Hawaii Administrative Rules
Title 17 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
Department of Human Services
Chapter 1617 - FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE AND RELATED PAYMENTS
Section 17-1617-2 - Definitions
As used in this chapter:
"Adoptive home" means a home, which has been studied and approved by the department or a licensed child-placing organization for the placement of children for the purpose of adoption.
"Aid to families with dependent children" or "AFDC" means federally funded aid to families with dependent children based on meeting requirements defined in 45 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R) Part 233 and in effect on July 16, 1996.
"Caregiver" means any adult other than the legal custodian authorized to provide care or oversee the care of children.
"Child" means a person who is born alive and is less than eighteen years of age.
"Child-caring institution" or "group home" means any institution or group home licensed by the department, for the purpose of receiving six or more unrelated minor children for temporary substitute supervision, care, and maintenance apart from their legal custodians on a twenty-four hour basis for monetary payment. This term shall not apply to any boarding school which is primarily engaged in educational work or to any resource family home, detention facility, forestry camp, training school, or facility operated primarily for the detention of delinquent children. This term shall also exclude public child care institutions that accommodate more than twenty five children.
"Constructive removal" means a non-physical removal of custody from a legal parent or legal custodian with whom the child resided within six months of the constructive removal. A child is considered constructively removed on the date of the first judicial order removing custody, even temporarily, from the appropriate specified relative or the date that the 'voluntary placement agreement is signed by all relevant parties.
"Date child is considered to have entered foster care" means the earlier of the date of the first judicial finding that the child has been subjected to child abuse or neglect or the date that is 60 days after the date on which the child is removed from the home.
"Difficulty of care payments" or "difficulty of care" means payments in addition to the basic foster care maintenance board rate based on the level of care and supervision a child requires as determined by an assessment of the child's level of overall functioning. Payments for difficulty of care can be issued when the child requires an increased level of care and supervision that is over and above the average level needed by a child due to physical or mental health conditions, or emotional, psychological, or behavioral needs, which are being treated by a professional. Payments for difficulty of care may also be issued when the child requires academic or educational assistance that is over and above the average assistance needed for a child as documented by appropriate school personnel.
"Emergency shelter home" means a licensed resource family home or child-caring institution where temporary care, apart from the legal custodian, is provided to abused or neglected or other dependent children in need of care and protection on a twenty-four hour basis, until more suitable plans are made for the children.
"Federally funded foster care maintenance payments" means the financial assistance program administered by the department under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. sections 670 - 672 in effect July 16, 1996). For purposes of Titles XIX and XX, any child with respect to whom Title IV-E foster care maintenance payments are made under this section will be deemed a dependent child as defined in section 406 of the Act (as so in effect 7/16/1996) and shall be deemed to be a recipient of aid to families with dependent children under Part A of this Title (as so in effect 7/16/1996). Titles XIX and XX services will be available to such child in the State in which the child resides.
"Foster care" and "foster care services" means temporary substitute supervision, care, and maintenance apart from the child's legal custodians on a twenty-four hour basis for monetary payment in a licensed resource family home, or group home licensed by the department or other appropriate agency, to an eligible child pursuant to this chapter, whose legal custodians are unwilling or unable to provide a safe family home for the child's safety, welfare and protection as determined by the department pursuant to the child protective act.
"Foster care maintenance payments" means payments issued by the department to compensate eligible caregivers for the provision of care and supervision to eligible foster children. Foster care maintenance payments consist of a basic board rate, and if appropriate, difficulty of care payments based on an assessment of the child's need for higher level of care and supervision.
"Foster care related payments" means payments for specified related costs not covered in the foster care maintenance payments for an eligible child, including but not limited to clothing, transportation, limited medical expenses, and activity fees.
"Foster child" means:
(1) Any child under eighteen years of age in out-of-home care who is under the placement responsibility of the department, or
(2) A youth under the placement responsibility of the department receiving state-funded foster care who is under the age of 2 0 and remains enrolled in high school.
"Independent placement" means placement of a child into a licensed resource family home directly by the child's legal custodian, and not through a child-placing agency.
"Initial date of entry into out-of-home care" means the initial date on which the department assumed placement responsibility of a child:
(1) By receipt of custody of the child from the police;
(2) Pursuant to a voluntary agreement with the legal custodian;
(3) By order of the court; or
(4) By placing a child in foster care and thereby assuming temporary foster custody of a child subject to court ordered family supervision, pursuant to section 587A-4, HRS.
"Legal custodian" means the child's parent(s), permanent custodian(s), legal guardian(s), or other entities that have legal and physical custody of the child.
"Out-of-home care" means placement which is apart from the child's legal custodian which provides twenty-four hour parenting care, including, but not limited to a licensed relative's home, a resource family home, or a child-caring institution.
"Parental deprivation" means depriving a child of parental support or care by reason of death, continued absence from the home (other than absence based solely on performance of active duty in the uniformed services of the United States), physical or mental incapacity of a parent, or unemployment of the parent who is the principal wage earner, as defined in 45 C.F.R., section 233.100.
"Periodic review" means a judicial review of the status of each child in out-of-home care under the placement responsibility of the department which is held within six months of the initial date of entry into out-of-home care and at least every six months thereafter.
"Placement responsibility" means the authority of the department or other agency or individual to determine the placement and care of the child.
"Provisionally licensed resource family home" means a home approved for placement of a child that has been determined appropriate by the department for a placement of a child while completing the requirements to become a licensed resource family home.
"Reasonable efforts" means appropriate and available services offered or provided to prevent the placement of a child, to reunify a family, or to finalize the permanency plan for the child.
"Resource family home" means a home which has met the state licensing requirements in chapter 17-1625, HAR, in which minor children are received for temporary substitute supervision, care and maintenance apart from their legal custodians on a twenty-four hour basis for monetary payment.
"Resource family" or "resource caregiver" means a family or person who is:
(1) Licensed by the department to provide temporary safe foster care services for children under the jurisdiction of the department in out-of-home care; and
(2) Paid foster care maintenance payments by the department for such services.
"Respite care payments" means the payments provided by the department to reimburse licensed resource families for the cost of obtaining an alternate caregiver for the temporary care of a foster child under the placement responsibility of the department. These funds are limited each fiscal year and respite care payments may not be available once the allotted funds have been expended.
"Specified relative" means father, mother, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, uncle half-blood, aunt half-blood, great uncle, great aunt, great uncle half-blood, great aunt half-blood, grandfather, grandmother, great grandfather, great grandmother, first cousin, first cousin once removed, nephew or niece, great-great grandmother, great-great grandfather, great-great-great grandmother, great-great-great grandfather, great-great aunt, great-great uncle, great-great aunt half-blood, great-great uncle half-blood, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister; the adoptive parents of a legally adopted child as well as other natural or legally adopted children and relatives of the adoptive parents; and the legally married spouse of any of the persons specified in this subsection even after the marriage has ended in death or divorce.
"Voluntary foster custody agreement" means a written agreement, binding on the parties to the agreement, between the Department, any other agency acting on its behalf, and the parents or guardians of a minor child which specifies, at a minimum, the legal status of the child and the rights and obligations of the parents or guardians, the child, and the agency while the child is in placement.
"Voluntary placement" means an out-of-home placement of a minor, by or with participation of a State agency, after the parents or guardians of the minor have requested the assistance of the agency and signed a voluntary placement agreement.
