049-1 Wyo. Code R. § 1-6
Other definitions may also be included in other chapters of these rules.
(a) "Aftercare" see "continuing care."
(b) "Appropriateness" means the degree to which a particular service, placement, treatment, intervention, or activity is best suited to a child's needs; is not excessive; unduly intrusive or restrictive; is anticipated to be effective and to achieve the desired and specified outcomes; and is adequate or sufficient in quantity to address the problem.
(c) "Assessment" means an appraisal completed by an appropriately licensed, provisionally licensed and/or certified professional in which expertise and skills are exercised to collect and analyze data in order to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group.
(d) "Certification" means that DFS formally recognizes the organization as meeting all of the minimum requirements of these rules that pertain to the specific services provided and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
(e) "Continuing care" means a course of treatment following residential care, customarily out-patient, identified in an Individual Treatment Plan of Care (ITPC) designed to support service frequency sufficient to maintain desired outcomes.
(f) "Department" means the Department of Family Services or its designee, also referred to throughout these rules as "DFS."
(g) "Direct care staff" means staff members whose primary job responsibility is the direct care and supervision of the children/residents assigned to him/her. Usually, direct care staff do not include administrators, therapists, or clerical staff, unless one of those individuals has assumed the role of direct care staff and is providing this service.
(h) "Facility" see definition of Program.
(i) "Family" means the nuclear family (parents, siblings, stepparents, adoptive parents, or legal guardians), extended family (aunts, uncles, grandparents).
(j) "Individual Service Plan of Care (ISPC)" means a document that describes measurable, individualized non-therapeutic service goals and strategies designed to meet the child's needs as determined by the family partnership or case planning meeting.
(k) "Individual Treatment Plan of Care (ITPC)" means a document that describes measurable, individualized therapeutic treatment goals and strategies designed to meet the child's needs as determined by the clinical assessment.
(l) "Informed consent" means a child's parent or legal guardian explicitly grants permission to the organization to use a specific intervention. Consent is premised on full disclosure of the facts to enable the consumer to make a decision based on knowledge of the risks, benefits and alternatives.
(m) "Living unit" means a self-contained area separated by doors/walls from the rest of the organization. A living unit has its own assigned staff and supervisor, whose offices are located on the unit. Daily records and copies of ISPC and/or ITPC shall be maintained on the unit.
(n) "Organization" means any type of business entity, including, but not limited to sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited partnerships, corporations, non-profit corporations, and limited liability companies who participate in the delivery of substitute care services. "Organization" is used interchangeably with "facility" and "provider" in these rules. This definition does not include adoptive homes, foster care homes or therapeutic foster care homes.
(o) "Person" shall mean any individual, partnership, association, or corporation.
(p) "Physical restraint" means a hands-on technique used by a specially trained staff member/foster parent for the purpose of restricting a child's freedom of movement in order to maintain a safe environment for the child and others. The technique is designed to restrict the movement or function of a child or portion of a child's body and provide a degree of physical control that the child is unwilling or unable to provide for him or herself. Physical restraint does not include:
(q) "Program" means a system of services offered by an organization in a specified location. Sometimes the word "program" is used interchangeably with the word "facility" or to describe specific programs.
(r) "Provider" See definition of "Organization".
(s) "Service" means one or more organization-operated programs or activities having a common general objective and involving deployment of the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner.
(t) "Staff" means any individual who works directly with children in the facility and is used to meet staff:child ratios requirements.
(u) "Substitute care" means room, board and counseling provided to children on a twenty-four (24) hour a day basis away from their own home environments.
(v) "Suicide attempt" means a deliberate act of self-harm that is not fatal, but in which death is the goal.
(w) "Suicidal ideation" means thoughts about completing suicide; destructive thoughts to die.
(x) "Therapeutic staff" means staff licensed, provisionally licensed and/or certified by the Mental Health Professions Licensing Board, Board of Medicine or the Board of Psychology to provide mental health and/or substance use services.
(y) "Weapon" A weapon is any firearm, explosive or incendiary material, archery equipment, or other device, instrument, material or substance, which in the manner it is ordinarily used, or is ordinarily intended to be used, is reasonably capable of producing death or serious bodily injury.
049-1 Wyo. Code R. § 1-6
Amended, Eff. 11/8/2017.