an adult.
  • No foster/pre-adoptive child over age 4 years, except for siblings up to age 8 years, shall share a bedroom with a child of the opposite sex.
  • Home must have sufficient furniture to allow each child to sleep in a separate bed and to have adequate storage space for her/his personal belongings.
  • Home must have bedrooms which provide at least 50 square feet per child; the Department may waive this requirement for kinship homes if the bedrooms provide at least 35 square feet per child.
  • No bedroom to be used by foster/pre-adoptive children shall be located above the second floor unless any such floor has 2 safe means of egress.
  • No bedroom to be used by foster/pre-adoptive children shall be located below the first floor unless it contains a ground level, standard door exit and at least one operable window.
  • The home shall be equipped with smoke detectors in working order on every floor, including the basement.
  • If well water is used, it shall be tested and determined safe, and a report of the test results furnished to the Department.
  • The home must not have any household member, alternative caretaker or frequent visitor who would, in the judgment of the Department, pose a threat of abuse or neglect to children placed in the home, or would impede or prevent the provision of adequate foster/pre-adoptive care in the home.
  • Any firearms located in the home shall be registered and licensed in accordance with state law. All firearms shall be trigger-locked or fully inoperable and stored without ammunition in a locked area. Ammunition shall be stored in a separate locked location.
  • The family/individual has a working telephone in the home for both incoming and outgoing calls.
  • All dogs maintained on the premises of the foster/pre-adoptive home must have up to date vaccinations and rabies shots, and must be licensed in accordance with local authority requirements.
  • No child under age 12 will be placed in a home where a Rottweiler, Pit Bull or German Shepherd dog, or a dog which mixes at least 2 of these 3 breeds, is maintained on the premises, except after a review conducted in accordance with Regulation 110 CMR 7.105 (18)and with the approval of the Area Director.
  • Any home that is used for family child care must be in compliance with the requirements of EEC, as set forth in EEC Regulations 102 CMR 8.06 – 8.09.

  Families/individuals who are determined not to be eligible to apply based upon the “Standards for Eligibility to Apply” and the “Standards for Foster/Pre-Adoptive Homes” do not have the right to appeal that determination. [See Regulation 110 CMR 7.100 (6)]

  For kinship care resources, supports should be available which are intended to strengthen the ability of parents and kin to meet the needs of their children within their own family, recognizing the importance to children of identity, connectedness and roots.

  Initial Eligibility Screening Procedures

  1. Initial Background Record Check (BRC). If the date of birth or at least approximate age is known for any family member(s), the child’s Social Worker (for a prospective kinship or child-specific foster/pre-adoptive family) or the Family Resource Worker (FRW) (for a prospective unrestricted foster/pre-adoptive family), in conjunction with her/his Supervisor, considers requesting a BRC check, including CORI, from the BRC Unit. If the findings do not indicate that the family is ineligible to apply or if any required approvals are obtained, the child’s Social Worker or FRW, as applicable, begins to arrange the initial home visit. The potential placement has 10 working days to agree to be considered. (See Policy #86-014, Background Records Check Policy)
  2. Initial Eligibility Screening Home Visit(s).

  For a Potential Kinship or Child-Specific Family: (See Procedure 7 below for procedures when emergency placement prior to completion of the full License study is being considered)

  • Is initiated by the child’s Social Worker by telephone, if possible, or by sending “Notice to Kinship/Child-Specific Potential Placement: Initial Inquiry” by certified mail.
  • Is confirmed by the child’s Social Worker, in writing, using “Notice to Kinship/Child-Specific Potential Placement: Initial Meeting” which states the date and time the initial home visit will occur.
  • Occurs within 10 working days after potential placement agrees to be considered.
  • Includes an interview with at least one potential foster/pre-adoptive parent which explores:
  • motivation;
  • understanding of the family resource role;
  • orientation, pre-licensing training, and the assessment process;
  • ability to promote continuity for the identified child;
  • current relationship with the child and parents;
  • understanding of reason(s) for removal/DSS role; and
  • ability to work with parent(s) and DSS.
  • Includes completion of “Physical Requirements for Foster/Pre-Adoptive Homes”. (See Appendix 3, “Enhanced Safety Assessment Guidelines”)
  • Includes a review of informational materials with the family.
  • Includes giving the family a copy of the “Family Resource Application” and assisting them in beginning its completion (child’s Social Worker documents this information in dictation); sufficient information is obtained to conduct BRC checks.

  For a Potential Unrestricted Family:

  • Is initiated by the FRW, by telephone, normally within 2 working days after the initial inquiry was received/registered.
  • Occurs prior to participation in DSS-approved foster/pre-adoptive family training.
  • Includes an interview with at least one potential foster/pre-adoptive parent which explores:
  • motivation;
  • understanding of the family resource role;
  • orientation, pre-licensing training, and the assessment process;
  • ability to promote continuity for children placed with them; and
  • determination of the preference to provide foster or pre-adoptive care for any family who is undecided.
  • Includes completion of “Physical Requirements for Foster/Pre-Adoptive Homes”. (See Appendix 3, “Enhanced Safety Assessment Guidelines”)
  • Includes a review of informational materials with the family.
  • Includes giving the family a copy of the “Family Resource Application” and assisting them in beginning its completion (FRW documents this information in dictation); sufficient information is obtained to conduct BRC checks.
  • Background Records Checks. Using information obtained during the initial home visit(s), the child’s Social Worker (for the potential kinship or child-specific family) or FRW (for the potential unrestricted family) initiates background record checks, including CORI checks, on all household members age 14 years and older (and younger household members about whom concerns exist) and obtains any necessary approvals, in accordance with Policy #86-014, Background Records Check Policy.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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Wait Time - (License/Certification/Approval - Education and Training)

Average Length of time it takes for a home to be licensed/approved/certified:

• 3-6 mos.

Length of time a license is valid before renewal required:

• 2 years

Massachusetts offers classes (education and training) for placement resources' homes to become licensed/certified/approved:

• Weekly