Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5103.13 – Operation of unlicensed children's crisis care facility prohibited

(A) As used in this section and section 5103.131 of the Revised Code:
1. (1)
  1. (a) "Children's crisis care facility" means a facility that has as its primary purpose the provision of residential and other care to either or both of the following:
    1. (i) One or more preteens voluntarily placed in the facility by the preteen's parent or other caretaker who is facing a crisis that causes the parent or other caretaker to seek temporary care for the preteen and referral for support services;
    2. (ii) One or more preteens placed in the facility by a public children services agency or private child placing agency that has legal custody or permanent custody of the preteen and determines that an emergency situation exists necessitating the preteen's placement in the facility rather than an institution certified under section 5103.03 of the Revised Code or elsewhere.
  2. (b) "Children's crisis care facility" does not include either of the following:
    1. (i) Any organization, society, association, school, agency, child guidance center, detention or rehabilitation facility, or children's clinic licensed, regulated, approved, operated under the direction of, or otherwise certified by the department of education, a local board of education, the department of youth services, the department of mental health and addiction services, or the department of developmental disabilities;
    2. (ii) Any individual who provides care for only a single-family group, placed there by their parents or other relative having custody.
2. (2) "Legal custody" and "permanent custody" have the same meanings as in section 2151.011 of the Revised Code.
3. (3) "Preteen" means an individual under thirteen years of age.
(B) No person shall operate a children's crisis care facility or hold a children's crisis care facility out as a certified children's crisis care facility unless there is a valid children's crisis care facility certificate issued under this section for the facility.
(C) A person seeking to operate a children's crisis care facility shall apply to the director of job and family services to obtain a certificate for the facility. The director shall certify the person's children's crisis care facility if the facility meets all of the certification standards established in rules adopted under division (F) of this section and the person complies with all of the rules governing the certification of children's crisis care facilities adopted under that division. The issuance of a children's crisis care facility certificate does not exempt the facility from a requirement to obtain another certificate or license mandated by law.
(D)
1. (1) No certified children's crisis care facility shall do any of the following:
  1. (a) Provide residential care to a preteen for more than one hundred twenty days in a calendar year;
  2. (b) Subject to division (D)(1)(c) of this section and except as provided in division (D)(2) of this section, provide residential care to a preteen for more than sixty consecutive days;
  3. (c) Except as provided in division (D)(3) of this section, provide residential care to a preteen for more than seventy-two consecutive hours if a public children services agency or private child placing agency placed the preteen in the facility;
  4. (d) Fail to comply with section 2151.86 of the Revised Code.
2. (2) A certified children's crisis care facility may provide residential care to a preteen for up to ninety consecutive days, other than a preteen placed in the facility by a public children services agency or private child placing agency, if any of the following are the case:
  1. (a) The preteen's parent or other caretaker is enrolled in an alcohol and drug addiction service or a community mental health service certified under section 5119.36 of the Revised Code;
  2. (b) The preteen's parent or other caretaker is an inpatient in a hospital;
  3. (c) The preteen's parent or other caretaker is incarcerated;
  4. (d) A physician has diagnosed the preteen's parent or other caretaker as medically incapacitated.
3. (3) A certified children's crisis care facility may provide residential care to a preteen placed in the facility by a public children services agency or private child placing agency for more than seventy-two consecutive hours if the director of job and family services or the director's designee issues the agency a waiver of the seventy-two consecutive hour limitation. The waiver may authorize the certified children's crisis care facility to provide residential care to the preteen for up to fourteen consecutive days.
(E) The director of job and family services may suspend or revoke a children's crisis care facility's certificate pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code if the facility violates division (D) of this section or ceases to meet any of the certification standards established in rules adopted under division (F) of this section or the facility's operator ceases to comply with any of the rules governing the certification of children's crisis care facilities adopted under that division.
(F) Not later than ninety days after September 21, 2006, the director of job and family services shall adopt rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code for the certification of children's crisis care facilities. The rules shall specify that a certificate shall not be issued to an applicant if the conditions at the children's crisis care facility would jeopardize the health or safety of the preteens placed in the facility.