Juvenile Care Centers

Protecting your organization

Five steps

Here are five steps you can take today to protect your organization from liability:

1. Instruct children, parents, and staff on acceptable and unacceptable internet use
2. Post the rules for acceptable usage in a prominent place
3. Instruct children to report to a staff member all harassing, threatening, or sexually explicit attention they receive through email or in a chat room
4. Supervise children's use of the internet, especially email and chat rooms
5. Monitor and record all visits made to prohibited sites and take appropriate action to ensure children don't visit these sites again

What Determines High Group Home Insurance Costs?

A group home insurance plan provides coverage for agencies and non-profit groups that offer services in a group home setting. These settings provide care and services to various individuals, including those who suffer from mental disabilities, physical handicaps, or require a level of constant care.

The cost of these plans, which are not offered by a large group of insurance companies, can vary but be very costly based on the nature of services provided by the agency. Several determinants will affect the price of a group home insurance policy and need to be taken into account when considering this coverage.

Services Provided

The nature of services provided by the group home will influence the cost of coverage. A daycare center will not have nearly the same level of risks as a group home for mentally disabled residents. The amount of care and handling needed to protect residents and provide them with the necessary care increases liability for the provider. This liability translates into a real cost to the insurance company and will result in a policy that has a high premium.

Staff Qualifications

The qualifications of the staff will also play a role in the cost of a group home insurance plan. A group home that hires staff with a college degree will have a lower cost than a group home that employs staff with a high school diploma. The higher the level of education that the staff has, the quality of care and the level of awareness regarding the patients' or residents' needs will be better. This should translate into lower incidents of accidents, deaths, and other hazards that may result in an insurance claim against the group home.

Years in Business

The number of years that a group home has been in operation and the facility's age are additional factors that will influence the cost of insurance. An older established group home will have policies and procedures that have been built over time in addressing the unique needs of their residents. This should mean that their insurance premiums will be lower than those of a newer group home that has not established itself.

Older Facilities

Older facilities tend to have more hazards than a facility that has been built recently. The newer facility will comply with OSHA and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements for special needs residents and have been built to those standards. Retrofitting an older, existing facility is costly for many agencies, and the resulting non-compliance means that more work will be done to maintain code standards.

These factors are part of the risk considerations that an insurance company will consider when deciding to provide insurance protection for a group home.