You must meet all of the following requirements for bedrooms if you provide full-time care in a home or facility.
(1) An adult must be on the same floor or within easy hearing distance and access to where children under six years of age are sleeping. Infants under age one year must be on the same floor as an adult.
(2) You must use only bedrooms that have unrestricted direct access to hallways, corridors, living rooms, day rooms, or other such common use areas.
(3) You must not use hallways, kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms, and unfinished basements as bedrooms.
(4) For facilities licensed after December 31, 1986, bedrooms must have both:
(a) Adequate ceiling height for the safety and comfort of the occupants. Normally, this would be seven and a half feet; and
(b) A window that can open into the outside, allowing natural light into the bedroom and permitting emergency access or exit.
(5) Foster children must not share the same bedroom with children six years or older of a different gender.
(6) Children in care must not share the same bed.
(7) In group care facilities and staffed residential homes licensed for six children, single occupancy bedrooms must provide at least fifty square feet of floor space.
(8) In foster homes and staffed residential homes licensed for five or fewer children, single occupancy bedrooms must provide adequate floor space for the safety and comfort of the child. Normally, this would be at least fifty square feet of floor space, not including closets.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.15.030 and chapter 74.15 RCW. 04-08-073, § 388-148-0260, filed 4/5/04, effective 5/6/04. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.15.030. 01-18-037, § 388-148-0260, filed 8/28/01, effective 9/28/01.]