a) Introduction

1. 1) Improving staff performance to meet the expanded objectives of shelter care is a continuing process. Management must provide positive direction for staff members.
2. 2) It is recognized that children who are placed in shelter care are often frightened, upset, angry, and lonely. The majority of these children will have emotional needs which will require special attention. Staff personnel must have qualities to provide the tenderness, understanding, and affection to children to ease the pain and anxiety of transition.

b) Minimum Standards

1. 1) Shelter Care Staffing

   1. A) A superintendent, qualified by training and experience to supervise staff and children, shall be appointed for each shelter care home.
   2. B) No child shall be sheltered without a staff member on continuous duty in the living unit, awake and alert, at all times. (See Section 2603.130.)
   3. C) Supervision by a female staff member shall be required any time a female child is sheltered.

   Each shelter care facility must have sufficient personnel to provide adequate 24-hour supervision of children seven days a week.

2. 2) Staff Selection

   Selection criteria for a potential staff member whose job responsibility requires immediate and direct contact with children shall include attention to such characteristics as emotional maturity; physical stamina; sense of humor; imagination; freedom from hostility; unbiased attitudes toward racial, ethnic, and religious differences; and skills suitable for dealing with retarded and/or physically handicapped children.

3. 3) Rules and Regulations

   Each staff member working with children shall have a thorough knowledge of all rules, regulations, and procedures for providing care to minors. Shelter care staff shall be thoroughly acquainted with all physical features of the facility and all emergency equipment.

4. 4) Casework

   One professional staff member, with at least a bachelor's degree in social work or a related field, shall be a member of the shelter care staff.

5. 5) Certificate, License, Registration

   Persons with duties which require possession of a current certificate, license or registration as evidence of special competence to perform those duties shall be licensed and certified by the State of Illinois.

6. 6) Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures

   Procedures regarding employee disciplinary matters and grievances shall be established and made known to all employees.

7. 7) Staff Physical

   Each person must have a physical examination by a medical doctor as a prerequisite for employment, to include a report that the person is free from communicable disease.

8. 8) Staff Age

   All persons in supervisory or other responsible positions shall be at least 21 years of age.