1. A. The Department of Human Services and the Office of Juvenile Affairs shall each establish a program of foster care for children in the custody of the state agency.

2. B. Each agency, in implementing the foster care program within its jurisdictional area, shall:

   1. 1. Recruit their respective foster families for children in the custody of the state agency;
   2. 2. Contract with foster parents and child-placing agencies to provide foster care services to children within the custody of the state agency;
   3. 3. Exercise supervision over all foster placements with whom the state agency has a contract for foster care services;
   4. 4. Exercise oversight of all foster children within the custody of the state agency who are in out-of-home placement, including, but not limited to, foster children placed in foster homes by a child-placing agency;
   5. 5. Advise and cooperate with the governing boards of all child-placing agencies and with foster parents;
   6. 6. Assist the staff of all child-placing agencies, foster parents and foster families by advising them on methods and procedures relating to child care, parental substitute authority, behavioral management techniques, and improvement of services;
   7. 7. Establish rules and standards for providing foster care services in addition to those required by the Oklahoma Child Care Facilities Licensing Act;
   8. 8. Require initial and ongoing foster parent training and education programs related to the area of parental substitute authority and behavioral management techniques, including, but not limited to, restraining and holding techniques, parent-child conflict resolution techniques, stress management, and any other appropriate technique to teach a foster parent how to control potentially violent behavior in a manner appropriate to the age and development of a foster child;
   9. 9. Provide foster parents with a statewide, toll-free telephone number, titled the Foster Parent Hotline, for obtaining information related to foster care services and for the filing of any complaints or grievances;
   10. 10. Cooperate, collaborate and assist postadjudication review boards in the review of the placement of each child in foster care in order to achieve the goals in the treatment and service plan required for each child by this title;
   11. 11. Provide for insurance coverage pursuant to the provisions of the Oklahoma Foster Care and Out-of-Home Placement Act;
   12. 12. Provide for collection, through assignment, attachment, garnishment, liens, or other legal process, of the cost for out-of-home placement services provided through the state agency from the parents, guardian, or other person responsible for the care and support of a child in the custody of the state agency;
   13. 13. Cooperate and work with a foster parent in integrating a foster child into a foster family setting. The state agency shall provide a foster parent with information, on an ongoing basis, pertinent to the care, guidance, supervision and rearing of a foster child;
   14. 14. Apprise the foster family of changes in laws, rules and policy changes on a timely basis;
   15. 15. Cooperate with and help promote foster parent associations. The state agency shall provide foster parent associations with data, information and guidelines on the obligations, responsibilities and opportunities of foster parenting and shall keep the associations and members apprised of changes in laws and rules relevant to foster parenting;
   16. 16. Through the individualized service planning process, develop a permanency plan for each child in custody who is placed in foster care with the goal of placement of the child in a home environment that can be reasonably expected to be stable and permanent;

   17. 17. Assure that each child who has attained the minimum age for compulsory school attendance and is eligible for a foster care payment under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.) is:

       1. a. enrolled in an institution which provides elementary or secondary education as determined under the law of the state or other jurisdiction in which the institution is located,
       2. b. instructed in elementary or secondary education in any legally authorized education program,
       3. c. in an independent study elementary or secondary education program in accordance with the law of the state or other jurisdiction in which the program is located which is administered by the local school or school district, or
       4. d. incapable of attending school on a full-time basis due to a documented medical condition supported by regular updates; and
   18. 18. Exercise and perform such other acts as may be necessary to implement the Oklahoma Foster Care and Out-of-Home Placement Act.
3. C. The Department of Human Services and the Office of Juvenile Affairs shall not be liable for any costs or expenses expended voluntarily by a foster parent for a foster child which are in excess of the funds authorized for providing foster care services to the foster child.

Laws 1996, HB 2960, c. 353, § 4, eff. November 1, 1996; Amended by Laws 1997, HB 2133, c. 389, § 10, eff. November 1, 1997 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 1998, HB 2826, c. 414, § 6, emerg. eff. June 11, 1998 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2009, SB 339, c. 160, § 6, emerg. eff. May 11, 2009 (superseded document available).