(a) The Commissioner of Children and Families shall, within available appropriations, require any employee of the Department of Children and Families whose duties concern minority adoption and foster family recruitment to complete cultural sensitivity training.

(b) The commissioner shall designate a minority recruitment specialist for foster and adoptive families within the department as a permanent position. The minority recruitment specialist, in consultation with the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents, Inc., shall, within available appropriations: (1) Compile education or training materials for use by the child-placing agencies in training their staffs; (2) conduct in-service training for employees of the department; (3) provide consultation, technical assistance and other appropriate services to agencies in order to strengthen and improve delivery of services to diverse minority populations; (4) conduct workshops and training programs for foster care and adoption recruiters to enable such recruiters to evaluate the effectiveness of techniques for recruiting minority foster and adoptive families; and (5) perform other duties as may be required by the commissioner to implement the federal Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, as amended.

(P.A. 99-166, S. 16; P.A. 00-196, S. 45, 66.)

History: P.A. 00-196 made a technical change in Subsec. (b).

See Sec. 17a-118 re responsibility of Department of Children and Families for adoption assistance agreement and subsidy payment.