Minimum requirement for behaviour Management Policy

(1) Every operator registered and licensed under these Regulations shall maintain current behaviour management policies in writing and such policies shall be made available to residents, staff, parents, duly authorized persons of the Ministry and other relevant agencies. (2) Behaviour management policies shall include– (a) goals and purpose of the programme; (b) permitted and prohibited forms of discipline; (c) circumstances and with whose approval, particular measures may be taken; (d) methods of monitoring and documenting the implementation of (e) special incident forms and logbook which includes the following information– (i) name of child; (ii) details of unacceptable behaviour; Social Service Agencies 97 (iii) nature of discipline; (iv) name of resident/s involved; (v) date and time of incident; (vi) immediate actions taken by assistant on duty; (vii) name if assistant on duty. (3) Policies shall be in compliance with the Convention on The Rights of the Child and shall prohibit– (a) the use of corporal punishment; (b) the denial of food, sleep, use of toilet facilities and other such cruel and humiliating treatment of (c) the punishment of residents by other residents, unauthorized members of staff, members of the board of directors or volunteers. (4) Policies shall include guidelines that delineate the use of temporary restrictions of freedom, and restraint deemed reasonable in specific incidents. (a) Forced isolation or confinement is permitted only in cases where a child is out of control and poses a threat to himself or others and shall be a last resort. (b) All incidents of forced isolation or confinement shall be recorded in the daily logbook. 98 Social Service Agencies (c) No child under nine shall be placed in confinement. (d) The length of time in confinement shall be age and developmentally appropriate and shall not exceed three hours. (e) Any child in confinement shall be checked on every ten minutes by a member of staff and these checks shall be documented in the daily logbook. (6) Policies shall include guidelines on permitted course of action to deal with a resident’s absence from the facility without permission, including the reporting of such incidents to the Police. (7) All special incidents will be duly documented on the prescribed form and a copy of said form shall be forwarded to the Ministry within 48 hours. SUB-PART H Minimum Requirements for Counselling and Health and Family