(a) When a placement agency has placed a child with a foster family agency for subsequent placement in a certified family home or with a resource family, the foster family agency shall ensure placement of the child in a home that best meets the needs of the child.

(b) A home that best meets the needs of the child shall satisfy all of the following criteria:

Terms Used In California Health and Safety Code 1536.2

  • certified family home: means an individual or family certified by a licensed foster family agency and issued a certificate of approval by that agency as meeting licensing standards, and used exclusively by that foster family agency for placements. See California Health and Safety Code 1506
  • Foster family agency: means any public agency or private organization, organized and operated on a nonprofit basis, engaged in any of the following:

    California Health and Safety Code 1502

(1) The child’s caregiver is able to meet the health, safety, and well-being needs of the child.

(2) The child’s caregiver is permitted to maintain the least restrictive and most family-like environment that serves the needs of the child.

(3) The child is permitted to engage in reasonable, age-appropriate, day-to-day activities that promote the most family-like environment for the foster child.

(4) The foster child’s caregiver shall use a reasonable and prudent parent standard, as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of § 362.04 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to determine activities that are age-appropriate and meet the needs of the child. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit a child’s caregiver to permit the child to engage in activities that carry an unreasonable risk of harm, or subject the child to abuse or neglect.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 732, Sec. 28. (AB 404) Effective January 1, 2018.)

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