A. The facility or certifying authority shall have written policies and procedures that address and ensure the availability of each of the following core rights for children in residence. These rights may not be restricted or denied by the facility or certifying authority.
1. Every child has the right to enjoy freedom of thought, conscience, cultural and ethnic practice, and religion.
2. Every child has the right to a reasonable degree of privacy.
3. Every child has the right to have his or her opinions heard and considered, to the greatest extent possible, when any decisions are being made affecting his/her life.
4. Every child has the right to receive appropriate and reasonable adult guidance, support and supervision.
5. Every child has the right to be free from physical abuse or neglect and inhumane treatment. Every child has the right to be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation.
6. Every child has the right to receive adequate and appropriate medical care.
7. Every child has the right to receive adequate and appropriate food, clothing, and housing.
8. Every child has the right to live in clean, safe surroundings.
9. Every child has the right to participate in an educational program that will maximize his/her potential in accordance with existing law.
10. Every child has the right to communicate with “significant others” outside the facility, such as a parent or garden, caseworker, attorney or guardian ad litem, current therapist, physician, religious advisor, and, if appropriate, probation officer.
B. The following children’s rights may be limited to reasonable periods during the day or restricted according to written policies of the facility or certifying authority to ensure the protection of the children, staff, and program from unreasonable and unnecessary intrusions and disruptions and from health and safety hazards.
1.Every child has the right to have access to letter-writing materials, including postage, and to have staff members of the facility assist him/her if unable to write, prepare, and mail correspondence.
2. Every child has the right to have access to telephones to both make and receive class in privacy.
3. Every child has the right to have convenient opportunities to meet with visitors.
4. Every child has the right to wear his/her own clothes, keep and use his/her own personal possessions, and keep and be allowed to spend a reasonable sum of his her own money.
5. Every child has the right to receive and send sealed correspondence. No incoming or outgoing correspondence shall be opened, delayed, held, or censored by the personal of the child care facility.
C. Written policies that restrict or limit a child’s rights as lasted at 7.714.80,B, most include at a minimum:
1. Plans for how and when telephone and written communications will take place.
2. Plans for regular visits of the child with relatives, friends, or others interested in his/her welfare, both within and outside of the facility, unless in the judgement to treatment staff and the placement agency visits would be detrimental to the child and/or his/her family.
3. Plans for extenuating circumstances and emergency situations affecting the child and his/her family.
4. The requirement that the facility notify the child, if appropriate to the age of the child, and his/her parent(s) or guardian(s) at the time of admission of any policy that would limit or restrict a child’s rights. The notification most be communicated in a language or mode of communication the child can understand and, if possible, be signed by the child and his/her parent(s) or guardian(s).
D. If the facility enforces any restrictions upon the child’s rights as listed at 7.714.50,B, the facility must, in compliance with the written policy and procedure of the facility or certifying authority.
1. Inform the child and the child’s family, in a language or mode of communication the child can understand, of the conditions of and reasons for restriction or termination of his/her rights.
2. Place a written report summarizing the conditions of and reasons for restriction, denial, or termination of the child’s rights in that child’s case record or treatment record. Information parenting to a restriction, denial, or termination of a child’s rights contained in the child’s treatment or case record must be md available, upon request, to the child or the child’s garden ad litem (GAL)
3. When a restriction of a child’s rights affects another individual, the individual shall be informed in a language of mode of communication the individual can understand, of the conditions of and reasons for the action.