§ 9-28-402 - Definitions.
9-28-402. Definitions.
As used in this subchapter:
(1) "Adoptive home" means a household of one (1) or more persons that has been approved by a licensed child placement agency to accept a child for adoption;
(2) "Adverse action" means any petition by the Division of Children and Family Services of the Department of Human Services before the Child Welfare Agency Review Board to take any of the following actions against a licensee or applicant for a license:
(A) Revocation of license;
(B) Suspension of license;
(C) Conversion of license from regular or provisional status to probationary status;
(D) Imposition of a civil penalty;
(E) Denial of application; or
(F) Reduction of licensed capacity;
(3) "Alternative compliance" means a request for approval from the Child Welfare Agency Review Board to allow a licensee to deviate from the letter of a regulation, provided that the licensee has demonstrated how an alternate plan of compliance will meet or exceed the intent of the regulation;
(4) "Board" means the Child Welfare Agency Review Board;
(5) "Boarding school" means an institution that is operated solely for educational purposes and that meets each of the following criteria:
(A) The institution is in operation for a period of time not to exceed the minimum number of weeks of classroom instruction required of schools accredited by the Department of Education;
(B) The children in residence must customarily return to their family homes or legal guardians during school breaks and must not be in residence year round, except that this provision does not apply to students from foreign countries; and
(C) The parents of children placed in the institution retain custody and planning and financial responsibility for the children;
(6) "Child welfare agency" means any person, corporation, partnership, voluntary association, or other entity or identifiable group of entities having a coordinated ownership of controlling interest, whether established for profit or otherwise, that engages in any of the following activities:
(A) Receives a total number of six (6) or more unrelated minors for care on a twenty-four-hour basis for the purpose of ensuring the minors receive care, training, education, custody, or supervision, whether or not there are six (6) or more children cared for at any single physical location;
(B) Places any unrelated minor for care on a twenty-four-hour basis with persons other than themselves; or
(C) Plans for or assists in the placements described in subdivision (a)(6)(B) of this section;
(7) "Child placement agency" means a child welfare agency, not including any person licensed to practice medicine or law in the State of Arkansas, who engages in any of the following activities:
(A) Places a child in a foster home, adoptive home, or any type of facility licensed or exempted by this subchapter;
(B) Plans for the placement of a child into a foster home, adoptive home, or any type of facility licensed or exempted by this subchapter; or
(C) Assists the placement of a child in a foster home, adoptive home, or any type of facility licensed or exempted by this subchapter;
(8) (A) "Class A violation" means violations of essential standards, including those governing fire, health, safety, nutrition, staff-to-child ratio, and space.
(B) Operation of an unlicensed child welfare agency shall also be a Class A violation unless specifically exempted as provided in this subchapter;
(9) "Class B violation" means any other violations of standards that are not Class A violations;
(10) "Division" means the division within the Department of Human Services that shall be designated by the Director of the Department of Human Services to administer this subchapter;
(11) "Emergency child care" means any residential child care facility that provides care to children on a time-limited basis, not to exceed ninety (90) days;
(12) "Exempt child welfare agency" means any person, corporation, partnership, voluntary association or other entity, whether established for profit or otherwise, who otherwise fits the definition of a child welfare agency but that is specifically exempt from the requirement of obtaining a license under this subchapter. Those agencies specifically exempt from the license requirement are:
(A) A facility or program owned or operated by an agency of the United States Government;
(B) (i) Any agency of the State of Arkansas that is statutorily authorized to administer or supervise child welfare activities. (ii) In order to maintain exempt status, the state child welfare agency shall state every two (2) years in written form signed by the persons in charge that their agency is in substantial compliance with published state agency child welfare standards. Visits to review and advise exempt state agencies shall be made as deemed necessary by the Child Welfare Agency Review Board to verify and maintain substantial compliance with the standards. (iii) Visits to review and advise exempt state agencies shall be made as deemed necessary by the Child Welfare Agency Review Board to verify and maintain substantial compliance with the standards;
(C) A facility or program owned or operated by or under contract with the Department of Correction;
(D) A hospital providing acute care licensed pursuant to 20-9-201 et seq.;
(E) Any facility governed by the Department of Human Services State Institutional System Board or its successor;
(F) Human development centers regulated by the Board of Developmental Disabilities Services pursuant to 20-48-201 et seq.;
(G) Any facility licensed as a family home pursuant to 20-48-601 et seq.;
(H) Any boarding school as defined in this section;
(I) Any temporary camp as defined in this section;
(J) Any state-operated facility to house juvenile delinquents or any serious offender program facility operated by a state designee to house juvenile delinquents. Those facilities shall be subject to program requirements modeled on nationally recognized correctional facility standards that shall be developed, administered, and monitored by the Division of Youth Services of the Department of Human Services;
(K) Any child welfare agency operated solely by a religious organization that elects to be exempt from licensing and that complies within the conditions of the exemption for church-operated agencies as set forth in this subchapter;
(L) The Division of Developmental Disabilities Services of the Department of Human Services; and
(M) Any developmental disabilities services waiver provider licensed under 20-48-208 or 20-48-601 et seq.;
(13) "Foster home" means a private residence of one (1) or more family members that receives from a child placement agency any minor child who is unattended by a parent or guardian in order to provide care, training, education, custody, or supervision on a twenty-four-hour basis, not to include adoptive homes;
(14) "Independent living home" means any child welfare agency that provides specialized services in adult living preparation in an experiential setting for persons sixteen (16) years of age or older;
(15) "Minimum standards" means those rules and regulations as established by the Child Welfare Agency Review Board that set forth the minimum acceptable level of practice for the care of children by a child welfare agency;
(16) "Provisional foster home" means a foster home opened for no more than six (6) months by the division for a relative of a child in the custody of the Division of Children and Family Services after it:
(A) Conducts a health and safety check, including a central registry check and a criminal background check or a check with local law enforcement, of the relative's home;
(B) Performs a visual inspection of the home of the relative to verify that the relative will meet the standards for opening a regular foster home;
(17) "Psychiatric residential treatment facility" means a residential child care facility in a nonhospital setting that provides a structured, systematic, therapeutic program of treatment under the supervision of a psychiatrist, for children who are emotionally disturbed and in need of daily nursing services, psychiatrist's supervision, and residential care but who are not in an acute phase of illness requiring the services of an inpatient psychiatric hospital;
(18) "Relative" means a person within the fifth degree of kinship by virtue of blood or adoption;
(19) "Religious organization" means a church, synagogue, or mosque or association of same whose purpose is to support and serve the propagation of truly held religious beliefs;
(20) "Residential child care facility" means any child welfare agency that provides care, training, education, custody, or supervision on a twenty-four-hour basis for six (6) or more unrelated minors, excluding foster homes that have six (6) or more minors who are all related to each other but who are not related to the foster parents;
(21) (A) "Substantial compliance" means compliance with all essential standards necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the children in the care of the child welfare agency.
(B) Essential standards include, but are not limited to, those relating to issues involving fire, health, safety, nutrition, discipline, staff-to-child ratio, and space;
(22) "Temporary camp" means any facility or program providing twenty-four-hour care or supervision to children that meets the following criteria:
(A) The facility or program is operated for recreational, educational, or religious purposes only;
(B) No child attends the program more than forty (40) days in a calendar year; and
(C) The parents of children placed in the program retain custody and planning and financial responsibility for the children during placement; and
(23) "Unrelated minor" means a child who is not related by blood, marriage, or adoption to the owner or operator of the child welfare agency and who is not a ward of the owner or operator of the child welfare agency pursuant to a guardianship order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.