Penny Lane Centers is a leading social services agency in Los Angeles County. The agency’s mission is: “to foster hopes and dreams by empowering children, youth and families to reach their highest potential”. The non-profit’s target population are needy families, families who are at risk of separation due to child neglect and/or other forms of child abuse, and children who have been detained and are in the Los Angeles child welfare system. Services are also provided to veterans and children who have emancipated from the foster care system. Programs and services include and not limited to a foster family agency, residential group home, outpatient mental health, family preservation, wraparound and veteran services. In addition, Penny lane Centers also provides transitional and permanent support housing for individuals and families. The current paper reviews the home inspection agency policy which is implemented in the foster family agency (FFA) program. Those impacted under this policy are foster children, current and potential foster adoptive families. Cynthia Martinez is a foster family recruiter trainer.
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Her role in the organization is to find families who are interested in opening their home to children in need of a temporary or permanent placement. Once she finds a family who is interested, she provides the training and follows them until certification. There are many steps involved in reaching certification, including passing all Title 22 building and grounds regulations specified by California Community Care licensing agency (CCL). Title 22 regulations provide a clear outline in regards to the requirements pertaining to the physical structure of the foster home. To assist all foster adoptive families in understanding the title 22 regulations, Penny Lane Centers created the Home Inspection Policy. The goal of the stated policy is to assure that all children are safe in the home environment. Families are provided with detailed home guidelines which they are to follow; to sustain and protect the child’s personal rights throughout their stay in the foster family home. The policy is initially implemented with the help of the recruiter trainer. After the family has met all the home inspection criteria, along with the other certification requirements, they are eligible to accept foster children in their home. FFA social workers visit the foster home weekly to ensure the home inspection requirements are enforced thereafter. Requirements of the policy include but not limited to securing all sharp and toxic items under lock and key. In addition, any hygiene and cleaning supplies that indicate “keep out of reach of children” must always remain locked. Pools are required to have a secure 5 foot fence, each person in home shall have an assigned bedroom. Children can only share with the same gender and cannot be more than 5 years apart. No passageway rooms are allowed, and the home shall have safety gates, fireplace screens, covers for heaters etc. The aforementioned are only a few examples, as the home inspection form consists of over 10 pages of detailed home requirements. The home inspection policy assures children are comfortable, have adequate privacy, guarantees play areas that are free of hazards, and reduces the likelihood of an accidents as many precautions are enforced. The policy allows for families to be ready in case there is a disaster, by requiring all to have an emergency disaster kit and first aid supplies readily available. There are many vital benefits of the policy, however there is also negative impacts. As a result to the rigid requirements, sibling sets entering foster care are often separated due to the age range and gender requirements. There are many families who are interested in fostering and adopting, however do not have discretionary income to implement the numerous home inspection requirements. For example, not all families who have a pool will attain certification as they do not have two thousand dollars to purchase the required pool gate. In addition, if foster families are not able to maintain all requirements up to code, they can become decertification and the children will be relocated to another foster home. FFA social workers complete the home inspection once a month, which takes an average of forty five minutes to one hour. The documentation for the inspection is completed simultaneously
Her role in the organization is to find families who are interested in opening their home to children in need of a temporary or permanent placement. Once she finds a family who is interested, she provides the training and follows them until certification. There are many steps involved in reaching certification, including passing all Title 22 building and grounds regulations specified by California Community Care licensing agency (CCL). Title 22 regulations provide a clear outline in regards to the requirements pertaining to the physical structure of the foster home. To assist all foster adoptive families in understanding the title 22 regulations, Penny Lane Centers created the Home Inspection Policy. The goal of the stated policy is to assure that all children are safe in the home environment. Families are provided with detailed home guidelines which they are to follow; to sustain and protect the child’s personal rights throughout their stay in the foster family home. The policy is initially implemented with the help of the recruiter trainer. After the family has met all the home inspection criteria, along with the other certification requirements, they are eligible to accept foster children in their home. FFA social workers visit the foster home weekly to ensure the home inspection requirements are enforced thereafter. Requirements of the policy include but not limited to securing all sharp and toxic items under lock and key. In addition, any hygiene and cleaning supplies that indicate “keep out of reach of children” must always remain locked. Pools are required to have a secure 5 foot fence, each person in home shall have an assigned bedroom. Children can only share with the same gender and cannot be more than 5 years apart. No passageway rooms are allowed, and the home shall have safety gates, fireplace screens, covers for heaters etc. The aforementioned are only a few examples, as the home inspection form consists of over 10 pages of detailed home requirements. The home inspection policy assures children are comfortable, have adequate privacy, guarantees play areas that are free of hazards, and reduces the likelihood of an accidents as many precautions are enforced. The policy allows for families to be ready in case there is a disaster, by requiring all to have an emergency disaster kit and first aid supplies readily available. There are many vital benefits of the policy, however there is also negative impacts. As a result to the rigid requirements, sibling sets entering foster care are often separated due to the age range and gender requirements. There are many families who are interested in fostering and adopting, however do not have discretionary income to implement the numerous home inspection requirements. For example, not all families who have a pool will attain certification as they do not have two thousand dollars to purchase the required pool gate. In addition, if foster families are not able to maintain all requirements up to code, they can become decertification and the children will be relocated to another foster home. FFA social workers complete the home inspection once a month, which takes an average of forty five minutes to one hour. The documentation for the inspection is completed simultaneously