Smoke-free foster homes – 6/3/10

Q: The North Carolina Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch would like to know:

1. What is your state doing to restrict smoking in foster homes?
2. Does your state have laws about smoking in foster homes? Are the policies statewide or local?
3. If your state has a law or policy, or if a municipality in your state has a local ordinance or policy,
1. Please share a copy, and if you are able, share information about how these policies are working.
2. When your law/policy was instituted, did the state lose any foster parents who did not want to participate under the new policy or law?
3. Did your state pass policies or laws incrementally (e.g. grandfathering in current foster parents, not placing babies or children with health problems in homes with smokers)?
4. Did your state promote the Quitline directly to foster parent and offer low or no cost NRT services to help smokers in foster homes quit?

A:

1. California: California law and local ordinances:
    
   • Global Advisors on Smokefree Policies (GASP) fact sheet shows that Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Cruz counties ban smoking in foster care homes and in cars that transport foster children. Click here to download.
   • In the Tobacco Laws Affecting California booklet (produced by the Technical Assistance Legal Center), the booklet states that California law prohibits smoking on the premises of licensed day care centers and in licensed family day care homes during the hours of operation (page 13). Federal law prohibits smoking within any indoor facility that is used for federally funded health care, day care, or Head Start services for children or that is used by the employees of the provider of such services (page 14). The booklet further explains exceptions, penalties, and enforcement of these laws. This booklet is available for download from TALC’s website.
   • The National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, located at the Hunter College School of Social Work in New York, provides a fact sheet on Smoking Policies for Foster Parents. In this fact sheet various state laws/policies are identified. Click here to download.
   • Please see the attached resolution from the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors advocating for the adoption of polices which promote smoke-free environments for foster children.
      
2. Colorado: Foster homes and cars must be smoke-free while a child is in placement. The Colorado Department of Human Services has a regulation that applies to the whole state (see policy language below).
    
   When your law/policy was instituted, did the state lose any foster parents who did not want to participate under the new policy or law? Unknown.
    
   Colorado state law:
   L7.708 RULES REGULATING FAMILY FOSTER CARE HOMES [Rev. eff. 2/1/02]
    
   DEFINITION: "A family foster care home", as defined at Section 26-6-102, C.R.S., means a facility that is certified by the county department or a child placement agency for child care in a place of residence of a family or person for the purpose of providing twenty-four (24) hour family care for a child under the age of eighteen years who is not related to the head of such home, except in the case of relative care. The term includes any foster care home receiving a child for regular twenty-four (24) hour care and any home receiving a child from any state-operated institution for child care or from any child placement agency.
    
   7.708.2 REQUIRMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION OF FAMILY FOSTER CARE HOMES
    
   7.708.21 Character, Suitability, and Qualifications of Family Foster Parents [Rev. eff. 8/1/07] (Notice the date of the revision.) I. Foster parents shall protect foster children from exposure to second hand tobacco smoke.
   1. Smoking is prohibited inside the foster home at all times when a child(ren) is in placement.
   2. Smoking is prohibited in a foster parents' or substitute caregiver's motor vehicle when a foster child(ren) is in placement in the foster care home.
   3. Smoking includes carrying or having in one's possession a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe or other object giving off tobacco smoke.
    
   Smoking of a parent can also be one of the factors used to determine the “best interests of the child” standard in divorce proceedings where children are involved.
    
3. Indiana: The Indiana Department of Child Services has passed a policy on smoking in resource homes. However, they did not consult with the Tobacco Control program before releasing the policy statement, as you will see some concerning language in the policy.
    
   Once the policy was shared, ITPC reached out to DCS staff to offer assistance in implementing the policy by offering to do training for staff and parents (resource homes) on secondhand smoke and promotion of the Indiana Tobacco Quitline. We are in the process of providing those resources and setting up a system to implement this.
    
   We also urged them to strengthen the language in the policy to make homes 100% smoke free. The DCS perspective is that they struggle to find enough resource families as it is and they are trying to balance this issue with other issues facing these children and families.
    
4. Michigan: In Michigan, “public place” is broadly defined in the statute to include an enclosed indoor area used by the general public and a place of employment that is (1) in an enclosed indoor area, and (2) has one or more employees. This came from our legal team on the issue: Depending upon the needs of the residents within AFC facilities and the rules regarding staffing requirements in the AFC Licensing Act, an AFC facility may have employees working in enclosed indoor work areas caring for the AFC residents. If an AFC has an employee working inside the facility, individuals are banned from smoking inside.
    
   AFC's generally fall into one of three categories: an Adult Foster Care Family Home, an Adult Foster Care Small Group Home and an Adult Foster Care Large Group Home.
   • “Adult foster care family home” means a private residence with the approved capacity to receive 6 or fewer adults to be provided with foster care for 5 or more days a week and for 2 or more consecutive weeks. The adult foster care family home licensee shall be a member of the household, and an occupant of the residence.
   • “Adult foster care small group home” means an adult foster care facility with the approved capacity to receive 12 or fewer adults to be provided with foster care.
   • “Adult foster care large group home” means an adult foster care facility with the approved capacity to receive at least 13 but not more than 20 adults to be provided with foster care.
      
   Depending upon the needs of the residents within AFC facilities and the rules regarding staffing requirements in the AFC Licensing Act, an AFC facility may have employees working in enclosed indoor work areas caring for the AFC residents.
    
   One of the things we have learned while implementing the state law is how many different situations/scenarios/types of businesses that require a lot of thought (and sometimes legal advice) on if and how the law should be applied to them. It's not as easy as it seems!
    
5. Utah: In Utah there is no current policy to restrict smoking in foster homes. However this issue has been added by the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) to a list of potential legislative issues to consider for further action. "Smoking Policies for Foster Parents" from the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning may be useful to you.
    
   During foster parent training, DCFS mentions smoking cessation and encourages parents to either quit, or not smoke around children in the home. According to one local health district there has been a previous challenge with foster parents allowing their foster children to use tobacco products, even though the children are underage legally.
    
6. Washington 1: Washington Administrative Code (WAC) prohibits smoking in foster homes in our state. Click here to view policy language, or see below:
    
   388-148-0185
   Is smoking permitted around children?
   1. You must prohibit smoking in the living space of any home or facility caring for children and in motor vehicles while transporting children.
   2. You may permit adults to smoke outdoors away from children.
   3. Nothing in this section is meant to interfere with traditional or spiritual Native American or religious ceremonies involving the use of tobacco.
       
   Response from WA Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), which oversees the foster home program: When [this Washington Administrative Code] went into effect in Washington, there was a lot of outcry about it among some in the foster parent community, mostly along the lines of “this is really going to affect the number of people who will remain foster parents or who want to become foster parents.” However, there appeared to be no effect on either category.
    
7. West Virginia: Unfortunately, WV is one of the States that has not yet “officially” addressed this policy change.
    
   There have been some discussions regarding this topic, but for now, there is no official rule, regulation or policy on tobacco-use in WV’s foster homes. We have not specifically promoted the WV Tobacco Cessation Quitline directly to foster parents, but we certainly will consider this a needed intervention!
    
8. Wyoming: Click to view the 2004 plan of action, developed by the Wyoming Department of Family Services.

Partner Responses:

1. Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium: A question similar to this one was asked a few months ago on CTCPeers*.
    
   Other useful resources include: a fact sheet from the Hunter College of Social Work on state smoking policies for foster parents, a STATE System fact sheet on smoke-free day care centers, and the Tobacco Public Policy Center website.
    
   *Editor’s note: CTCPeers is a listserv for local grantees of the California Tobacco Program, which is facilitated by TTAC. CTCPeers works much like Help Your Peers; local programs submit responses to the requestor based on their experiences with their program. Contact tcn@astho.org to request a full listing of responses to the question posted on the CTCPeers listserv.

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