House File 572 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 572 BY EHLERT , McCONKEY , KRESSIG , and BROWN-POWERS A BILL FOR An Act relating to implicit bias training required for the 1 licensure or certification of certain persons and facilities 2 providing care to children. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 1920YH (6) 89 dg/rh

H.F. 572 Section 1. Section 237.5A, subsection 1, Code 2021, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 1. As a condition for initial licensure, each individual 3 licensee shall complete thirty hours of foster parent training 4 offered or approved by the department. Foster parent training 5 shall include but not be limited to implicit bias training. 6 However, if the licensee has completed relevant training or has 7 a combination of completed relevant training and experience, 8 and the department deems such training or combination to be 9 an acceptable equivalent to all or a portion of the initial 10 licensure training requirement, or based upon the circumstances 11 of the child and the licensee the department finds there is 12 other good cause, the department may waive all or a portion of 13 the training requirement. Prior to renewal of licensure, each 14 individual licensee shall also annually complete six hours of 15 foster parent training. The training shall include but is not 16 limited to physical care, education, learning disabilities, 17 referral to and receipt of necessary professional services, 18 behavioral assessment and modification, self-assessment, 19 self-living skills, implicit biases, and biological parent 20 contact. An individual licensee may complete the training as 21 part of an approved training program offered by a public or 22 private agency with expertise in the provision of child foster 23 care or in related subject areas. The department shall adopt 24 rules to implement and enforce this training requirement. 25 Sec. 2. Section 237A.12, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code 26 2021, is amended to read as follows: 27 a. The number and qualifications of personnel necessary 28 to assure the health, safety, and welfare of children in the 29 facilities. Rules for facilities which are preschools shall 30 be drawn so that any staff-to-children ratios which relate to 31 the age of the children enrolled shall be based on the age 32 of the majority of the children served by a particular class 33 rather than on the age of the youngest child served. Rules for 34 facilities shall require personnel to receive implicit bias 35 -1- LSB 1920YH (6) 89 dg/rh 1/ 3

H.F. 572 training. 1 Sec. 3. Section 237C.3, subsection 2, Code 2021, is amended 2 to read as follows: 3 2. Standards established by the department under this 4 chapter shall at a minimum address the basic health and 5 educational needs of children; protection of children from 6 mistreatment, abuse, and neglect; background and records 7 checks of persons providing care to children in facilities 8 certified under this chapter ; mandatory implicit bias training 9 for persons providing care to children in facilities certified 10 under this chapter; the use of seclusion, restraint, or other 11 restrictive interventions; health; safety; emergency; and the 12 physical premises on which care is provided by a children’s 13 residential facility. The background check requirements shall 14 be substantially equivalent to those applied under chapter 237 15 for a child foster care facility provider. 16 EXPLANATION 17 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 18 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 19 This bill relates to implicit bias training required for the 20 licensure or certification of certain persons and facilities 21 providing care to children. 22 The bill adds implicit bias training as an additional 23 training subject that an individual child foster care licensee 24 applicant or current foster care licensee must receive in order 25 to obtain or renew a child foster care license. 26 The bill directs the department of human services to create 27 rules that require child care facility personnel to receive 28 implicit bias training. Child care facilities include child 29 care centers, preschools, and registered child development 30 homes. Child care facilities do not include unregistered child 31 care homes. 32 The bill directs the department of human services to 33 add mandatory implicit bias training standards for persons 34 providing care to children in a children’s residential 35 -2- LSB 1920YH (6) 89 dg/rh 2/ 3

H.F. 572 facility. Under current law, minimum standards related to 1 children’s residential facilities include basic health and 2 educational needs of children; protection of children from 3 mistreatment, abuse, and neglect; background and records checks 4 of persons providing care to children in certified children’s 5 residential facilities; the use of seclusion, restraint, or 6 other restrictive interventions; health; safety; emergency; and 7 the physical premises on which care is provided by a children’s 8 residential facility. Children’s residential facilities are 9 24-hour private care facilities designed to serve children who 10 were voluntarily placed in the facility for reasons other than 11 an exclusively recreational activity and who are not under 12 the custody or authority of the department of human services, 13 juvenile court, or another governmental agency. 14 -3- LSB 1920YH (6) 89 dg/rh 3/ 3