(1) A mental health center providing foster care shall employ or contract with at least one adult foster care specialist.

(2) The adult foster care specialist shall have the knowledge and skills needed to effectively perform foster care specialist duties. Minimum qualifications for a foster care specialist are a bachelor's degree in a human services field with one year of full time experience serving people with mental illnesses. Individuals with other educational backgrounds who, as providers, consumers or advocates of mental health services have developed the necessary skills, may also be employed as foster care specialists. The mental health center's foster care specialists position description may contain equivalency provisions.

(3) The adult foster care specialist shall:

(a) implement and coordinate mental health services to clients;

(b) carry a case load of not more than 16 foster care clients;

(c) meet with the foster care provider at least weekly in his or her home or whenever there is a significant change in the client's condition, to assess, at a minimum, the following:

(i) the provider's ability to continue to meet the needs of the client as determined by the treatment plan; and

(ii) whether supports for the foster care provider are adequate; and

(d) document bi-weekly summaries or sooner if there is a significant change in the client's condition regarding the client's treatment in the client's clinical record.

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