Section 2603.30 Personnel

Section 703

Section 2603.30  Personnel

a)         Introduction

1)         Improving staff performance to meet the expanded objectives of

shelter care is a continuing process.  Management must provide positive

direction for staff members.

2)         It is recognized that children who are placed in shelter care

are often frightened, upset, angry, and lonely.  The majority of these children

will have emotional needs which will require special attention.  Staff

personnel must have qualities to provide the tenderness, understanding, and

affection to children to ease the pain and anxiety of transition.

b)         Minimum Standards

1)         Shelter Care Staffing

Each shelter

care facility must have sufficient personnel to provide adequate 24-hour

supervision of children seven days a week.

A)        A superintendent, qualified by training and experience to supervise

staff and children, shall be appointed for each shelter care home.

B)        No child shall be sheltered without a staff member on continuous

duty in the living unit, awake and alert, at all times. (See Section 2603.130.)

C)        Supervision by a female staff member shall be required any time

a female child is sheltered.

2)         Staff Selection

Selection

criteria for a potential staff member whose job responsibility requires

immediate and direct contact with children shall include attention to such

characteristics as emotional maturity; physical stamina; sense of humor;

imagination; freedom from hostility; unbiased attitudes toward racial, ethnic,

and religious differences; and skills suitable for dealing with retarded and/or

physically handicapped children.

3)         Rules and Regulations

Each staff

member working with children shall have a thorough knowledge of all rules,

regulations, and procedures for providing care to minors.  Shelter care staff

shall be thoroughly acquainted with all physical features of the facility and

all emergency equipment

fferences; and skills suitable for dealing with retarded and/or

physically handicapped children.

3)         Rules and Regulations

Each staff

member working with children shall have a thorough knowledge of all rules,

regulations, and procedures for providing care to minors.  Shelter care staff

shall be thoroughly acquainted with all physical features of the facility and

all emergency equipment.

4)         Casework

One

professional staff member, with at least a bachelor's degree in social work or

a related field, shall be a member of the shelter care staff.

5)         Certificate, License, Registration

Persons with

duties which require possession of a current certificate, license or

registration as evidence of special competence to perform those duties shall be

licensed and certified by the State of Illinois.

6)         Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures

Procedures

regarding employee disciplinary matters and grievances shall be established and

made known to all employees.

7)         Staff Physical

Each person

must have a physical examination by a medical doctor as a prerequisite for

employment, to include a report that the person is free from communicable

disease.

8)         Staff Age

All persons in

supervisory or other responsible positions shall be at least 21 years of age.