Hawaii Administrative Rules
Title 17 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
Department of Human Services
Chapter 798.2 - CHILD CARE SERVICES
Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 17-798.2-2 - Definitions
As used in this chapter:
"Activity" means employment, education, or vocational or employment training.
"Adequate notice" means a written notice that includes:
(1) A statement of the action the agency has taken or intends to take;
(2) The reason for the intended action;
(3) The specific departmental rules supporting the intended action;
(4) The name and telephone number of the person in the department to contact for additional information;
(5) The family unit's right to request an informal review, an administrative appeal, or both; and
(6) Information on the availability of free legal representation, if applicable.
"Aid to families with dependent children" or "AFDC" means the financial assistance and non-assistance program administered by the department under 42 U.S.C. §§ 601-617 and HRS § 346-29.
"After-school care" means child care provided after the close of the regular school day during the academic year for eligible children who are enrolled in public or private elementary, middle, or secondary schools.
"Applicant" means the caretaker, including an emancipated minor pursuant to HRS § 571-2 and HRS § 577-25 and a teenage head of the household, who has the responsibility to provide care for the child, and needs child care due to involvement in an activity that creates the absence of the child's caretaker. This does not include an unmarried minor who is a parent to the individual's own baby who together reside in the same household with the minor's adult caretaker.
"Application" means the written action by which an individual indicates on a form prescribed by the department a request to receive assistance with child care costs and services.
"Attending" means enrolled in a job training or educational program as defined by the institution, agency, or business that sponsors the program.
"Background check" means criminal history record checks, child abuse and neglect checks, and other checks required by federal or State law, conducted by the department in order to determine eligibility for child care services.
"Before-school care" means a child care program provided before the opening of the regular school day during the academic year for eligible children who are enrolled in public or private elementary, middle, or secondary schools.
"Benefit month" means the calendar month for which the caretaker is eligible for a child care payment.
"Budget month" means the calendar month(s) from which the worker shall use the child care expense, hours of approved activity and child care need, and income of the family unit to compute the benefit amount that the family shall receive in the payment month.
"Caregiver" means the individual who provides child care. It also includes all adult household members when child care is provided in a private residence.
"Caretaker" means an adult who resides with and is responsible for the care of a child, and who is a birth, hanai, foster, or adoptive parent, guardian, step-parent, or relative who is related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption, or a person authorized by the caretaker through a power of attorney valid for a period not to exceed twelve months. The caretaker designation may remain even when the caretaker is temporarily absent from the home as long as the caretaker continues to maintain responsibility for the care, education, and financial support of the child. This includes a foster parent who may not be providing financial support to the child but may be receiving support for the child from a private or public agency.
"Child" means any person who has not reached the age of eighteen.
"Child abuse record check" means an examination of an individual's child abuse confirmation history through:
(1) An initial name inquiry into the State child welfare record files;
(2) Subsequent child abuse confirmation history checks for new hires and re-hires; and
(3) An annual name inquiry into State child welfare record files.
"Child care" means those situations in which a caregiver has agreed to assume the responsibility for the child's supervision, apart from and in the absence of the child's caretaker, for any part of a twenty-four-hour day. Child care may be provided out of the child's home in out-of-home relative care, in the child's home by relatives or non-relatives, in a family child care home, in a group child care home, or in a group child care center.
"Child protective services" means social services provided by the department pursuant to chapter 17-920.1, to children who reside with their family unit and are:
(1) confirmed to have been abused or neglected, or
(2) confirmed to have been threatened with abuse or neglect.
"Co-payment" means the family unit's share of the child care expense which is the difference between the maximum amount allowed for the type and amount of care up to the department's child care rate maximum, and the amount the family is determined to be eligible for by the department.
"Corrective payment" means a payment issued by the department in the amount equal to the difference between what a caretaker is entitled to receive by regulation and the amount they actually received.
"Educational program" means a curriculum that has been established by an institution, agency, or business for the purpose of the development of skills or academic study necessary for an identified occupation.
"Eligibility period" means a period established by the department, not to exceed six months, during which the household shall be eligible for child care benefits unless otherwise notified through appropriate notification procedures.
"Employed" means the caretaker is engaged in an activity in exchange for wages or salary.
"Essential person" means a needy person designated by the caretaker to be included in the AFDC household that receives a public-funded financial assistance payment, who is ineligible in the person's own right for AFDC, who is designated by the caretaker as being essential to the caretaker's well-being, and who performs a service that would not otherwise be performed or that would otherwise have to be purchased if the person did not live in the AFDC household.
"Extended filing period" means the additional ten days that households are allowed to submit required information or missing verification to justify continued child care eligibility. See section 17-798.2-16(a)(1)(C).
"Family child care home care" means child care in any private residence as defined in HRS § 346-151 and the caregiver is registered with the department.
"Family unit" means the caretakers and their minor children who reside together in the same household.
"Federal fiscal year" means a period beginning October 1 and ending September 30.
"Federal Poverty Guidelines" or "FPG" means the poverty guidelines for Hawaii that are established in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. § 9902(2) and cited in the Child Care and Development Fund Plan For State of Hawaii that is approved by the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pursuant to C.F.R. §§98.14 to 98.18.
"First-to-Work" or "FTW" means the work programs administered by the department for recipients of AFDC.
"Full-time care" means child care provided for ninety-seven hours and more per month, except for before-school and after-school care.
"Gross income" means all non-excluded earned and unearned income as specified in this chapter.
"Group child care center care" means child care in a facility as defined in HRS § 346-151. The term may include nurseries; preschools; parent cooperatives; drop-in child care centers; before-school and after-school programs; holiday, intersession and summer care for eligible school age children; or other similar care settings that are established to provide group care to a child for any part of a twenty-four hour day and is license-exempt or licensed by the department. For the purposes of this chapter, group child care center shall also include "infant and toddler center care" in which child care is provided to children ages six weeks to thirty-six months of age in a group child care center care or group child care home and is licensed under chapter 17-895.
"Group child care home care" means child care in a facility which may be an extended or modified private home as defined in HRS § 346-151.
"Hanai" means a child who is taken permanently to be reared, educated, and loved by someone other than the natural parents at the time of the child's birth or early childhood. The child is given outright and the natural parents renounce all claims to the child. The natural parents cannot reclaim the child except for the death or serious injury of the hanai parents.
"Home-Based Child Care Provider" means department-registered family child care providers, and legally-exempt family child care providers, including relative child care providers.
"Homeless" means a family that is without a permanent residence and is currently living in a supervised, publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living accommodations; in an area not normally considered a residence (such as a street, park, beach or automobile); or in a temporary accommodation (of less than four months duration) in the residence of another individual and has a history of frequent changes of residence over the past 12-month period.
"In-home care" means child care provided only to the caretaker's eligible children by a caregiver in the home of the eligible children who require care in the absence of their caretakers due to a qualifying child care reason.
"Infant" means a child six weeks old up to and including twelve months old.
"Intersession care" means child care provided at breaks during the academic year for eligible children who are enrolled in public or private elementary, middle, or secondary schools, including summer care and holidays.
"Job training" or "vocational or employment training" means an organized training program (including community college and university education) established by an institution, agency, or business for the purpose of the development of skills or academic study necessary for an identified occupation.
"License-exempt care" means child care which is exempt from licensure or registration by the department under HRS § 346-152.
"Limited English proficiency" or "LEP" means limited ability in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language by a person whose native language is a language other than English or by a person who lives in a family or community environment where a language other than English is the dominant language.
"Minor" means a person under eighteen years old.
"Monthly gross income limit" means eighty-five per cent of the State Median Income for a family of the same size.
"Non-recurring lump sum" means income that is not normally repeated or a cumulative amount received or available to be received by an individual. Educational loans, grants or scholarships shall not be considered as non-recurring lump sums.
"Overpayment" means the amount of benefits issued to a caretaker for a benefit month that is in excess of the amount which the caretaker or a provider authorized by the caretaker is entitled to receive by regulation. It also includes situations when child care payments are not used for the intended purpose.
"Part-time care" means child care provided for less than ninety-seven hours per month, except for before-school and after-school care when it is provided for less than 44 hours per month.
"Payment month" means the calendar month in which the worker shall issue the child care payment.
"Physical or mental incapacity" means a physical or mental condition that prevents a child from doing self-care, as determined by a State-licensed physician or psychologist.
"Physician" means an individual licensed by the State for the practice of medicine.
"Power of attorney" means a legal instrument authorizing another to act as one's agent or attorney-in-fact.
"Preschool" means a department-licensed Group Child Care Center (GCC) or Group Child Care Home (GCCH) that provides services for children ages two years to five years old.
"Preschool Open Doors" means a program designed to provide preschool experience prior to entering junior kindergarten or kindergarten.
"Presumptively eligible" means a child care provider and caregivers may be approved to provide child care upon submittal to the department of the completed and signed child care certificate and provider confirmation form and consent forms for the department to conduct background checks, pending the results of the required background checks.
"Prospective budgeting" means computation of the child care payment based on the worker's best estimate of the child care expense, child care need, and caretakers" activity hours and gross income, which will exist in a calendar month. The best estimate shall be based on the worker's reasonable projection of future circumstances based on the family unit's past and current month's circumstances.
"Provider" means any person eighteen years and older, agency, or organization, and their adult employees, who provide direct care, supervision, and guidance to children apart from and in the absence of the child's caretaker for part of a twenty-four hour day. Providers are regulated by the department to provide child care or are legally exempt from child care licensure or registration by the department under HRS § 346-152.
"Relative" means related by blood, marriage, adoption, or hanai.
"Report month" means the calendar month that the simplified report form is due.
"Reside with" means an eligible child living in a home or family setting with the child's eligible caretaker.
"Responsible household member" means a reliable adult, included in the household, who can provide accurate information about the household's circumstances.
"Restored benefits" means the child care benefit issued to a caretaker whenever benefits for a prior period are not issued because of an error by the department.
"School age" means the chronological age of a child who is eligible to enroll in elementary, middle, or secondary schools.
"Simplified reporting" means the reporting requirement for caretakers who receive child care payments to provide information in the report month to determine continued eligibility as specified in section 17-798.2-16, and report changes as specified in section 17-798.2-15 that occur during the eligibility period.
"Simplified report form" means the report that a caretaker is required to complete for eligibility re-determination.
"Special populations referral" means documentation to verify that a child does not qualify full-time for the State department of education (DOE) special education program services and:
1) Has a physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional health condition that is outside of the normal range;
2) Meets the State Department of Health criteria for environmental risk as defined in HRS § 321-351;
3) Resides in a LEP household; or
4) Is homeless.
"State fiscal year" means a period beginning July 1 and ending June 30.
"State Median Income" means the official guidelines issued yearly in the Federal Register by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families under the authority of 42 U.S.C. § 8621, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981. States are given discretion by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to utilize a median income from any particular year, if not from the current year, as long as the states indicate in their Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) State Plan the year used and the dates on which eligibility limits became or will become effective.
"Temporarily absent" means a period of up to ninety days when the caretaker is not residing in the home with the child as a result of employment or job training commitments.
"Timely notice" means when the branch mails the notice of adverse action at least ten calendar days prior to the effective date of the action.
"Toddler" means a child over twelve months old up to and including twenty-four months old.
"Transitional child care" means a program designed to provide child care payments for eligible families that terminated AFDC financial assistance or non-assistance payments sponsored by the department to enable them to maintain self-sufficiency.
"Underpayment" means the amount of benefits issued to a caretaker or a provider authorized by the caretaker for a benefit month is less than the amount which the caretaker was entitled to receive by regulation.
"Very low income" means gross income less than one hundred per cent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.
