Current through Register No. 52, December 26, 2024
(a) "Absconder"
means a runaway, as defined in (al) below, who also has a petition under the
juvenile justice statutes RSA 169-B or RSA 169-D and who, with the intent to
avoid legal process or authorized control, meets at least one of the following:
(1) Fails to report for probation or parole
supervisions;
(2) Fails to report
for conditional release supervision;
(3) Hides, conceals or absents him/herself;
or
(4) Has departed the
jurisdiction without permission of the supervising authority, court, or
juvenile parole and probation officer (JPPO), and whose whereabouts might be
unknown.
(b) "Adult
living preparation" means a process of assessing, planning, and supporting
youth through the transition from childhood through adolescence and into
independence and adulthood. This term includes "independent living."
(c) "Agency" means the board of directors,
executive director, and employees of an organization that is:
(1) Operating a residential treatment program
at a residential facility;
(2)
Incorporated and recognized by the secretary of state in which it is operating;
and
(3) Providing an identifiable
system of social service interventions designed for an individual child or
groups of children.
(d)
"Applicant" means the person or entity that is requesting certification of a
residential treatment program.
(e)
"Case plan" means the division for children, youth and families' (DCYF) written
plan for the child and the family which outlines how services will be provided,
pursuant to
RSA 170-G:4,
III, and
42 U.S.C.
671, PART E-Federal Payments for Foster Care
and Adoption Assistance SECTION 471(a) (16), 475(1) and (5) (A) and (D) State
Plan For Foster Care and Adoption Assistance. This term includes "placement
plan."
(f) "Certification for
payment" means the process by which DCYF approves the operation of and payment
to residential treatment programs.
(g) "Child" means:
(1) "Child" as defined in
RSA 170-E:25,
I. The term includes "youth" and "resident";
or
(2) For the purposes of
compliance with RSA 126-U, "child" as defined in
RSA 126-U:1,
I, namely, "a person who has not reached the
age of 18 years and who is not under adult criminal prosecution or sentence of
actual incarceration resulting therefrom, either due to having reached the age
of 17 years or due to the completion of proceedings for transfer to the adult
criminal justice system under
RSA
169-B:24,
RSA
169-B:25, or
RSA 169-B:26.
'Child' also includes a person in actual attendance at a school who is less
than 22 years of age and who has not received a high school diploma." The term
includes "youth" and "resident."
(h) "Child protective services worker (CPSW)
" means the DCYF representative who has expertise in managing cases resulting
from concerns of child abuse and/or neglect to ensure families and children
achieve safety, permanency, and well-being.
(i) "Clinical coordinator" means a staff
member employed by the residential treatment program responsible for
administrative oversight of the clinical services provided at the program. This
term includes "treatment coordinator."
(j) "Clinical staff" means individuals who
have a master's degree in a clinical field such as social work, marriage and
family therapy, psychology, guidance counseling, or a degree which would make
one eligible for a license from the NH board of mental health practice or NH
board of psychologists.
(k)
"Commissioner" means the commissioner of the NH department of health and human
services, or his or her designee.
(l) "Connection" means an individual who the
child identifies as an important relationship and who is supported by the
treatment team for maintaining the child's permanency plans.
(m) "Department" means the NH department of
health and human services.
(n)
"Direct care staff" means the residential treatment program's staff who are
included in the staff to child ratio, including, but not limited to, child care
workers, supervisors, and recreational staff.
(o) "Division for children, youth and
families (DCYF) " means the organizational unit in the department of health and
human services which includes, but is not limited to, child protective services
and juvenile justice services.
(p)
"Executive director" means the individual responsible for the daily
administration of a residential treatment program.
(q) "Facility" means the physical plant or
structures, permanent or temporary, on the grounds of the licensed
premises.
(r) "Family" means the
individuals to whom the child is related legally or biologically, such as, but
not limited to, parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, and uncles.
(s) "Family workers" mean individuals funded
by the department to work directly with the families of children in residential
placement on reunification issues or in establishing a family's optimum level
of functioning and contact with their child.
(t) "Full time employee" means personnel who
work a minimum of 37.5 hours a week.
(u) "Human services" means helping people in
areas which include:
(v) "Incident" means:
(1) Resident behavior that is extreme,
including, but not limited to, behavior that is assaultive, destructive,
self-injurious, or self-destructive;
(2) Any behavior leading to physical
intervention or seclusion of a resident; or
(3) An occurrence involving an accident or
injury, or requiring outside agency involvement.
(w) "Juvenile Detention Alternatives
Initiative (JDAI) Services" means a temporary, court-ordered residential
service available to law enforcement officers and JPPOs to provide emergency
care and supervision through a DCYF certified provider for youth charged with a
delinquent offense. JDAI services are an alternative to secure detention
pursuant to
RSA 169-B:2,
II.
(x) "Juvenile parole and probation officer
(JPPO) " means the DCYF representative who has expertise in managing cases
resulting from concerns of delinquency or children in need of services (CHINS)
to ensure families and children achieve safety, permanency, and
well-being.
(y) "License" means
"license" as defined in
RSA 170-E:25,
XI, or pursuant to RSA 151.
(z) "Measurable" means the systematic process
of gathering quantitative or qualitative information to show progress or
change, and achievement of a goal or objective.
(aa) "NH bridges" means the case management,
tracking, and automated billing system used by DCYF for children who are in
out-of-home placement and for whom the department has a legal
responsibility.
(ab) "Permanency"
means the process to ensure a child has a safe, stable environment with a
life-long relationship with a nurturing caregiver to establish the foundation
for a child's healthy development.
(ac) "Physical intervention" means a
behavioral management technique through which staff uses the minimum amount of
physical contact on a child which is necessary for the circumstances. This term
includes "physical management." Physical intervention might be reportable under
RSA 126-U.
(ad) "Policies" means
written guidelines, practices, and procedures specifying the current and future
actions to be taken that direct the operation of the residential treatment
program.
(ae) "Prescribing
practitioner" means any of the following state licensed health care providers
that provide services identified in 42 CFR 440.130 to reduce a physical or
mental disability and in the restoration of a recipient to his or her best
functional level:
(1) Health care providers
licensed in accordance with RSA 326-B;
(3) Physician assistants; and
(4) Any practitioner licensed by the NH board
of mental health practice or NH board of psychologists.
(af) "Program philosophy" means the
underlying theory, or set of ideas, which guides the beliefs and principles of
the program and the services the program provides.
(ag) "Progress reports" means the written
notes sent to DCYF and parents by the staff of a residential treatment program
which document the residential services being provided to the child.
(ah) "Quality assurance" means the process
that DCYF staff use to monitor, support, and provide technical assistance to
residential treatment programs to assist in their ability to comply with He-C
6350 and He-C 6420.
(ai)
"Reasonable and prudent parent standard" means a standard characterized by
careful and sensible parental decisions made by a caregiver for a child in
foster care, that maintain the health, safety, and best interests of the child
or youth while encouraging the emotional and developmental growth of the child
through participation in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and social
activities as defined by SSA 475(10) (A) and any subsequent amendments
thereto.
(aj) "Rehabilitative and
restorative services" means interventions provided including any medical or
remedial services recommended by a physician or other prescribing practitioner
within the scope of the residential treatment program's practice to reduce a
physical or mental disability and restore a recipient to their best functional
level.
(ak) "Residential treatment
program (program) " means the model and implementation of services to meet the
treatment and supervision needs of the children per
RSA 170-G:4,
XVIII, and provide 24 hour care of children
365 days a year including all of the employees therein, and is one of the
following categories of certification:
(1)
Assessment treatment program;
(2)
Intensive treatment program;
(3)
Intermediate treatment program;
(5) Rehabilitation
program;
(6) Shelter care program;
and
(7) Substance abuse treatment
program.
(al)
"Restraint" means "restraint" as defined in
RSA 126-U:1,
IV.
(am) "Runaway" means a child who has failed
to return to his or her placement, has hid, or concealed him or herself without
permission of his or her legal custodian, residential treatment program, or
supervising authority. A runaway might also be an absconder.
(an) "Seclusion" means "seclusion" as defined
in
RSA 126-U:1,
V-a.
(ao) "Short-term" means a program operated
through a residential facility that is intended to provide services to a child
for 60 days or less.
(ap) "Staff
secure" means a residential treatment program that provides high levels of
supervision and individualized care 24 hours a day to children through the use
of a staff to child ratio of one staff to 5 children or lower and awake night
staff in each building used for child care, and can include short-term
interventions that require one staff member to care for one child in order to
assist the child through a behavior or emotional crisis or physical
interventions to prevent runaways.
(aq) "Staff to child ratio" means the number
of direct care staff funded by the department to ensure the necessary resources
are available to deliver services and provide supervision to children
consistent with He-C 4001.
(ar)
"Staff supervision" means an administrative and educational process used in
residential treatment programs to help child care workers and clinical staff
develop and refine their skills so that they are able to provide quality care
and treatment.
(as) "Treatment
plan" means the residential treatment program's written, time-limited,
goal-oriented, therapeutic plan developed for the child and family by the
treatment team which includes the strategies to address the issues that brought
the child into placement and is consistent with rehabilitative and restorative
services.
(at) "Treatment team"
means the individuals outlined in
He-C
6350.13 including at a minimum the child, parent(s)
/guardian(s), residential treatment program clinical staff, prescribing
practitioner, and DCYF staff.
#4442, eff 7-1-88, EXPIRED 7-1-94
New. #6617, eff 10-25-97; ss by
#8453, INTERIM, eff 10-25-05, EXPIRED: 4-23-06
New. #8693, eff
7-27-06
