Section 401.300  The Executive Director

a)         The child welfare agency shall hire an executive director who shall be a full-time employee designated by the governing body to carry out the day-to-day management of the child welfare agency and the policies and procedures established by the governing body who is available to the Department upon request.  The requirements of this Section apply to the person who reports to the board about the day to day management of the agency, regardless of the title used to describe the position within the agency.  When the child welfare agency operates within a larger, multi-service agency, the executive director responsible for the child welfare agency need not be the chief executive officer for the multi-service agency.

b)         The executive director shall have:

1)         a Master's of Social Work degree from an accredited school of social work and three years' work experience in social work administration; or

2)         a Master's degree in a human services field from an accredited school and five years work experience in human services administration; or

3)         a Master's degree in Business Administration or Health Administration and 5 years experience in administration.  Such degrees are acceptable only if the executive director never functions as the child welfare supervisor and the child welfare supervisor has a Master's of Social Work degree from an accredited school of social work or a Master's degree in a human services field from an accredited school.

c)         If the executive director also serves as the child welfare supervisor, the executive director also must meet the qualifications in Section 401.310 for the child welfare supervisor.

d)         All persons serving as executive director as of May 26, 1998 who were qualified as the administrator under former Section 401.11 of this Part (The Administrator) and who have served in that capacity for a minimum of 5 years immediately preceding July 1, 1998 shall continue to be deemed qualified for their positions as executive director for the child welfare agency where they are employed as of July 1, 1998.

e)         A qualified supervisor or manager shall be appointed to act on behalf of the executive director when the executive director is absent and cannot be reached in the event of an emergency.

f)         If the executive director is to be on leave for more than one month or has left his or her position prior to the hiring of a replacement, the Department shall be notified within five business days of the name of the person appointed as acting executive director.  The acting executive director shall have the qualifications required of an executive director as specified in this Section.

(Source:  Amended at 36 Ill. Reg. 2157, effective January 30, 2012)