Virginia Law

A. General Requirements.

1. No person convicted of a crime involving child abuse, child neglect or moral turpitude shall be a family day system owner, operator or employee.

2. The family day system owner, director, and all system employees shall be:

a. At least 18 years of age (EXCEPTION: Secretarial and custodial help may be younger than 18 years of age.);

b. Of good moral character and reputation;

c. Physically and mentally capable of carrying out assigned duties and responsibilities;

d. Emotionally stable with an understanding of problems and needs of children and their families; and

e. Qualified in accordance with the applicable educational training and experience requirements contained in these standards.

B. Personnel policies.

1. There shall be a written description for each staff position. This job description shall include:

a. The job title;

b. The functions assigned to the position, including authority and responsibility; and

c. Educational or experience, or both, requirements for the position.

2. A copy of the job description shall be made available to each person assigned to the position at the time of employment.

3. When a system has more than three employees, within the system's office, the system shall have written personnel policies outlining personnel practices as they affect both the employer and employee. A copy of these policies shall be readily accessible to each staff member and shall include at minimum:

a. Conditions of employment;

b. Conditions under which employment may be suspended or terminated;

c. Procedures for resignation;

d. Salary scales;

e. Provisions for paid vacation, sick leave, compensatory leave, and holidays, if any;

f. Provisions for recurring evaluation of work performance of each employee at least annually;

g. A description of employee benefits;

h. Provisions for staff development and training through in-service training, attendance at conferences and workshops and educational leave; and

i. Grievance procedures.

C. The system staff.

1. Composition and size.

a. Composition and number of staff employed by the system shall be sufficient to assure:

(1) Compliance with these standards;

(2) The uninterrupted and timely provision of all services included in the system program to children, parents, and homes that are members of the system.

b. In order to ensure timely and adequate service delivery, the number and composition of staff shall be determined by:

(1) The scope of the program and services offered by the system;

(2) The number of homes that are members of the system and their geographical location in relation to the system office;

(3) The number of children in care in homes that are members of the system;

(4) The capabilities and experience of the staff; and

(5) The total responsibilities assigned to each staff member and the time required to effectively carry out these responsibilities. Total responsibilities are those relating to inspection, supervision, monitoring, evaluation of member homes; providing training and technical assistance to operators and staff of member homes; providing referral services to parents and children; as well as administrative tasks and supervisory responsibilities.

c. Qualified staff members who meet the applicable qualifications established by subdivision C 2 of this section shall be designated to perform each of the following functions:

(1) Day-to-day management, administration and supervision of system operations;

(2) Referral services to parents and children;

(3) Training, technical assistance, and consultation to the staff of homes that are members of the system;

(4) Home visitation and approval which includes at minimum those functions and services relating to inspection, supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of homes that are members of the system; and

(5) Clerical functions.

d. Multiple functions may be assigned to an individual staff member provided:

(1) The staff member meets the qualifications for each function as established by subdivision C 2 of this section; and

(2) The multiple assignment is consistent with the requirements of subdivision C 1 a of this section regarding the timely and uninterrupted delivery of services and subdivision C 1 b of this section which provides for a determination of the required number and composition of staff.

2. Staff qualifications.

a. The director.

(1) There shall be one full-time staff member designated as the director of the system who shall be responsible for the overall day-to-day management, administration and supervision of system operations. In the case of an individual proprietorship or partnership the director may be the licensee.

(2) An individual assuming the duties of a director on or after the effective date of these standards shall have:

(a) A master's degree in early childhood education, child development, social work, education or psychology from an accredited college or university, or the equivalent as determined and approved by the department, plus three years of experience in any one or more of these fields, including two years experience in a supervisory, administrative, or management capacity; or

(b) A bachelor's degree in early childhood education, child development, social work psychology or education from an accredited four year college or university, or the equivalent as determined and approved by the department, plus four years of experience in any of these fields, including two years experience in a supervisory, administrative or management capacity.

b. Referral, training and home visitation services.

(1) Responsibilities for referral, training and home visitation services shall be assigned to a permanent staff member or members. These services and responsibilities shall consist of:

(a) Referral services—Interviewing of parents and children and the referral of children to family day-care homes that are members of the system or to available health or social services as special needs are identified.

(b) Training services—Developing and providing training, technical assistance and consultation to the operators and staff of family day-care homes that are members of the system.

(c) Home visitation services—Visiting family day-care homes, for the purpose of approving homes in accordance with requirements established in 8VAC20-810-40 and any additional requirements established by the system and assuring continued compliance with these requirements. A full-time home visitation staff member shall be responsible for no more than 25 family day-care homes.

(2) Staff members designated to perform referral, training or home visitation services on or after the effective date of these standards shall have:

(a) A bachelor's degree in early childhood education, child development, social work, psychology or education from an accredited four year college or university or the equivalent as determined and approved by the department, or

(b) An associate degree, or equivalent, in human services, community and social service, or educational services or their equivalent as determined and approved by the department, from an accredited community college or four year college or university and two years supervised experience working in a child care center, residential children's facility, nursery school, family day-care home, or similar program providing care to children.

c. Clerical staff.

(1) The system shall employ sufficient clerical staff to keep correspondence, required records, accounts and files current and in good order.

(2) Clerical staff shall be qualified by both education and experience to perform assigned tasks.

d. Documentation of qualifications.

(1) The professional qualifications of staff members, established by subdivision C 2 of this section, shall be individually documented.

(2) The personal qualifications including those established by subdivision A 1 of this section shall be verified through character references.

(a) At least three references shall be obtained for each applicant.

(b) These references shall not be obtained from relatives of applicants.

(c) These references shall be in writing or there shall be a written notation of verbal references.

3. Staff development.

a. Provision shall be made for orientation for all staff. This shall be documented and recorded in the employee's record.

b. Prior to assuming their duties, new employees shall be given orientation and training in at least the following areas:

(1) The objectives and philosophy of the system;

(2) The services offered by the system;

(3) Confidential treatment of personal information;

(4) The policies and procedures that are applicable to their specific position and assigned duties and responsibilities; and

(5) The standards as they apply to the individual position.

c. A written plan of in-service training with specific well-defined objectives shall be prepared and implemented annually for each employee. A copy of this plan shall be filed in the employee's record and shall be made available to the department's representative upon request. (EXCEPTION: Clerical and custodial employees are exempt from this requirement.)

d. Attendance at conferences, seminars, workshops, institutes and academic courses related to the employee's assigned duties and responsibilities shall be encouraged.

D. Volunteers.

1. Any volunteers used shall:

a. Have qualifications appropriate to the services they render;

b. Be subject to laws and regulations governing the confidential treatment of personal information; and

c. Be selected on the basis of their ability to make a positive contribution to the program.

2. The system shall establish written requirements for the screening and selection of volunteers.

3. Duties and responsibilities of all volunteers shall be clearly defined in writing and differentiated from those persons regularly filling staff positions.

4. At least one staff member shall be assigned the responsibility for selection, orientation, training, scheduling, supervision and evaluation of volunteers.

5. The system shall not be dependent on the use of volunteers to ensure the basic provision of services on a continuous basis.

*The minimum personnel requirements and qualifications for family day-care providers and their staff are addressed in 8VAC20-810-40 B 1.