Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Children and Families › DCF 021-99 - Safety and Permanence › Chapter DCF 54 - Child-Placing Agencies › Section DCF 54.01 - Introduction

Current through June 24, 2024
(1) PURPOSE. The purpose of this chapter is
				to protect and promote the health, safety and welfare of children in the care
				of child-placing agencies and to establish the administrative rate that a
				child-placing agency may charge for services for foster homes with a Level 3 or
				4 certification.
(2) APPLICABILITY.
				This chapter applies to all child-placing agencies.
(3) EXCEPTIONS TO RULES. The department may
				make exceptions to any provision of this chapter that is not a statutory
				requirement if the department is assured that granting such exceptions is not
				detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of children. A request for an
				exception shall be in writing, justify the reason for requesting an exception,
				and describe an alternative that meets the intent of the requirement.
(3m) COMPLIANCE WITH ADMINISTRATIVE RULES AND
				LAWS. A person who is licensed under this chapter shall operate the agency in
				compliance with this chapter, the provisions of the license, and applicable
				state, federal, and local law.
(4)
				DEFINITIONS.
(a) "Administrative rate" means
				the difference between the rate charged by a child-placing agency to a
				Wisconsin public purchaser of services for a foster home with a Level 3 or 4
				certification and the rate determined under s. DCF56.23that is paid by the
				child-placing agency to the foster parent for the care and maintenance of a
				child placed in the foster home.
Note
A purchaser of services may pay a foster
				  parent for the care and maintenance of a child directly.
(am) "Board of directors" means the
				policy-making body which governs a child welfare agency.
(b) "Child" means a person who is under 21
				years of age and is under juvenile court jurisdiction or other court order, is
				being provided services by a child welfare agency, or is placed under an
				agreement.
(c) "Child custody
				proceedings" has the meaning prescribed in the Indian Child Welfare Act,
				25
				USC 1903(1), and as provided
				in that act includes foster care placements, termination of parental right
				proceedings, pre-adoptive placements and adoptive placements.
(d) "Child-placing agency" means a child
				welfare agency licensed to place children in licensed family foster homes and
				licensed group homes.
(e) "Child
				welfare agency" means any person required to be licensed under s.
				48.60,
				Stats.
(em) "County department" or
				"county" means a county department of social services under s.
				46.215
				or
				46.22,
				Stats.; a county department of human services under s.
				46.23,
				Stats.; or a county department under s.
				51.42
				or
				51.437,
				Stats.
(f) "Department" means the
				department of children and families.
(g) "Division" means the department's
				division of safety and permanence.
(gm) "Foster home with a Level 3 or 4
				certification" means a facility operated by a person licensed under s.
				48.62(1),
				Stats., and certified under s. DCF56.13(5) or (6).
(h) "Guardian" means the person or agency
				appointed by a court to make major decisions affecting a child which may
				include consent to marriage, to enlistment in the armed forces, to major
				surgery and to adoption, or to manage the estate of a minor.
(i) "Indian child" has the meaning prescribed
				in 25 USC
				1903(4), namely, any
				unmarried person who is under age 18 and is either a member of an Indian tribe
				or eligible for membership in an Indian tribe and is the biological child of a
				member of an Indian tribe.
(j)
				"Indian tribe" means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group
				or community of Indians recognized as eligible for the services provided to
				Indians by the U.S. secretary of the interior because of their status as
				Indians.
(k) "Legal custodian"
				means the person or agency to whom a court has transferred a child's legal
				custody, and who thereby has the right and duty to protect, train and
				discipline the child and to provide for the child's care needs. "Legal custody"
				has the meaning prescribed in s.
				48.02(12),
				Stats.
(L) "Wisconsin public
				purchaser" means a county department, the department, or the Wisconsin
				department of corrections.