(a) No child placing organization shall engage in the investigation, placement, and supervision of minor children in foster care unless it meets the standards of conditions, management, and competence set by the department of human services.
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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-17

  • Applicant: means the person for whose use and benefit application for services or public assistance is made. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-1
  • Child caring institution: means any institution other than an institution of the State, maintained for the purpose of receiving six or more minor children for care and maintenance, not of common parents, apart from their parents or guardians on a twenty-four hour basis for monetary payment. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-16
  • Child placing organization: means any person, agency, or organization, except family courts and the department of human services, engaged in the investigation, placement, and supervision of children in foster care. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-16
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Department: means the department of human services. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-1
  • Resource family home: means any boarding home in which:

    (1) One or more, but fewer than six, minor children are received; or
    (2) Six or more minor siblings are placed together in the best interests of the children,

    for care and maintenance apart from their parents or guardians on a twenty-four hour basis for fee or charge. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 346-16

(b) No child caring institution shall receive minor children for care and maintenance unless it meets the standards of conditions, management, and competence to care for and educate children set by the department.
(c) No resource family home shall receive for care and maintenance any child unless:

(1) It meets with the standards of conditions, management, and competence set by the department; and
(2) The resource family home applicant successfully completes resource caregiver training; provided that new special licensed or relative resource family home caregivers licensed for a specific child or children shall successfully complete resource caregiver training within the first year following placement of the first child into the new special licensed or relative resource family home.
(d) The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 relating to:

(1) Standards for the organization and administration of child placing organizations; and
(2) Standards for the conditions, management, operations, and competence of child caring institutions and resource family homes for the care, education, and protection of minor children.
(e) All rules of the department shall have the force and effect of law, and any violation thereof or of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $200.
(f) As a condition for a certificate of approval, any organization, institution, or resource family home, including all adults residing in the resource family home, shall:

(1) Meet all standards and requirements established by the department;
(2) Be subject to criminal history record checks in accordance with section 846-2.7, and child abuse and neglect registry checks, in accordance with departmental procedures; and
(3) Provide consent to the department or its designee to obtain criminal history record and child abuse and neglect registry information.

New employees of the organization, institution, or home shall be fingerprinted within five working days of employment.

(g) Upon approval of the organization, institution, or resource family home, the department or its authorized agents shall issue a certificate of approval that shall continue in force for one year or for two years if the organization, institution, or resource family home meets the criteria established by the department, unless sooner revoked for cause. The certificate shall be renewed by the department or its authorized agents, after annual or biennial investigation, if the investigation discloses that the organization, institution, or resource family home continues to meet the standards set by the department. The certificate of approval shall be a permit to operate the child placing organization, child caring institution, or resource family home, and no person or organization shall operate or maintain the organization, institution, or resource family home without the certificate.
(h) Any child placing organization, child caring institution, or resource family home shall be subject to review or investigation at any time and in a manner, place, and form as may be prescribed by the department or its authorized agents.
(i) As used in this section, “resource caregiver training” means training or instruction in special skills and knowledge to care for foster children.
(j) The department or its designee shall request:

(1) A criminal history record check through the Hawaii criminal justice data center on all operators, employees, and new employees of child care institutions, child placing organizations, and resource family homes, including all adults residing in the resource family homes, subject to checks pursuant to section 846-2.7; and
(2) A child abuse and neglect registry check on all operators, employees, and new employees of child care institutions, child placing organizations, and adults residing in a resource family home subject to licensure in accordance with departmental procedures.
(k) The department may deny a certificate of approval if an operator, employee, or new employee of a child care institution or child placing organization’s facility, or any adult residing in a resource family home, was convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation involving a fine of $50 or less and if the department finds that the criminal history record or child abuse registry history of an operator, employee, new employee, or adult residing in a resource family home poses a risk to the health, safety, or well-being of the children in care.
(l) The department or its designee shall make a name inquiry into the criminal history records for the first two years of certification of a resource family home and annually or biennially thereafter and into the child abuse and neglect registry in accordance with departmental procedures depending on the certification status of the home.
(m) Any resource caregiver or child caring institution issued a certificate of approval pursuant to this section shall be immune from liability in a civil action to recover damages for injury, death, or loss to a person or property that results by authorizing a child in the caregiver’s or institution’s foster care to participate in an extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, or social activity; provided that the authorization is in accordance with the reasonable and prudent parent standard as defined in title 42 United States Code § 675(10)(A).

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