Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Children and Families › DCF 021-99 - Safety and Permanence › Chapter DCF 59 - Shelter Care Facilities › Section DCF 59.02 - Definitions

Current through June 24, 2024
In this chapter:
(1)
				"Age or developmentally appropriate activities" means activities that are
				generally accepted as suitable for children of a given chronological age or
				level of maturity or that are determined to be developmentally appropriate for
				a child based on the cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities
				that are typical for children of a given age or age group or, in the case of a
				specific child, activities that are suitable for the child based on the
				cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities of that
				child.
(1m) "Child" means an
				individual under 18 years of age, and refers both to a child placed for shelter
				care and to any other individual under 18 years of age living in the shelter
				care facility.
(2) "Department"
				means the Wisconsin department of children and families.
(3) "Executive" means the individual
				designated by the board of a corporation to be primarily responsible for the
				administration of all shelter care facilities operated by the
				corporation.
(4) "Family care
				staffing" means that at least one shelter care worker, whether an independent
				operator or an employee of a licensee, has the facility as a primary
				domicile.
(4c) "Family interaction
				plan" means a plan developed by a placing agency to promote a child's
				interaction with members of the child's family and includes interaction by
				face-to-face contact; telephone calls; letters; emails; and attendance at
				routine activities, such as counseling sessions, medical appointments, school
				events, and faith-related activities.
(4g) "Hold-over room" means a nonsecure room
				in a county government facility, the purpose of which is to provide a safe
				environment for holding a child to facilitate the child's appearance at a court
				hearing within 24 hours or over the weekend if the child is placed in the
				hold-over room on a Friday or on the weekend, or to transport the child to
				another facility within 24 hours.
(4m) "Hold-over room attendant" means a staff
				person or volunteer who provides care and supervision of the occupant or
				occupants of a hold-over room.
(5)
				"Licensee" means the person who is primarily responsible for the operation of a
				facility and who is licensed by the department to operate the
				facility.
(6) "Licensing agency"
				means the department.
(6g)
				"Nonsecure" means a child is not held or prevented from leaving against the
				child's will.
(6m) "Normalcy" means
				the ability to easily engage in healthy and age or developmentally appropriate
				activities that promote well-being, such as participation in social,
				scholastic, and enrichment activities.
(7) "Person" means any individual,
				partnership, association, corporation or public agency other than the
				department.
(8) "Privately-operated
				shelter care facility" means a facility operated by persons who are not county
				employees and from whom a county board of supervisors purchases services
				pursuant to s.
				938.22(5),
				Stats.
(9) "Publicly-operated
				shelter facility" means a facility operated by a county board of supervisors
				pursuant to s.
				938.22(1),
				Stats.
(9g) "Reasonable and prudent
				parent standard" means a standard for use in making decisions regarding a
				child's participation in age or developmentally appropriate extracurricular,
				enrichment, cultural, and social activities that is characterized by careful
				and sensible parental decisions that maintain the health, safety, best
				interests, and cultural, religious, and tribal values of the child while at the
				same time encouraging the emotional and developmental growth of the
				child.
(10) "Relief help" means an
				individual who is used to replace shelter care workers on an unscheduled basis
				and for a few hours or few days at a time. An individual regularly scheduled to
				replace shelter care workers on days off or for vacations and other prolonged
				periods is not relief help but an additional shelter care worker.
(10m) "RPPS decision maker" means an
				individual who has successfully completed training on the application of the
				reasonable and prudent parent standard and makes reasonable and prudent
				parenting decisions under s. DCF 59.055.
(11) "Shelter care" means short-term,
				nonsecure residential care and physical custody of children pending court
				action. "Short-term"means a maximum of 30 days for each episode, with extension
				for up to another 30 days as provided in s. DCF 59.05 (3) (b), except that for
				a hold-over room "short-term" means not longer than 24 hours or, if the
				placement is made on a Friday or on the weekend, not longer than over the
				weekend until the following Monday.
(12) "Shelter care worker" means an
				individual who provides primary care and supervision of children in a shelter
				care facility on a regular schedule, either on a full-time or part-time basis,
				but not a hold-over room attendant.
(13) "Shift staffing" means that all shelter
				care workers employed by the licensee provide care on a rotating or shift basis
				in the shelter care facility.
(14)
				"Superintendent" means an individual designated pursuant to s.
				938.22(3),
				Stats., by the juvenile court judge or, when 2 or more counties cooperate to
				provide shelter care, by a committee of juvenile court judges, to supervise the
				provision of shelter care within a county.
(15) "Unit supervisor" means the individual
				in a shelter care facility who is primarily responsible for supervising the
				day-to-day activities of that facility.
(16) "Volunteer" means any individual
				providing services to the shelter care facility who receives no monetary
				reimbursement for services. Payment for out-of-pocket expenses is not
				considered reimbursement for services.