Hawaii Administrative Rules › Title 17 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES › Department of Human Services › Chapter 1617 - FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE AND RELATED PAYMENTS › Section 17-1617-2 - Definitions

Current through June, 2024
As used in this chapter:
"Adoptive home" means a home, which has been studied and
				  approved by the department or a licensed child-placing organization for the
				  placement of children for the purpose of adoption.
"Aid to families with dependent children" or "AFDC" means
				  federally funded aid to families with dependent children based on meeting
				  requirements defined in 45 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R) Part 233 and in
				  effect on July 16, 1996.
"Caregiver" means any adult other than the legal custodian
				  authorized to provide care or oversee the care of children.
"Child" means a person who is born alive and is less than
				  eighteen years of age.
"Child-caring institution" or "group home" means any
				  institution or group home licensed by the department, for the purpose of
				  receiving six or more unrelated minor children for temporary substitute
				  supervision, care, and maintenance apart from their legal custodians on a
				  twenty-four hour basis for monetary payment. This term shall not apply to any
				  boarding school which is primarily engaged in educational work or to any
				  resource family home, detention facility, forestry camp, training school, or
				  facility operated primarily for the detention of delinquent children. This term
				  shall also exclude public child care institutions that accommodate more than
				  twenty five children.
"Constructive removal" means a non-physical removal of
				  custody from a legal parent or legal custodian with whom the child resided
				  within six months of the constructive removal. A child is considered
				  constructively removed on the date of the first judicial order removing
				  custody, even temporarily, from the appropriate specified relative or the date
				  that the 'voluntary placement agreement is signed by all relevant
				  parties.
"Date child is considered to have entered foster care" means
				  the earlier of the date of the first judicial finding that the child has been
				  subjected to child abuse or neglect or the date that is 60 days after the date
				  on which the child is removed from the home.
"Difficulty of care payments" or "difficulty of care" means
				  payments in addition to the basic foster care maintenance board rate based on
				  the level of care and supervision a child requires as determined by an
				  assessment of the child's level of overall functioning. Payments for difficulty
				  of care can be issued when the child requires an increased level of care and
				  supervision that is over and above the average level needed by a child due to
				  physical or mental health conditions, or emotional, psychological, or
				  behavioral needs, which are being treated by a professional. Payments for
				  difficulty of care may also be issued when the child requires academic or
				  educational assistance that is over and above the average assistance needed for
				  a child as documented by appropriate school personnel.
"Emergency shelter home" means a licensed resource family
				  home or child-caring institution where temporary care, apart from the legal
				  custodian, is provided to abused or neglected or other dependent children in
				  need of care and protection on a twenty-four hour basis, until more suitable
				  plans are made for the children.
"Federally funded foster care maintenance payments" means
				  the financial assistance program administered by the department under Title
				  IV-E of the Social Security Act (
				  42
				  U.S.C. sections 670 -
				  672
				  in effect July 16, 1996). For purposes of Titles XIX and XX, any child with
				  respect to whom Title IV-E foster care maintenance payments are made under this
				  section will be deemed a dependent child as defined in section 406 of the Act
				  (as so in effect 7/16/1996) and shall be deemed to be a recipient of aid to
				  families with dependent children under Part A of this Title (as so in effect
				  7/16/1996). Titles XIX and XX services will be available to such child in the
				  State in which the child resides.
"Foster care" and "foster care services" means temporary
				  substitute supervision, care, and maintenance apart from the child's legal
				  custodians on a twenty-four hour basis for monetary payment in a licensed
				  resource family home, or group home licensed by the department or other
				  appropriate agency, to an eligible child pursuant to this chapter, whose legal
				  custodians are unwilling or unable to provide a safe family home for the
				  child's safety, welfare and protection as determined by the department pursuant
				  to the child protective act.
"Foster care maintenance payments" means payments issued by
				  the department to compensate eligible caregivers for the provision of care and
				  supervision to eligible foster children. Foster care maintenance payments
				  consist of a basic board rate, and if appropriate, difficulty of care payments
				  based on an assessment of the child's need for higher level of care and
				  supervision.
"Foster care related payments" means payments for specified
				  related costs not covered in the foster care maintenance payments for an
				  eligible child, including but not limited to clothing, transportation, limited
				  medical expenses, and activity fees.
"Foster child" means:
(1) Any child under eighteen years of age in out-of-home care
				  who is under the placement responsibility of the department, or
(2) A youth under the placement responsibility of the
				  department receiving state-funded foster care who is under the age of 2 0 and
				  remains enrolled in high school.
"Independent placement" means placement of a child into a
				  licensed resource family home directly by the child's legal custodian, and not
				  through a child-placing agency.
"Initial date of entry into out-of-home care" means the
				  initial date on which the department assumed placement responsibility of a
				  child:
(1) By receipt of custody of the child from the
				  police;
(2) Pursuant to a voluntary agreement with the legal
				  custodian;
(3) By order of the court; or
(4) By placing a child in foster care and thereby assuming
				  temporary foster custody of a child subject to court ordered family
				  supervision, pursuant to section
				  587A-4, HRS.
"Legal custodian" means the child's parent(s), permanent
				  custodian(s), legal guardian(s), or other entities that have legal and physical
				  custody of the child.
"Out-of-home care" means placement which is apart from the
				  child's legal custodian which provides twenty-four hour parenting care,
				  including, but not limited to a licensed relative's home, a resource family
				  home, or a child-caring institution.
"Parental deprivation" means depriving a child of parental
				  support or care by reason of death, continued absence from the home (other than
				  absence based solely on performance of active duty in the uniformed services of
				  the United States), physical or mental incapacity of a parent, or unemployment
				  of the parent who is the principal wage earner, as defined in
				  45 C.F.R., section
				  233.100.
"Periodic review" means a judicial review of the status of
				  each child in out-of-home care under the placement responsibility of the
				  department which is held within six months of the initial date of entry into
				  out-of-home care and at least every six months thereafter.
"Placement responsibility" means the authority of the
				  department or other agency or individual to determine the placement and care of
				  the child.
"Provisionally licensed resource family home" means a home
				  approved for placement of a child that has been determined appropriate by the
				  department for a placement of a child while completing the requirements to
				  become a licensed resource family home.
"Reasonable efforts" means appropriate and available
				  services offered or provided to prevent the placement of a child, to reunify a
				  family, or to finalize the permanency plan for the child.
"Resource family home" means a home which has met the state
				  licensing requirements in chapter 17-1625, HAR, in which minor children are
				  received for temporary substitute supervision, care and maintenance apart from
				  their legal custodians on a twenty-four hour basis for monetary payment.
"Resource family" or "resource caregiver" means a family or
				  person who is:
(1) Licensed by the department to provide temporary safe
				  foster care services for children under the jurisdiction of the department in
				  out-of-home care; and
(2) Paid foster care maintenance payments by the department
				  for such services.
"Respite care payments" means the payments provided by the
				  department to reimburse licensed resource families for the cost of obtaining an
				  alternate caregiver for the temporary care of a foster child under the
				  placement responsibility of the department. These funds are limited each fiscal
				  year and respite care payments may not be available once the allotted funds
				  have been expended.
"Specified relative" means father, mother, brother, sister,
				  half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, uncle half-blood, aunt half-blood,
				  great uncle, great aunt, great uncle half-blood, great aunt half-blood,
				  grandfather, grandmother, great grandfather, great grandmother, first cousin,
				  first cousin once removed, nephew or niece, great-great grandmother,
				  great-great grandfather, great-great-great grandmother, great-great-great
				  grandfather, great-great aunt, great-great uncle, great-great aunt half-blood,
				  great-great uncle half-blood, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, and
				  stepsister; the adoptive parents of a legally adopted child as well as other
				  natural or legally adopted children and relatives of the adoptive parents; and
				  the legally married spouse of any of the persons specified in this subsection
				  even after the marriage has ended in death or divorce.
"Voluntary foster custody agreement" means a written
				  agreement, binding on the parties to the agreement, between the Department, any
				  other agency acting on its behalf, and the parents or guardians of a minor
				  child which specifies, at a minimum, the legal status of the child and the
				  rights and obligations of the parents or guardians, the child, and the agency
				  while the child is in placement.
"Voluntary placement" means an out-of-home placement of a
				  minor, by or with participation of a State agency, after the parents or
				  guardians of the minor have requested the assistance of the agency and signed a
				  voluntary placement agreement.