New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 3A - CHILDREN AND FAMILIES › Chapter 5 - DISPUTE RESOLUTION › Subchapter 1 - INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW › Section 3A:5-1.3 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) The definitions in N.J.A.C. 3A:14-1.3 and
				3A:11-1.3 are hereby incorporated by reference. In addition, the following words and
				terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the
				context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Administrative hearing" means a hearing held by the Office of
				  Administrative Law (OAL) pursuant to
				  52:14B-9 et seq. and 52:14F-1 et seq.,
				  and N.J.A.C. 1:1.
"Administrative Hearings Unit" or "AHU" is the hearings unit of
				  the Department responsible for monitoring and transmitting contested and uncontested
				  cases, in accordance with
				  1:1-8.2 and 21.1, to the OAL.
"Agency decision" means any decision of the Division made as the
				  result of a dispositional review and which is not a final agency decision.
"Appeal" means a request for modification or reversal of a
				  Division action.
"Appellant" means the party who is requesting a reversal or
				  modification of a Division action.
"Business days" means the five working days of a week, other than
				  Saturday, Sunday and legal holidays.
"Department" means the Department of Children and Families.
"Dispositional review" means an independent examination of a
				  Division action that is conducted by a Review Officer through a record and document
				  review or by examining relevant records and documents and either convening a meeting
				  of the relevant parties in the Division action under dispute or conducting a
				  telephone conference.
"Division action" means a decision, plan or conduct by a Division
				  representative, an Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit employee or an employee of
				  the Office of the Public Defender acting as the Division's agent in conflict matters
				  within the scope of the individual's official duties, which results in a "Division
				  service issue," a "status issue," or which may result in a contested case as
				  specified in 3A:5-4.3(a), but does not include a personnel action.
"Division service issue" means a Division action affecting a case
				  goal or a case plan necessary to achieve a case goal, as allowed in N.J.A.C.
				  3A:12-1, and limited to: the denial of a request for, or the reduction, suspension,
				  or termination by a Division representative of the following services, as defined in
				  N.J.A.C. 3A:11-1.3: adoption subsidy, child care, discharge planning and aftercare
				  services, domestic violence services, CP&P Legal Guardianship Subsidy Program,
				  educational support, emergency maintenance service, family preservation services,
				  health care services, homemaker service, mentor services, out-of-home placement,
				  post-adoption services, pre- and post-natal services, psychological/therapeutic
				  services, respite care, self-sufficiency skills, substance use disorder services,
				  Title XIX Medicaid, or transportation; parent and child visitation as described in
				  N.J.S.A.
				  9:6B-4 and N.J.A.C. 3A:15-1; or the failure of a
				  Division representative to act with reasonable promptness on a request for any of
				  the above services.
"Final agency decision" means:
1. A final decision by the Commissioner or designee pursuant to
				  9:3A-6 that adopts, rejects or modifies
				  an initial decision by an administrative law judge;
2. An initial decision by an administrative law judge that becomes
				  a final agency decision by operation of
				  52:14B-10;
3. A final decision by the Review Officer, after a dispositional
				  review conducted in accordance with these rules;
4. A Division action that becomes a final agency decision when the
				  appellant does not choose to exercise his or her right to further dispute
				  resolution; or
5. A final decision by the Commissioner or designee granting
				  summary disposition and affirming a Division action.
"Finding" means the final determination made by a child protective
				  investigator and his or her supervisor of the results of a child protection
				  investigation.
"Initial decision" means the administrative law judge's
				  recommended findings of fact, conclusions of law and disposition, based upon the
				  evidence and arguments presented during the course of the hearing and made a part of
				  the record which is sent to the agency head for a final decision, as defined in
				  1:1-2.1.
"Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit (IAIU)" means the
				  Department unit charged with the responsibility of investigating allegations of
				  abuse or neglect in out-of-home settings, excluding CP&P-operated
				  facilities.
"Motion for Summary Disposition" means a motion that is prepared
				  when no material facts are in dispute. If granted by the Commissioner or designee, a
				  Motion for Summary Disposition denies the request for an OAL hearing and requires
				  the Commissioner or designee to determine whether the Division action resulting from
				  the undisputed facts is proper based on applicable law, regulations and policies,
				  and accordingly to issue a final agency decision, affirming, reversing or modifying
				  the Division action. If a motion for summary disposition is denied by the
				  Commissioner or designee, the matter is transmitted to the OAL.
"Office of Administrative Law (OAL)" means the office in, but not
				  of, the Department of the Treasury, in which an administrative law judge presides
				  over administrative hearings, established under
52:14F-1
et seq.
"Record and document review" means a type of dispositional review,
				  conducted by a Review Officer, of the relevant documents and records related to a
				  Division action under dispute.
"Reduction" means the Division action about a service determined
				  by the Division to be necessary for the achievement of the case goal, which Division
				  action causes the client to receive fewer hours or units of a service. Reduction
				  does not include a change in provider or location of the service or a change in the
				  schedule of the service that does not also cause fewer hours or units of the
				  service.
"Relative" means a birth or adoptive brother, sister, stepparent,
				  stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, niece, nephew, as well as
				  relatives of half blood or marriage and those denoted by the prefixes "grand" and
				  "great," including grandparent or great-grandparent, and limited to those having a
				  history of being active in planning for the child's future.
"Resource parent" means a person licensed pursuant to
				  30:4C-27.3 et seq.
"Review Officer" means a Department representative who was not
				  involved in the Division actions being appealed and who is charged with the
				  responsibility of conducting a dispositional review as authorized by these
				  rules.
"Service provider" means:
1. Each of a child's relatives who is assessed for his or her
				  willingness and ability to assume care of the child pursuant to
				  30:4C-12.1;
2. A relative or family friend caregiver or applicant in the
				  CP&P Legal Guardianship Subsidy Program; or
3. A resource parent.
"Sibling" means birth brother or sister, half brother or sister,
				  legal brother or sister and stepbrother or sister.
"Status issue" means:
1. The determination that a child's relative is unwilling or
				  unable to assume the care of the child pursuant to
				  30:4C-12.1(b);
				  or
2. The denial or termination of a relative or family friend
				  caregiver to participate or continue to participate in the CP&P Legal
				  Guardianship Subsidy Program in accordance with
N.J.A.C.
				  10:132A
.
"Status quo" means the relevant circumstances immediately prior to
				  the dispute.
"Substantiated" means a finding when the available information, as
				  evaluated by the child protective investigator and supervisor, indicates by a
				  preponderance of the evidence that a child is an abused or neglected child as
				  defined in 10:133-1.3 because the child victim has
				  been harmed or placed at risk of harm by a parent or guardian, as defined in
				  N.J.S.A. 9:6-8.2 1. A 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
				  not, for this reason alone, be considered to be an abused or neglected child, nor
				  shall this condition preclude the Division from providing service or seeking court
				  relief as in N.J.A.C. 10:129-4.
(b) The following terms shall have the following
				meanings within N.J.A.C. 3A:5-1, 2, and 3, unless the context clearly indicates
				otherwise:
"Division" means the Division of Child Protection and Permanency,
				  the Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit in the Department of Children and
				  Families, or the Office of the Public Defender acting as the Division's agent in
				  conflict matters.
"Division representative" means a professional employee of the
				  Division of Child Protection and Permanency, the Institutional Abuse Investigation
				  Unit, or of the Office of the Public Defender acting as the Division's agent in
				  conflict matters.