New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 3A - CHILDREN AND FAMILIES › Chapter 51 - MANUAL OF REQUIREMENTS FOR RESOURCE FAMILY PARENTS › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 3A:51-1.3 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) The definitions in N.J.A.C. 10:122B are hereby
				incorporated into this chapter by reference.
(b) The following words and terms, when used in
				this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly
				indicates otherwise:
"Case plan" means a written statement of the Division's
				  intervention on behalf of a child, which includes identification of the problems
				  that 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.
"Caseworker" means a representative of the Division having
				  supervision of a child in placement.
"Chapter" means the rules contained in the Manual of Requirements
				  for Resource Family Parents, N.J.A.C. 3A:51. These provisions constitute minimum
				  baseline requirements below which no home that is subject to the authority of
				  30:4C-27.3 et seq. and
				  30:4C-4 is legally permitted to operate.
"Child in placement" means a child under the auspices of the
				  Department who is placed in a resource family home because he or she cannot live
				  with his or her own family due to neglect, abuse or other circumstances, or who is
				  placed for the purpose of adoption, and who is either under 18 years of age or who
				  meets the criteria set forth in
				  9:17B-2(f).
"Civil union" means the legally recognized union of two eligible
				  individuals of the same sex, established pursuant to
				  P.L.
				  2006 c. 103,
				  37:1-28
				  et seq. Parties to a civil union shall receive the same benefits and protections and
				  be subject to the same responsibilities as spouses in a marriage.
"Contract agency" means a private agency under contract with the
				  Department to provide services that support children under the auspices of the
				  Department who are in need of placement in a resource family home.
"Corporal punishment" means any type of physical
				  punishment.
"Denial of a license" means the withholding by the Office of
				  Licensing of an initial license for which the resource family parent applicant has
				  applied.
"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Children and
				  Families.
"Division" means the Division of Child Protection and Permanency,
				  New Jersey Department of Children and Families, except for the Office of
				  Licensing.
"Domestic partnership" means a partnership established pursuant to
				  N.J.S.A. 26:8A-4b and 4.1.
"Household member" means a person residing in the resource family
				  home other than a resource family parent, resource family parent applicant or child
				  in placement. Household members shall also include boarders and frequent overnight
				  guests 18 years of age or older in the resource family home.
"Kinship care" means care provided by a resource family parent or
				  applicant who is:
1. Related to a child in
				placement through blood, marriage, civil union, domestic partnership, or adoption,
				and is not the child's parent; or
2.
				Connected to a child in placement or to the child's parent by an established
				positive psychological or emotional relationship.
"Level I requirement" means a licensing requirement, as set forth
				  in this chapter, with which a resource family parent or resource family parent
				  applicant must be in full compliance to receive or maintain a license. Level I
				  requirements impact the safety, health and rights of children in placement.
"Level II requirement" means a licensing requirement, as set forth
				  in this chapter, other than a level I requirement, with which a resource family
				  parent or resource family parent applicant must be in substantial compliance to
				  receive or maintain a license. All requirements other than level I requirements are
				  level II requirements.
"License" means a document issued by the Office of Licensing to a
				  person at an approved location who complies with the applicable provisions of this
				  chapter.
"Office of Licensing" or "Office" means the Office of Licensing in
				  the New Jersey Department of Children and Families.
"Parent" means a birth parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, legal
				  guardian, or any other person having legal custody of a child.
"Psychotropic medication" means those substances which exert a
				  direct effect upon the central nervous system and which are utilized as a part of a
				  treatment plan to influence and modify behavior in a positive manner.
"Reasonable and prudent parent standard" means as defined in
				  42 U.S.C.
				  §
												675(a)(10)(A).
"Refusal to renew a license" means a determination by the Office
				  of Licensing not to issue a license to a resource family parent after his or her
				  existing license has expired.
"Resource family" means all persons living with a resource family
				  parent or applicant.
"Resource family home" or "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, including a
				  child placed by the Division for the purpose of adoption until the adoption is
				  finalized.
"Resource family parent" means a person who is licensed by the
				  Office of Licensing to provide resource family care, including a person who is
				  licensed to have a child or children placed with him or her for the purpose of
				  adoption.
"Resource family parent applicant" or "applicant" means a person
				  who has applied for a resource family parent license.
"Restrictive behavior management" means the use of physical or
				  mechanical restraint, or exclusion of a child from normal interactions with others,
				  to control or modify the child's behavior. Restrictive behavior management shall not
				  include briefly intervening without undue force in order to calm a child, or holding
				  a child's hand to safely escort the child from one area to another, nor shall it
				  include any situation where a physician has prescribed the use of protective medical
				  equipment that confines the child's movement.
"Revocation of a license" means a permanent removal of a resource
				  family parent's license to operate a resource family home.
"Substantial compliance" means compliance by a resource family
				  parent or applicant who does not meet all applicable requirements of the law and of
				  this chapter, when there is no serious or imminent hazard to the health, safety,
				  well-being, or rights of the children served, and the resource family parent or
				  applicant is in full compliance with level I requirements.
"Suspension of a license" means a temporary removal of a resource
				  family parent's license to operate a resource family home.
"Temporary caregiver" means a person who provides supervision to a
				  child in placement on behalf of the resource family parent for more than three
				  consecutive days.
"Worker" means a representative of the Division having supervision
				  of a child in placement.