Code of Maine Rules › 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › 148 - OFFICE OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES › Chapter 17 - RULES FOR LICENSING OF FAMILY FOSTER HOMES PROVIDING RESPITE CARE FOR CHILDREN › Section 148-17-1 - DEFINITIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
As used in these rules the following definitions shall
				  apply:
A. "Family Foster Home for
				Children" means a children's home that is a private dwelling where substitute
				parental care is provided within a family on a regular, 24-hour a day,
				residential basis to children under 18 years of age and unrelated to the foster
				family by blood or by marriage or adoption. The total number of children in
				care may not exceed 6, including the family's legal children under 16 years of
				age, with no more than 2 of these children under the age of 2. in order to keep
				siblings together this definition shall not prohibit the placement of more than
				the allowed number.
B. "Blood
				relatives" shall mean mother, father, child, brother, sister, grandparents,
				uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, first cousins, and any of the foregoing
				relatives by adoption. The definition for an Indian child's "Blood Relative"
				shall be in accordance with the Indian Child Welfare Act which is mother,
				father, a person who has reached the age of eighteen and is the Indian child's
				grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, brother-in-law or sister-in-law,
				niece or nephew, first or second cousin.
C. "Relatives by marriage" shall mean
				step-child, step-brother, stepmothers step-father, step-sister,
				step-grandparents.
D. 'Department"
				shall mean the Department of Human Services.
E. "Respite care recipient" shall mean a
				child under 18 years of age, unrelated to the respite care provider by blood,
				marriage or by adoption.
F. "Indian
				child" shall mean an unmarried person who is under age eighteen and is either
				(a) a member of an Indian tribe or (b) is eligible for membership in an Indian
				tribe and is the biological child of a member of an Indian tribe.
G. "Respite care provider" shall mean a
				person maintaining a family respite home providing only respite care for
				children.
H. "Respite Care" shall
				mean substitute parental care provided within a family on a 24 hour a day basis
				not to exceed a period of 3 consecutive weeks for each individual
				child.
I. "Respite Home" shall mean
				a Family Foster Home Providing Only Respite Care for Children, hereinafter
				called Respite Homes.
J. "Scheduled
				Drug" shall mean any scheduled drug, W, X, Y and Z pursuant. to Title 17-A MRSA
				§1102.
K. "Practices
				detrimental to the welfare of children" shall include but not be limited to:
1. Sexual acts or sexual contact with a
				child, sexually suggestive touching, verbal harassment or insinuations or
				exposure of a child to viewing such acts or practices.
2. Acts of violence within the family
				including verbal abuse and physical harming of a person with an object or a
				blow with the hand which occur in the presence of a child or the effects of
				which are observed by a child.
3.
				Using, trafficking in, or furnishing any scheduled drug which was not obtained
				by valid medical prescription for use only by the person for whom the drug was
				prescribed.
4. Instances of
				intoxication within the respite home which occur in the presence of a child and
				the behavior of which are observed by a child.