Each agency or entity, except for a community college, which offers a parenting course as part of a family maintenance or family reunification effort for a parent or parents of a child who has been adjudicated or is in the process of being adjudicated a dependent child of the court under Section 300, or whose family is participating in a voluntary family maintenance program, shall meet all of the requirements specified in this section. Effective July 1, 1992, organizations which receive state funding for the purpose of providing parenting courses shall meet those requirements as a condition of receiving state funding. The requirements are as follows:
(a) Each parenting course shall be no more than six months in duration, and shall meet for a specified number of hours determined by each program as sufficient for the program to meet all of the requirements listed in subdivision (b).
(b) The curriculum shall include all of the following components:
(1) Building self-esteem, including, but not limited to, parents’ building a positive parental identity and building the self-esteem of their children.
(2) Handling stress and anger.
(3) The growth and development of children, including, but not limited to, safety, nutrition, and health.
(4) Developing and increasing communication skills in order that a parent may learn to listen to and speak with his or her child or children.
(5) Learning to use positive disciplinary mechanisms as alternatives to the physical punishment of a child, including, but not limited to, learning what constitutes abuse and neglect.
(6) Learning the boundaries of permissible sexual conduct by adults with regard to children.
(7) Respect for, and sensitivity to, cultural differences in child rearing practices in addressing all of the topics listed in paragraphs (1) to (6), inclusive.
(c) Each parenting course is encouraged to have a maximum parent to teacher ratio of 15 parents for each teacher.
(d) Each parenting course is encouraged to conduct an initial assessment and interview of each parent enrolled in the course.
(e) Each parenting course shall give a preliminary examination prior to the start of the parenting course and an examination at the conclusion of the parenting course to measure changes in parental attitudes.
(f) Each parenting course shall enter into a written agreement with each parent with respect to the responsibilities a parent must satisfy in order to pass the course.
(g) The staff of each parenting course shall have training in the following areas:
(1) The prevention of child abuse and neglect.
(2) Parenting techniques.
(h) Each parenting course shall provide all of the following information to the county welfare department of the county in which the course is taught, for clients referred through child welfare services programs:
(1) Level of participation by parents.
(2) Number of course hours completed.
(3) Topics covered during attendance in class by a parent and topics covered during a parent’s absence from class.
(4) Assessment of a parent’s gain in his or her knowledge about parenting as demonstrated by tests prior to and after the parenting course.
(Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 1112, Sec. 2.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018