Code of Maine Rules › 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › 148 - OFFICE OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES › Chapter 19 - RULES PROVIDING FOR LICENSING OF CHILD PLACING AGENCIES WITH AND WITHOUT ADOPTION PROGRAMS, INCLUDING ADDENDUM, HOME CERTIFICATION PROCESS › Section 148-19-1 - DEFINITIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A. "Adult" shall mean a person who has
				attained his 18th birthday.
B.
				"Advertise" shall mean the act of stating in writing that the facility is
				available and willing to provide an individual with services which will result
				in the placing or assisting in finding homes for children under 18 years of age
				for purposes of either adoption or foster care.
C. "Blood relatives" shall mean mother,
				fathers, sister, brother grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews and first
				cousins.
D. "Case Management" shall
				mean the implementation of a case plan, and case supervision, including
				arranging for support services in maintaining individuals in their own homes or
				substitute living arrangements.
E.
				"Casework Services" shall mean the combination of activities whereby agency
				staff carry out the process of assisting people in reaching and implementing
				decisions for themselves and their children. This process is carried out within
				a meaningful professional relationship.
F. "Child" shall mean a person under the age
				of 18 who is not related by blood or marriage to, or who has not been legally
				adopted by, the licensee or administrator of any child placing
				agency.
G. "Child Placing Agency"
				shall mean any facility which advertises itself or holds itself out as finding
				homes for or otherwise placing children under the age of 18, in homes where
				care is provided on the basis of 24 hours a day.
H. "Commissioner" shall mean the Commissioner
				of the Department of Human Services.
I. "Department" shall mean the Department of
				Human Services.
J. "Facility" shall
				mean any person partnership, voluntary association or corporation.
K. "Foster Care" shall mean the full time
				care with provision of those things necessary to assure safe healthful living
				for the child unattended by parent or guardians, including but not limited to
				food, shelter and appropriate supervision. This shall not include placement
				with blood relatives, relatives by marriage or relatives by adoption.
L. "Holding out" shall mean a series of
				actions or oral statements by a facility which affirmatively communicates the
				facility's availability and willingness to place or assist in finding homes for
				children for purposes of either adoption or foster care.
M. "Reasonable cost of services provided"
				shall mean the cost which does not exceed either the actual cost of services
				provided to the child to be adopted, the child's biological parent(s), and the
				adoptive family, or the cost which does not exceed the average cost of those
				services based on the costs of the total adoption program.
N. "Relatives by adoption" shall mean
				adoptive mother, adoptive fathers, adoptive grandparents adoptive sister or
				brother, and the brother or sister of the adoptive parent.
O. "Relatives by marriage" shall mean
				step-mother, step-father, stepbrother, step-sister, step-grandparents, and
				brother or sister of step-parent.