Iowa Admin. Code r. 441-202.1

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 11, December 11, 2024
Rule 441-202.1 - Definitions

"Age- or developmentally appropriate activities" means activities or items that are generally accepted as suitable for children of the same chronological age or level of maturity or that are determined to be developmentally appropriate for a child, based on the development of cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities that are typical for an age or age group; and in the case of a specific child, activities or items that are suitable for the child based on the developmental stages attained by the child with respect to the cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities of the child.

"Case permanency plan" means the plan identifying goals, needs, strengths, problems, services, time frames for meeting goals and for delivery of the services to the child and parents, objectives, desired outcomes, and responsibilities of all parties involved and reviewing progress. This includes information describing efforts to retain existing medical and mental health care providers for a child entering or in foster care and activities to evaluate service needs to avoid inappropriate diagnoses of mental illness, other emotional or behavioral disorders, medically fragile conditions, or developmental disabilities.

"Child" means the same as defined in Iowa Code section 234.1.

"Department" means the Iowa department of health and human services and includes the local offices of the department.

"Eligible child" means a child for whom the court has given guardianship to the department or has transferred legal custody to the department or for whom the department has agreed to provide foster care services on the basis of a signed placement agreement or who has been placed in emergency care for a period of not more than 30 days upon the approval of the director or the director's designee.

"Facility" means the personnel, program, plant and equipment of a person or agency providing child foster care.

"Family-centered services" means the same as defined in 441-Chapter 172.

"Fictive kin" means the same as defined in 441-Chapter 172.

"Foster care" means the same as defined in Iowa Code section 237.1(3).

"Kinship caregiver" means a relative or fictive kin who is caring for a child in foster care, under court-ordered supervision pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 232.

"Person" or "agency" means individuals, institutions, partnerships, voluntary associations, and corporations, other than institutions under the management or control of the department, who are licensed by the department as a foster family home, child caring agency or child placing agency, or approved as a shelter care facility.

"Reasonable and prudent parent standard" means the standard characterized by careful and sensible parental decisions that maintain the health, safety, and best interests of a child while at the same time encourage the emotional and developmental growth of the child, that a caregiver shall use when determining whether to allow a child in foster care under the responsibility of the state to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and social activities. For the purposes of this definition, "caregiver" means a foster parent with whom a child in foster care has been placed or a designated official for a child care institution (including group homes, residential treatment, shelters, or other congregate care settings) in which a child in foster care has been placed.

"Relative" means an individual related to a child within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, by marriage, or through adoption.

"Resource family" means an individual person or married couple who is licensed to provide foster family care or approved for adoption.

"Safety-related information" means information that indicates whether the child has behaved in a manner that threatened the safety of another person, has committed a violent act causing bodily injury to another person, or has been a victim or perpetrator of sexual abuse.

"Service area manager" means the department employee responsible for managing department offices and personnel within the service area and for implementing policies and procedures of the department.

"Social history" or "child study" means a written description of the child that includes strengths and needs; medical, mental, social, educational, placement and court history; and the child's relationships with the birth family and significant others.

This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code section 234.6(6)"b."

Iowa Admin. Code r. 441-202.1

ARC 8010B, lAB 7/29/09, effective 10/1/09
Amended by IAB August 5, 2015/Volume XXXVIII, Number 03, effective 10/1/2015
Amended by IAB November 4, 2020/Volume XLIII, Number 10, effective 1/1/2021
Amended by IAB April 7, 2021/Volume XLIII, Number 21, effective 7/1/2021
Amended by IAB August 21, 2024/Volume XLVII, Number 5, effective 10/1/2024