2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 26 - HUMAN SERVICES CODE (§§ 26-1-101 — 26-24-101) › Article 6 - Child Care Centers (§§ 26-6-101 — 26-6-923) › Part 9 - FOSTER CARE, RESIDENTIAL, DAY TREATMENT, AND CHILD PLACEMENT AGENCY LICENSING (§§ 26-6-901 — 26-6-923) › Section 26-6-903 - [Effective 9/1/2024] Definitions

As used in this part 9, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)
"Affiliate of a licensee" means:
(a)
A person or entity that owns more than five percent of the ownership interest in the business operated by the licensee or the applicant for a license; or
(b)
A person who is directly responsible for the care and welfare of children served; or
(c)
An executive, officer, member of the governing board, or employee of a licensee; or
(d)
A relative of a licensee, which relative provides care to children at the licensee's facility or agency or is otherwise involved in the management or operations of the licensee's facility or agency.
(2)
"Application" means a declaration of intent to obtain or continue a license or certificate for a residential or day treatment child care facility or child placement agency.
(3)
"Certificate" means a legal document granting permission to operate a foster care home or a kinship foster care home.
(4)
"Certification" means the process by which a county department of human or social services, a child placement agency, or a federally recognized tribe pursuant to applicable federal law approves the operation of a foster care home or a kinship foster care home.
(5)
"Child care center" means a facility, by whatever name known, that is maintained for twenty-four-hour care for five or more children, unless otherwise specified in this subsection (5), who are not related to the owner, operator, or manager of the facility, whether the facility is operated with or without compensation for such care and with or without stated educational purposes. The term includes, but is not limited to, facilities commonly known as residential child care facilities, day treatment facilities, specialized group facilities, secure residential treatment centers, and respite child care facilities.
(6)
"Child placement agency" or "agency" means a corporation, partnership, association, firm, agency, institution, or person unrelated to the child being placed, who places, facilitates placement for a fee, or arranges for placement for care of a child under eighteen years of age with a family, person, or institution. A child placement agency may place, facilitate placement, or arrange for the placement of a child for the purpose of adoption, foster care, treatment foster care, or therapeutic foster care. The natural parents or guardian of a child who place the child for care with a facility licensed as a family child care home or child care center, as defined in section
26.5-5-303
, are not a child placement agency.
(7)
"Cradle care home" means a facility that is certified by a child placement agency for the care of a child, or children in the case of multiple-birth siblings, who is twelve months of age or younger, in a place of residence for the purpose of providing twenty-four-hour family care for six months or less in anticipation of a voluntary relinquishment of the child or children, pursuant to article
5
of title
19
, or while a county prepares an expedited permanency plan for an infant in its custody.
(8)
(a)
(I)
"Day treatment center" means a facility that:
(A)
Except as provided in subsection (8)(a)(II) of this section, provides less than twenty-four-hour care for groups of five or more children who are three years of age or older, but less than twenty-one years of age; and
(B)
Provides a structured program of various types of psycho-social and behavioral treatment to prevent or reduce the need for placement of the child out of the home or community.
(II)
Nothing in this subsection (8) prohibits a day treatment center from allowing a person who reaches twenty-one years of age after the commencement of an academic year from attending an educational program at the day treatment center through the end of the semester in which the twenty-first birthday occurs or until the person completes the educational program, whichever comes first.
(b)
"Day treatment center" does not include special education programs operated by a public or private school system or programs that are licensed by the department of early childhood for less than twenty-four-hour care of children, such as a child care center.
(9)
"Department" or "state department" means the state department of human services.
(10)
"Foster care home" means a home that is certified by a county department or a child placement agency pursuant to section
26-6-910
, or a federally recognized tribe pursuant to applicable federal law, for child care in a place of residence of a family or person for the purpose of providing twenty-four-hour family foster care for a child or youth less than twenty-one years of age. A foster care home may include foster care for a child or youth who is unrelated to the head of the home. The term includes a foster care home that receives a child for regular twenty-four-hour care and a home that receives a child or youth from a state-operated institution for child care or from a child placement agency. "Foster care home" also includes those homes licensed by the department pursuant to section
26-6-905
that receive neither money from the counties nor children or youth placed by the counties.
(11)
"Governing body" means the individual, partnership, corporation, or association in which the ultimate authority and legal responsibility is vested for the administration and operation of a residential or day treatment child care facility or a child placement agency.
(12)
"Guardian" means a person who is entrusted by law with the care of a child under eighteen years of age.
(13)
"Homeless youth shelter" means a facility that, in addition to other services it may provide, provides services and mass temporary shelter for a period of three days or more to youths who are at least eleven years of age or older and who otherwise are homeless youth as that term is defined in section
26-5.7-102 (2)
.
(14)
"ICON" means the computerized database of court records known as the integrated Colorado online network used by the state judicial department.
(15)
"Kin" means a relative of the child, a person ascribed by the family as having a family-like relationship with the child, or a person that has a prior significant relationship with the child. These relationships take into account cultural values and continuity of significant relationships with the child.
(16)
"Kinship foster care home" means a Kinship foster care home that has been certified pursuant to section 26-6-910 to care for a relative or kin only. A kinship foster care home provides twenty-four-hour foster care for a child or youth who is a relative or kin, who is less than twenty-one years of age, and who is eligible for the same foster care reimbursement, assistance, and other supports as foster care homes pursuant to section 26-6-904.5. "Kinship foster care home" does not include non-certified kinship care as that term is defined in subsection (21.5) of this section.
(17)
"License" means a legal document issued pursuant to this part 9 granting permission to operate a residential or day treatment child care facility or child placement agency. A license may be in the form of a provisional, probationary, permanent, or time-limited license.
(18)
"Licensee" means the entity or individual to which a license is issued and that has the legal capacity to enter into an agreement or contract, assume obligations, incur and pay debts, sue and be sued in its own right, and be held responsible for its actions. A licensee may be a governing body.
(19)
"Licensing" means, except as otherwise provided in subsection (10) of this section, the process by which the department approves a facility or agency for the purpose of conducting business as a residential or day treatment child care facility or child placement agency.
(20)
"Medical foster care" means a program of foster care that provides home-based care for medically fragile children and youth who would otherwise be confined to a hospital or institutional setting and includes, but is not limited to:
(a)
Infants impacted by prenatal drug and alcohol abuse;
(b)
Children with developmental disabilities that require ongoing medical intervention;
(c)
Children and youth diagnosed with acquired immune deficiency syndrome or human immunodeficiency virus;
(d)
Children with a failure to thrive or other nutritional disorders; and
(e)
Children dependent on technology such as respirators, tracheotomy tubes, or ventilators to survive.
(21)
(a)
"Negative licensing action" means a final agency action resulting in the denial of an application, the imposition of fines, or the suspension or revocation of a license issued pursuant to this part 9 or the demotion of such a license to a probationary license.
(b)
As used in this subsection (21), "final agency action" means the determination made by the department, after the opportunity for a hearing, to deny, suspend, revoke, or demote to probationary status a license issued pursuant to this part 9 or an agreement between the department and the licensee concerning the demotion of such a license to a probationary license.
(21.5)
"Non-certified kinship care" means kinship care that is provided to a child or youth who is less than twenty-one years of age by a relative or kin who has a significant relationship with the child or youth and who has either chosen not to pursue the certification process or who has not met the certification requirements for a kinship foster care home as set forth in this part 9.
(22)
"Out-of-home placement provider consortium" means a group of service providers that are formally organized and managed to achieve the goals of the county, group of counties, or mental health agency contracting for additional services other than treatment-related or child maintenance services.
(23)
"Person" means a corporation, partnership, association, firm, agency, institution, or individual.
(24)
"Place of residence" means the place or abode where a person actually lives and provides child care.
(25)
"Qualified individual" means a trained professional or licensed clinician, as defined in the federal "Family First Prevention Services Act". A "qualified individual" must be approved to serve as a qualified individual according to the state plan. A "qualified individual" must not be an interested party or participant in the juvenile court proceeding and must be free of any personal or business relationship that would cause a conflict of interest in evaluating the child, juvenile, or youth or making recommendations concerning the child's, juvenile's, or youth's placement and therapeutic needs according to the federal Title IV-E state plan or any waiver in accordance with
42 U.S.C. sec. 675a
.
(26)
"Qualified residential treatment program" means a licensed and accredited program that has a trauma-informed treatment model that is designed to address the child's or youth's needs, including clinical needs, as appropriate, of children and youth with serious emotional or behavioral disorders or disturbances in accordance with the federal "Family First Prevention Services Act",
42 U.S.C. 672 (k)(4)
, and is able to implement the treatment identified for the child or youth by the assessment of the child or youth required in section
19-1-115 (4)(e)(I)
.
(27)
"Related" means any of the following relationships by blood, marriage, or adoption: Parent, grandparent, brother, sister, stepparent, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, or cousin.
(28)
"Relative" means any of the following relationships by blood, marriage, or adoption: Parent, grandparent, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, brother, sister, stepparent, stepbrother, stepsister, stepson, stepdaughter, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, or cousin.
(29)
"Residential child care facility" means a facility licensed by the state department pursuant to this part 9 to provide twenty-four-hour group care and treatment for five or more children operated under private, public, or nonprofit sponsorship. "Residential child care facility" includes community-based residential child care facilities; qualified residential treatment programs, as defined in section
26-5.4-102 (2)
; shelter facilities; and psychiatric residential treatment facilities as defined in section
25.5-4-103
(19.5). A residential child care facility may be eligible for designation by the executive director of the state department pursuant to article
65
of title
27
. A child who is admitted to a residential child care facility must be:
(a)
Five years of age or older but less than eighteen years of age; or
(b)
Less than twenty-one years of age and placed by court order or voluntary placement; or
(c)
Accompanied by a parent if less than five years of age.
(30)
"Residential or day treatment child care facility" or "facility" means a residential child care facility, including a qualified residential treatment program, psychiatric residential treatment program, shelter care program, and homeless youth program; specialized group facility, including a group home and group center; day treatment center; secure residential treatment center; respite child care center; or homeless youth shelter, including a host family home.
(31)
"Respite child care center" means a facility for the purpose of providing temporary twenty-four-hour group care for three or more children or youth who are placed in certified foster care homes or approved noncertified kinship care homes, and children or youth with open cases through a regional accountable entity. A respite child care center is not a treatment facility, but rather its primary purpose is providing recreational activities, peer engagement, and skill development to the children and youth in its care. A respite child care center serves children and youth from five years of age to twenty-one years of age. A respite child care center may offer care for only part of a day. For purposes of this subsection (31), "respite child care" means an alternate form of care to enable caregivers to be temporarily relieved of caregiving responsibilities.
(32)
"Secure residential treatment center" means a facility operated under private ownership that is licensed by the department pursuant to this part 9 to provide twenty-four-hour group care and treatment in a secure setting for five or more children or persons up to the age of twenty-one years over whom the juvenile court retains jurisdiction pursuant to section
19-2.5-103 (6)
who are committed by a court, pursuant to an adjudication of delinquency or pursuant to a determination of guilt of a delinquent act or having been convicted as an adult and sentenced for an act that would be a crime if committed in Colorado, or in the committing jurisdiction, to be placed in a secure facility.
(33)
"Sibling" means one or more individuals having one or both parents in common.
(34)
(a)
"Specialized group facility" means a facility sponsored and supervised by a county department or a licensed child placement agency for the purpose of providing twenty-four-hour care for three or more children, but fewer than twelve children, whose special needs can best be met through the medium of a small group. A child who is admitted to a specialized group facility must be:
(I)
At least seven years of age or older but less than eighteen years of age;
(II)
Less than twenty-one years of age and placed by court order or voluntary placement; or
(III)
Accompanied by a parent or legal guardian if less than seven years of age.
(b)
"Specialized group facility" includes specialized group homes and specialized group centers.
(35)
"Therapeutic foster care" means a program of foster care that incorporates treatment for the special physical, psychological, or emotional needs of a child placed with specially trained foster parents, but does not include medical foster care.
(36)
"Treatment foster care" means a clinically effective alternative to a residential treatment facility that combines the treatment technologies typically associated with more restrictive settings with a nurturing and individualized family environment.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 289,§ 7, eff. 9/1/2024.
Added by 2022 Ch. 123, § 17, eff. 7/1/2022.
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.