1. A. A local department shall license a resource parent who can meet the complex needs of children in care while supporting reunification or other permanency plans.

2. B. A resource parent shall have the following characteristics:

   1. (1) Knowledge of and ability to provide children in care a positive, nurturing, and trauma-informed environment;

   2. (2) Willingness to work cooperatively with the local department in:

      1. (a) The best interest of the child in care;
      2. (b) Establishing a supportive relationship with the parents or legal guardians and other family members of the child in care;
      3. (c) Supporting the permanency plan established by the local department and the courts;
      4. (d) Supporting the goals established in the case plan;
      5. (e) Being available to local department staff for communication and home visits; and
      6. (f) Ensuring that the requirements of this chapter are met.

   3. (3) Maturity and personality characteristics that:

      1. (a) Help the child in care understand placement in out-of-home care and the child in care's own feelings about the placement; and
      2. (b) Help maintain the child in care’s family connections through regular and consistent family contact as required by the local department.
   4. (4) The capacity to value, understand, respect, and support individuals from different racial, ethnic, religious, cultural heritage, socio-economic backgrounds, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression from that of the resource parent;
   5. (5) The capacity to understand that it is in the best interest of a child in care, of multiracial parentage to have multiracial experiences;
   6. (6) The skills to promote the process of socialization through family life to enhance the child in care's growth and learning;
   7. (7) The suitability in age and physical stamina to meet the demands of the care of growing children;
   8. (8) The emotional capacity to handle life's stresses and adapt to change and difficult situations;
   9. (9) The willingness to support and encourage a child in care's educational progress and take an active role by attending school conferences and similar activities whenever possible; and
   10. (10) The ability to provide time free from the interference of other responsibilities and to give a child in care needed care, supervision, and attention.

Authority: Human Services Article, §2-209, Annotated Code of Maryland

Effective date: July 4, 1994 (21:13 Md. R. 1155)

Chapter revised effective December 12, 2002 (29:24 Md. R. 1918)

Regulation .02B amended effective June 15, 2009 (36:12 Md. R. 836)

Regulation .08A amended effective June 15, 2009 (36:12 Md. R. 836)

Chapter revised effective April 16, 2012 (39:7 Md. R. 490)

Regulation .04E amended effective September 30, 2013 (40:19 Md. R. 1543)

Regulations .01—.24 repealed and new Regulations .01 — .20 adopted effective December 12, 2024 (51:24 Md. R. 1081)