New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 3A - CHILDREN AND FAMILIES › Chapter 11 - SERVICE DELIVERY GENERAL PROVISIONS › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 3A:11-1.3 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms shall have the following meanings,
				  unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Abuse or neglect report" means an account or statement describing
				  a specific incident or set of circumstances of suspected abuse or neglect.
"Abused or neglected child" means a child:
1. Less than 18 years of age:
i. Whose parent or guardian inflicts, or allows to be inflicted
				  upon such child, physical injury by other than accidental means, which causes or
				  creates a substantial risk of death, or serious or protracted disfigurement, or
				  protracted impairment of physical or emotional health or protracted loss or
				  impairment of the function of any bodily organ;
ii. Whose parent or guardian creates or allows to be created a
				  substantial or ongoing risk of physical injury to such child by other than
				  accidental means which would be likely to cause death or serious or protracted
				  disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily
				  organ;
iii. Whose parent or guardian commits or allows to be committed an
				  act of sexual abuse against the child;
iv. Whose physical, mental, or emotional condition has been
				  impaired or is in imminent danger of becoming impaired as the result of the failure
				  of his or her parent or guardian to exercise a minimum degree of care:
(1) In supplying the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter,
				  education, medical or surgical care, though financially able to do so, or though
				  offered financial or other reasonable means to do so; or
(2) In providing the child with proper supervision or
				  guardianship, by unreasonably inflicting or allowing to be inflicted harm, or
				  substantial risk thereof, including the infliction of excessive corporal punishment;
				  or by any other acts of a similarly serious nature requiring the aid of the
				  court;
v. Who has been willfully abandoned by his or her parent or
				  guardian;
vi. Upon whom excessive physical restraint has been used under
				  circumstances which do not indicate that the child's behavior is harmful to himself
				  or herself, others or property; or
vii. Who is in an institution other than a day school, and:
(1) Has been placed there inappropriately for a continued period
				  of time with the knowledge that the placement has resulted or may continue to result
				  in harm to the child's mental or physical well-being; or
(2) Has been willfully isolated from ordinary social contact under
				  circumstances which indicate emotional or social deprivation;
2. No child who in good faith is under treatment by spiritual
				  means alone, through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a
				  recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner
				  thereof, shall for this reason alone be considered to be abused or neglected.
"Adoption" means the legal transfer of all parental rights and
				  responsibilities from the parent to a person willing to assume those rights and
				  responsibilities.
"Adoption subsidy" means payments for the care and maintenance of
				  a special needs child, as defined in N.J.A.C. 3A:23-1.1.
"Ambulance" means a public or private, first aid, or rescue squad,
				  vehicle, or station that is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the
				  purpose of providing emergency medical care or transporting an individual in need of
				  medical services to a licensed general hospital or a medical center operating in the
				  State of New Jersey under applicable State law.
"Applicant" means a person, either adult or minor, who requests
				  services from the Division, for himself or herself or his or her family; or a person
				  referred by another person or agency for child welfare services. For the purposes of
				  this chapter and N.J.A.C. 3A:3, 3A:12, 3A:13, 3A:18, and 3A:21, the term "applicant"
				  does not include those persons applying to become resource parents or other
				  providers of service.
"Assessment" means the gathering of information, evaluation of the
				  information gathered to determine the client's service needs, and the determination
				  of who shall provide the needed services.
"Camp" means a set of recreational and developmental activities on
				  either a day or residential basis for limited duration during the summer months, as
				  licensed by the Department of Health.
"Case management" means the method by which the Division addresses
				  the client's needs and develops and administers a case plan through the direct
				  activities of the Division's representatives who provide or coordinate the delivery
				  of appropriate services.
"Case plan" means a written statement of the Division's
				  intervention on behalf of a child, which includes identification of the problems
				  which necessitate Division involvement with the family, the services or actions
				  needed, who will accomplish or provide them, and the planned time frame for
				  providing each service.
"Child" means any person less than 18 years of age, except as
				  otherwise provided by N.J.S.A. 9:17B-2f.
"Child advocate" means a person specializing in the field of child
				  advocacy who demonstrates his or her education or experience in that field to the
				  satisfaction of the Division, but is limited to such persons who have had direct
				  involvement in permanency planning for the child. Child advocates include, but are
				  not limited to, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Law Guardians.
"Child welfare services" or "welfare services" or "services" means
				  consultation, counseling, and referral to or utilization of available resources, for
				  the purpose of determining and correcting or adjusting matters and circumstances
				  which are endangering the welfare of a child, and for the purpose of promoting his
				  or her proper development and adjustment in the family and the community; also, as
				  defined under Title IV-B of the Social Security Act,
				  42 U.S.C.
				  §§
										620 et seq., as from time to time
				  amended.
"Client" means any person, adult or child, including an applicant,
				  receiving a service from the Division, or any person referred to the Division for
				  services.
"Client's consent" means written authorization by an adult client
				  or, if the client is a minor, by the parent, permitting the Division to release
				  confidential information about himself or herself or about his or her child to a
				  third party as permitted by statute.
"Clothing allowance" means the provision of a specific amount of
				  money provided at specified times for the purpose of replenishing the basic wardrobe
				  of a child while he or she is in out-of-home placement.
"Collateral contact" means a contact made with a person other than
				  the reporter or those who are subject(s) of the abuse or neglect report or referral
				  in order to collect additional information.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of
				  Children and Families.
"Contract" means a method of social service delivery in which the
				  Division signs a formal agreement with a service provider to provide units of
				  service at a specified cost to Division clients who meet specific eligibility
				  criteria, pursuant to a case plan.
"CP&P Legal Guardianship Subsidy Program" means a service
				  provided by the Division in accordance with N.J.A.C. 3A:20 to provide financial
				  support to certain children for whom a relative or family friend has obtained
				  kinship legal guardianship pursuant to
				  N.J.S.A.
				  3B:12A-1 et seq.
"Custody" means continuing responsibility for the person of a
				  child, as established by a surrender and release of custody or consent to adoption,
				  for the purpose of providing necessary welfare services, or maintenance, or both.
				  (30:4C-2(d)  )
"Director" means the Director of the Division of Child Protection
				  and Permanency in the Department of Children and Families.
"Discharge planning and aftercare services" means the assessment
				  and identification of a client's need for services when the client is discharged
				  from a residential facility, medical treatment facility, correctional facility, or
				  day treatment program and recommending or arranging for the services for the
				  client.
"Division" or "CP&P" means the Division of Child Protection
				  and Permanency in the Department of Children and Families.
"Division representative" means a professional or paraprofessional
				  employee of the Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
"Domestic violence services" means referral to community partners
				  that support the safety of victims of domestic violence and their dependent children
				  and provide services to perpetrators of domestic violence. Services may
				  include:
1. Hotline access;
2. Emergency shelter entry and care;
3. Legal, financial, and housing advocacy services;
4. Counseling for victims, children, and perpetrators of domestic
				  violence; and
5. Children's services.
"Educational support" means serving as an educational advocate for
				  a child, collecting and providing educational information to relevant parties
				  including, but not limited to, the child, parents, resource parents, school staff,
				  and other interested parties, if appropriate, and referring the child to appropriate
				  services or resources to maximize the child's potential. This may include, but is
				  not limited to:
1. Referral to the Child Study Team for an appropriate educational
				  program for the child;
2. Facilitating the child's access to educational opportunities,
				  including participation in extracurricular activities; and
3. Informing the child, age 14 and over, of his or her educational
				  rights.
"Emergency maintenance service" means the provision of food,
				  clothing, shelter, furniture, appliances and similar necessities, needed by a client
				  in a crisis, and not available elsewhere.
"Emergency medical responder" means a trained medical
				  professional, paid or volunteer, certified to provide emergency medical care to an
				  individual in a facility, or on a medical transport vehicle. "Emergency medical
				  responder" includes: emergency medical technician or "EMT," nurse, paramedic,
				  physician assistant, or rescue squad staff.
"Expert" means a person duly credentialed in the state in which he
				  or she practices, specializing in the field of pediatric, neurological or
				  psychiatric medicine; nursing; psychology; social work; substance abuse; or other
				  fields requiring special experience or education, which may be helpful to the
				  Division.
"Family friend" means a person who is connected to a child or the
				  child's parent by an established positive psychological or emotional relationship
				  and not a biological or legal relationship.
"Family preservation services" means an intensive, in-home, family
				  education and crisis intervention program to prevent out-of-home placement and
				  lasting up to eight weeks, which utilizes the services of a trained professional to
				  provide a variety of contracted services to a client family for up to 24 hours a
				  day.
"Fire department" means a municipal, county, or volunteer fire
				  station or house that is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by trained and
				  licensed firefighters charged with the prevention and extinguishing of fires.
"Firefighter" means a member of a fire department trained to
				  prevent and extinguish fires.
"Government entity" means a Federal, State or local government
				  agency, body or official that has responsibility under the law to protect children
				  from abuse and neglect.
"Health care services" means comprehensive and preventive medical,
				  dental, behavioral health, and developmental services, including screening,
				  assessment, examination, and treatment services, and the services covered by the
				  Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment benefit.
"Homemaker service" means personal care, household tasks and the
				  activities of daily living provided to a client in his or her own home or training
				  in these activities.
"Hospital" means a licensed general hospital or a medical center
				  operating in the State of New Jersey under applicable State law.
"Independent living" means the maintenance of an adolescent age 16
				  to his or her 21st birthday in a living arrangement that allows the adolescent to
				  function eventually on his or her own when circumstances preclude the adolescent
				  from returning to the person or persons with whom he or she resided at the time of
				  the abuse or neglect report, referral or application for services, no appropriate
				  relative or family friend is able or willing to assume care of the adolescent, no
				  family is able or willing to provide kinship legal guardianship or to legally adopt
				  the adolescent, or the adolescent rejects each of these living arrangements.
"Infant" means a live child who is or appears to be no more than
				  30 days old.
"Investigation" means the activity of gathering information
				  relevant to making a determination as to whether child abuse or neglect
				  occurred.
"Kinship caregiver assessment" means a written report submitted by
				  the Division to the court regarding the suitability of a relative or family friend
				  to be designated legal guardian of a child in accordance with the Kinship Legal
				  Guardianship Act,
				  3B:12A-5.
"Local office" means an office of the Division of Child Protection
				  and Permanency, which provides direct services to clients and refers clients to
				  other services within a limited geographic area of New Jersey. The services provided
				  may be child welfare services, child protective services, and adoption services. A
				  local office also provides supportive services to resource family parents.
"Maintenance" means monies expended by the Division to procure
				  board, lodging, clothing, medical, dental, psychological and hospital care and
				  transportation or any other similar or specialized commodity or service furnished to
				  or on behalf of, or for a child.
"Media" means a representative of the press, including a news
				  reporter, editor, producer or other representative of a newspaper or a magazine, or
				  another printed or on-line publication, or a radio or television station, network or
				  system.
"Member of the public" means an individual from the general public
				  who does not represent the media.
"Mentor services" means providing a caring adult in a child's or
				  adolescent's life whose goal is to form a positive relationship with the child or
				  adolescent by serving as a good role model and developing a caring and trusting
				  social relationship and engaging the child or adolescent in activities. Mentoring is
				  provided through a variety of ways and settings including, but not limited
				  to:
1. Exposing the child or adolescent to recreational
				  activities;
2. Assisting the child or adolescent in the development of life
				  skills;
3. Job shadowing;
4. Educational mentors;
5. Mentoring of a child or adolescent doing volunteer work in a
				  private non-profit agency or organization; or
6. Mentoring of a child or adolescent by a house of worship.
"Near fatality" means a serious or critical condition, as
				  certified by a physician, in which a child suffers a permanent mental or physical
				  impairment, a life-threatening injury or a condition that creates a probability of
				  death within the foreseeable future.
"Out-of-home placement" or "placement" means physically locating a
				  child by the Division in any out-of-home setting, including a resource family home,
				  group home, shelter care or a residential facility for temporary treatment or
				  long-term care, and not including placement with the child's birth parent or a
				  parent of a child whose adoption has been finalized. The following are the
				  definitions for the different types of out-of-home placement services:
1. "Adoptive care" means a type of resource family home in which
				  care is provided for a child placed by the Division of Child Protection and
				  Permanency for the purpose of adoption by the resource family parent until said
				  adoption is finalized.
2. "Foster care" means regular foster care as provided in a
				  resource family home in which care is provided for a child in need of temporary
				  out-of-home placement for protective or other social services reasons. "Foster care"
				  shall not include placement with the child's birth parent or a parent of a child
				  whose adoption has been finalized.
3. "Group home" means any public or private establishment other
				  than a resource family home that provides board, lodging, care, and treatment
				  services on a 24-hour basis to 12 or fewer children in a home-like, community-based
				  setting. A group home typically serves children with less severe behavioral and
				  emotional problems, who are capable of functioning in a home-based setting.
4. "Residential facility" means any public or private
				  establishment that provides room, board, care and treatment services for 13 or more
				  children on a 24-hour a day basis, in accordance with
				  10:127-1.2. A residential facility may
				  provide services for children with emotional or behavioral problems, drug and
				  alcohol treatment needs, psychiatric problems, physical disabilities or programs
				  that serve children with emotional or behavioral problems using adventure activities
				  as a major treatment component.
5. "Resource family home" means a private residence, located in
				  New Jersey, other than a children's group home, treatment home, teaching family
				  home, alternative care home, or shelter home, in which board, lodging, care, and
				  temporary out-of-home placement services are provided by a resource family parent on
				  a 24-hour basis to a child under the auspices of the Division of Child Protection
				  and Permanency, including a home licensed by the Division of Child Protection and
				  Permanency for the placement of a child for the purpose of adoption. A resource
				  family home does not include a child living with his or her own birth parent or
				  parent who has adopted that child. A resource family home may provide one or more of
				  the following services:
i. Regular foster care;
ii. Kinship care; and
iii. Adoptive care.
6. "Selected adoptive home" means a resource family parent who has
				  been licensed as a resource family home for the purpose of providing adoptive care
				  to a child who does not currently reside with this resource family parent.
7. "Shelter care" means a public or private facility or residence
				  that provides 24-hour-a-day residential care in a non-physically restrictive
				  environment for a period of time usually not exceeding 30 days.
8. "Supervised transitional living home" means a type of group
				  home, which serves 12 or fewer children who are 16 years of age or older, require
				  minimum guidance from staff members in preparation to live independently, and
				  demonstrate maturity to function with minimal adult supervision.
9. "Treatment home" means a type of group home, which is an
				  agency-operated residence serving five or fewer children who are capable of
				  community living but who need a small group environment and intensive supervision by
				  staff members in order to ameliorate emotional, social, or behavioral
				  difficulties.
"Parent" means any birth parent, adoptive parent, stepparent,
				  guardian or any person, who has assumed responsibility for the care, custody or
				  control of a child or upon whom there is a legal duty for such care.
"Parent or guardian" means any birth parent, adoptive parent,
				  resource family parent, stepparent, paramour of a parent or any person, who has
				  assumed responsibility for the care, custody or control of a child or upon whom
				  there is a legal duty for such care. Parent or guardian includes a teacher, employee
				  or volunteer, whether compensated or uncompensated, of an institution who is
				  responsible for the child's welfare and any other staff person of an institution,
				  regardless of whether or not the person is responsible for the care or supervision
				  of the child. Parent or guardian also includes a teaching staff member or other
				  employee, whether compensated or uncompensated, of a day school.
"Permanency planning" means the full range of case practice
				  activities and services directed toward:
1. Maintaining a child in his or her own home;
2. Returning a child to his or her own home when out-of-home
				  placement has become necessary; or
3. Pursuing an alternate permanent living arrangement for the
				  child.
"Placement review" means the periodic review of the circumstances
				  of a child's out-of-home placement, conducted by a Division representative who is
				  not responsible for the case management or delivery of services to either the child
				  who is the subject of the placement review or the child's parent, for the purpose of
				  assuring that the child's permanent plan is being implemented, as required by State
				  and Federal law.
"Police station" means a manned State, county or municipal police
				  station, State trooper barracks, campus police headquarters, housing police, or
				  community policing substations operating within the State of New Jersey.
"Post-adoption services" means all services offered by or through
				  the auspices of the Division to any party involved in an adoption after finalization
				  of the adoption.
"Pre-and post-natal services" means the provision of social
				  services and maintenance for medical and out-of-home placement services related to
				  pregnancy and childbirth.
"Protective service information" means a suspected abuse or
				  neglect report made pursuant to
				  9:6-1 et seq.; every record, computer
				  file, verbal or written report and evaluation developed or received by the Division
				  pursuant to the investigation and evaluation of such abuse or neglect report; and
				  every record and report developed and received by the Division for services and
				  treatment subsequently provided to the family.
"Psychological/therapeutic services" means services to assess and
				  to treat a variety of problems related to behavior, problems of living, or
				  psychopathology.
"Reasonable efforts" means the provision of services to the family
				  that are individually assessed to be relevant to the case goal, coordinated with
				  other services, available and accessible and that have a realistic potential to meet
				  the child's needs for a safe, secure, and permanent relationship with a family or
				  another permanent arrangement.
"Referral" means a verbal or written statement made to the
				  Division by a reporter, which indicates a possible need for a child welfare services
				  assessment for a child or family.
"Relative" means any birth or adoptive brother, sister,
				  stepbrother and stepsister, grandparent, uncle, aunt, first cousin, as well as
				  relatives of half blood.
"Reporter" means an individual who contacts the State Central
				  Registry to make an abuse or neglect report, a child welfare services referral or a
				  request for social services and does not include a news reporter in his or her
				  professional capacity.
"Respite care" means the provision of temporary care for a child
				  to give a period of relief for the child's temporary or permanent caregiver, either
				  in-home or out-of-home.
"Safe Haven for Infants Hotline" means the toll-free, 24-hour
				  hotline, established and operated in the State Central Registry of the Division of
				  Child Protection and Permanency in the Department of Children and Families, pursuant
				  to N.J.S.A.
				  30:4C-15.9.
"Safe haven infant" means a live infant who is or appears to be no
				  more than 30 days old, who was voluntarily given to an officer at a police station,
				  firefighter at a fire department, emergency medical personnel in an ambulance, or an
				  employee of a hospital emergency department by a parent wanting to permanently give
				  up rights to the infant or a person acting on behalf of the parent, pursuant to the
				  intent of the New Jersey Safe Haven Infant Protection Act,
				  N.J.S.A.
				  30:4C-15.5 et seq.
"Satisfactory academic progress" means the standard that an
				  institution adopts to determine eligibility for Federal student aid programs under
				  Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965,
				  20 U.S.C.
				  §
										1070a, as amended, and its implementing
				  regulations and rules.
"Self-sufficiency skills" means the basic life skills necessary to
				  make the transition from out-of-home placement to living in society as a productive
				  adult.
"Sexual abuse" means contacts or actions between a child and a
				  parent or caregiver for the purpose of sexual stimulation of either that person or
				  another person. Sexual abuse includes:
1. The employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement or
				  coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any
				  sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct;
2. Sexual conduct including molestation, prostitution, other forms
				  of sexual exploitation of children or incest; or
3. Sexual penetration and sexual contact as defined in
				  2C:14-1 and a prohibited sexual act as
				  defined in 2C:24-4.
"Substance use disorder services" means preventive, treatment or
				  recovery services provided in a culturally sensitive environment to
				  CP&P-supervised adolescents or parents of CP&P-supervised children. Specific
				  services include:
1. Assessment and referral;
2. Case management;
3. Detoxification;
4. Short-term residential treatment;
5. Long-term residential treatment;
6. Halfway house treatment;
7. Outpatient and intensive outpatient treatment;
8. Medication-assisted treatment; and
9. Recovery supports.
"Surrender" means a voluntary relinquishment of all parental
				  rights by a birth parent, adoptive parent, or other person or agency authorized to
				  exercise these rights by law, court order or otherwise, for purposes of allowing a
				  child to be adopted. "Surrender" includes identified surrenders authorized by
				  9:3-41(d).
"Third-party report" means a confidential report prepared by a
				  psychiatrist, psychologist, physician, social worker, child study team or other
				  non-Division person or agency, which is shared with the Division.
"Title XIX Medicaid" means medical assistance provided to certain
				  persons with low income and limited resources as authorized under Title XIX
				  (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (
				  42 U.S.C. §
										1396 et seq.).
"Transportation" means the activity of providing the client access
				  to and from community resources or visitation with family members, as required to
				  implement a case plan, for example, as in N.J.A.C. 10:122D.
"Tuition" means, for the purposes of the Tuition Program,
				  30:4C-101 et seq., the tuition charges
				  and fees imposed by a New Jersey public institution of higher education or county
				  vocational school providing post-secondary vocational education for enrollment at
				  the institution or school.
"Tuition Program renewal" means any application submitted
				  subsequent to the initial application by the Tuition Program applicant, including,
				  but not limited to, program applicants whose first application was rejected.