(a) The department shall ensure that operators and staff of community care facilities have appropriate training to provide the care and services for which a license or certificate is issued. The section shall not apply to a facility licensed as an Adult Residential Facility for Persons with Special Health Care Needs pursuant to Article 9 (commencing with Section 1567.50).

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that children in foster care reside in the least restrictive, family-based settings that can meet their needs, and that group homes and short-term residential therapeutic programs will be used only for short-term, specialized, and intensive treatment purposes that are consistent with a case plan that is determined by a child’s best interests. Accordingly, the Legislature encourages the department to adopt policies, practices, and guidance that ensure that the education, qualification, and training requirements for childcare staff in group homes and short-term residential therapeutic programs are consistent with the intended role of group homes and short-term residential therapeutic programs to provide short-term, specialized, and intensive treatment, with a particular focus on crisis intervention, behavioral stabilization, and other treatment-related goals, as well as the connections between those efforts and work toward permanency for children.

(c) (1) Each person employed as a facility manager or staff member of a group home or short-term residential therapeutic program, as defined in paragraphs (13) and (18) of subdivision (a) of Section 1502, who provides direct care and supervision to children and youth residing in the group home or short-term residential therapeutic program shall be at least 21 years of age.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a facility manager or staff member employed at the group home before October 1, 2014.

(3) For purposes of this subdivision, “group home” does not include a youth homelessness prevention center.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 341, Sec. 11. (AB 1235) Effective January 1, 2020.)