(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.
