Section 1563.

(a)  The director shall ensure that licensing personnel at the department have appropriate training to properly carry out this chapter.

(b)  The director shall institute a staff development and training program to develop among departmental staff the knowledge and understanding necessary to successfully carry out this chapter. Specifically, the program shall do all of the following:

(1)  Provide staff with 36 hours of training per year that reflects the needs of persons served by community care facilities. This training shall, where appropriate, include specialized instruction in the needs of foster children, persons with mental disorders, or developmental or physical disabilities, or other groups served by specialized community care facilities.

(2)  Give priority to applications for employment from persons with experience as care providers to persons served by community care facilities.

(3)  Provide new staff with comprehensive training within the first six months of employment. This comprehensive training shall, at a minimum, include the following core areas: administrative action process, client populations, conducting facility visits, cultural awareness, documentation skills, facility operations, human relation skills, interviewing techniques, investigation processes, and regulation administration.

(c)  In addition to the requirements in subdivision (b), group home and foster family agency licensing personnel shall receive a minimum of 24 hours of training per year to increase their understanding of children in group homes, certified homes, and foster family homes. The training shall cover, but not be limited to, all of the following topics:

(1)  The types and characteristics of emotionally troubled children.

(2)  The high-risk behaviors they exhibit.

(3)  The biological, psychological, interpersonal, and social contributors to these behaviors.

(4)  The range of management and treatment interventions utilized for these children, including, but not limited to, nonviolent, emergency intervention techniques.

(5)  The right of a foster child to have fair and equal access to all available services, placement, care, treatment, and benefits, and to not be subjected to discrimination or harassment on the basis of actual or perceived race, ethnic group identification, ancestry, national origin, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental or physical disability, or HIV status.

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 331, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2004.)