West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 78 - Human Services › Title 78 - LEGISLATIVE RULE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES BUREAU FOR SOCIAL SERVICES › Series 78-02 - Child Placing Agencies Licensure › Section 78-2-3 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
3.1. Aftercare.
				--Services to be provided subsequent to a child's discharge from placement as
				identified in the discharge plan.
3.2. Agency. - A child placing
				agency.
3.3. Case Record. -- A
				comprehensive collection of information about a child in the care of a child
				placing agency.
3.4. Certificate of
				License. -- A written certificate issued by the Secretary authorizing an
				individual, corporation, partnership, voluntary association, municipality,
				county or an agency thereof, to provide specified child placing services for a
				limited period of time in accordance with the terms and conditions of the
				certificate and this rule.
3.5.
				Child. -- A person less than 18 years of age or is a transitioning
				adult.
3.6. Child Abuse and
				Neglect. -- Any act or omission that creates an abused child or a neglected
				child as those terms are defined in W. Va. Code §
									49-1-201.
3.7. Child Placing Agency. - A child welfare
				agency organized for the purpose of placing children in private family homes
				for foster care or for adoption. The function of a child placing agency may
				include the assessment and certification of foster family homes as provided in
				W. Va. Code §
									49-1-101,
et seq.
The function of a child placing agency may also include the
				supervision and support of youth or transitioning adults who are 17 to 26 years
				old and living in unlicensed residences.
3.8. Child's Case Plan. - A comprehensive
				document prepared by the Department pursuant to the requirements of W. Va. Code
				§
									49-4-604 following an adjudication
				by the court that the child is an abused or neglected, or both, child, that
				directs the provision of all casework services including the services provided
				to the child.
3.9. Child-specific
				training. -- Training provided to respond to the individualized needs of a
				child.
3.10. Criminal History
				Background Check -- A review of information pursuant to the provisions of the
				West Virginia Clearance for Access: Registry and Employment Screening Act (WV
				CARES), W. Va. Code §
									16-49-1,
et seq.,
and 69 CSR 10, and an examination of protective service records to determine
				eligibility for employment or participation under this rule.
3.11. Crisis Intervention Skills and
				Techniques. - Methods used to de-escalate situations that could result in harm
				to persons or property.
3.12.
				Crisis Support. --The use of crisis intervention skills and
				techniques.
3.13. Department. --The
				West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
3.14. Discharge. -- The termination of a
				child's services with an agency.
3.15. Disruption. -- A change that results in
				the decision that an adoptive or foster care placement will not
				continue.
3.16. Foster Family Home.
				- A private residence that is used for the care on a residential basis of no
				more than six children who are unrelated by blood, marriage, or adoption to any
				adult member of the household.
3.17. Goal. - An expected result or condition
				that takes time to achieve, is specified in a statement of relatively broad
				scope, and provides guidance in establishing intermediate objectives directed
				toward its attainment.
3.18.
				Guardian. - A person or persons, the Department, or the Division of juvenile
				Services, who has legal custody of a child, as a result of any contract,
				agreement, or legal proceedings.
3.19. Governing Board. -- The group of
				persons that has the administrative control and legal authority to set policy
				and oversee operations of an agency.
3.20. Incident. - An act, or series of acts
				or behaviors, that place a child or others at risk.
3.21. Initial Plan of Care. - A plan
				developed when the child initially enters placement to ensure that the child
				receives appropriate care while in placement. If the child is in the
				Department's custody, and if a Safety Plan or a Child's Case Plan exists, they
				must be incorporated in the Intake Service Plan.
3.22. Institutional Investigative Unit. -- A
				unit of the Department authorized by the Secretary to investigate complaints of
				child abuse or neglect in an agency.
3.23. Life Skills. -- Tasks, abilities, or
				knowledge required to perform the activities of daily living.
3.24. Multidisciplinary Treatment Team or
				Multidisciplinary Team (MDT). -- A treatment team that includes the individuals
				listed in W. Va. Code §
									49-4-405(b) or
				§
									49-4-406(d)(2),
				as the case may be, who assess, plan, and implement a comprehensive,
				individualized service plan for the child.
3.25. Normalcy. -- A practice of allowing
				children and youth in out-of-home care to experience childhood and adolescence
				in ways similar to their peers who are not in foster care.
3.26. Objective. -- An expected result or
				outcome that is stated in measurable terms, has a specified time for
				achievement, and is related to the attainment of a goal.
3.27. Placement. -- Any temporary or
				permanent living arrangement of a child who is in the custody of the state in
				any foster home, group facility, or other approved living setting.
3.28. Placement Agreement. --A written
				document signed by the child's parent or guardian and a representative of the
				agency, that specifies the terms of the child's placement.
3.29. Plan of Correction. -- A written
				agreement between the Department and an agency that outlines the steps an
				agency shall take to correct deficiencies identified by the Department through
				an inspection or the investigation of a complaint.
3.30. Policy. -- A statement of the
				principles that guide and govern the activities operations of a program. This
				term is interchangeable with "procedure" depending on the organization of the
				agency.
3.31. Procedures. --The
				methods by which a policy is carried out.
3.32. Program. -- A system of services
				provided to those persons who use the agency.
3.33. Psychotropic Medication. -- Any drug
				that affects brain activities associated with mental processes and
				behaviors.
3.34. Reasonable and
				prudent parent standard. -- The standard characterized by careful and sensible
				parental decisions that are reasonably intended to maintain the health, safety
				and best interests of a child while at the same time encouraging the emotional
				and developmental growth of the child that a caregiver shall use when
				determining whether to allow a child in foster care under the responsibility of
				the state to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural and social
				activities.
3.35. Respite Care. --
				Alternative short-term care.
3.36.
				Restraint. -- Restriction of a child's freedom of movement as a means to avoid
				imminent harm.
3.37. Rules. - A set
				of requirements issued by the Secretary to regulate child placing
				agencies.
3.38. Scattered-Site
				Living Arrangement. - A living arrangement where youth, age 17 to 26, live in a
				setting that allows staff to be available as needed depending on the youth's
				level of autonomy. Sites are in community environments to allow the youth full
				access to services and resources in order to fully develop independent living
				skills.
3.39. Secretary. - The
				Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources or his or her
				designee.
3.40. Self-disclosure
				Application and Consent Form. -- A signed declaration of criminal convictions,
				indictments, and court ordered supervision and authorization to allow a
				criminal history background check as required by the WV CARES
				process.
3.41. Service Plan. -- A
				comprehensive, time limited, goal oriented, individualized plan based on a
				thorough evaluation of the child's needs that describes the services,
				interventions and educational needs of a child in care, incorporating any
				Child's Case Plan or Safety Plan developed through the MDT process.
3.42. Statement of Child/Adult Abuse or
				Neglect History Form. -- A document signed by an employee or prospective foster
				or adoptive parent granting permission to conduct a search of Department
				records related to his or her involvement in adult or child abuse or neglect
				allegations or findings, or other investigations documented by the
				Department.
3.43. Supervised Group
				Setting. - A setting where youth 17 to 21 live with staff on site or are
				available 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. In this setting staff provide
				face-to-face daily contact with youth.
3.44. Trafficking. -- Knowingly recruiting,
				transporting, transferring, harboring, receiving, providing, obtaining,
				isolating, maintaining, or enticing an individual to engage in debt bondage,
				forced labor or sexual servitude. For minors, sexual servitude means
				maintaining or making a minor available for the purpose of engaging the minor
				in commercial sexual activity. Children can be sexually exploited through
				prostitution, pornography, or erotic entertainment.
3.45. Transitioning Adult. - An individual
				with a transfer plan to move to an adult setting who meets one of the following
				conditions:
(a) is 18 years of age but under
				26 years of age, was in the custody of the Department upon reaching 18 years of
				age and committed an act of delinquency before reaching 18 years of age,
				remains under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, and requires supervision
				and care to complete an education, employment, or treatment program, or
				requires transitional supportive services, or
(b) is 18 years of age under 26 years of age,
				was adjudicated abused, neglected, or in the custody of the Department upon
				reaching 18 years of age and enters into an agreement with the Department to
				continue in an educational, training, or treatment program or receive
				supportive transitional services.