Title 7 . Health and Social Services

Chapter 50 . (Reserved)

Section 990. Definitions

7 AAC 50.990. Definitions

In AS 47.35 and in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise,

(1) "administrator" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 ;

(2) "agency" and "child placement agency" have the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 and include the state with regard to the placement of children;

(3) "boarding care" means care provided in a foster home or a residential child care facility exclusively for children who are residing outside of their home community for the purpose of obtaining education;

(4) "caregiver" includes an administrator, foster parent, employee, contractor, substitute, volunteer, student intern, or other individual in a facility whose duties include care and supervision of children;

(5) "center" includes a residential center;

(6) "child" means an individual who

(A) meets the definition of "child" contained in AS 47.35.900 ; and

(B) is 18 through 20 years of age and is

(i) either in the custody of the state; or

(ii) a runaway child served by an agency.

(7) "child care" or "care" has the meaning given "child care" in AS 47.35.900 and includes services in or away from the facility;

(8) deleted 7/1/2000;

(9) deleted 7/1/2000;

(10) deleted 7/1/2000;

(11) deleted 7/1/2000;

(12) deleted 7/1/2000;

(13) "child in care" means a child who is not a relative of the caregiver, unless in a relative foster home;

(14) "child with special needs" means a child under the age of 18 who

(A) is a

(i) "hard to place child" under AS 25.23.240 ; or

(ii) "person with a handicap" under AS 47.80.900 ; but

(B) is not a "gifted child" under AS 14.30.350 ;

(15) "corporal punishment" means the infliction of bodily pain as a penalty for a disapproved behavior; it includes shaking, spanking, delivering a blow with a part of the body or an object, slapping, punching, pulling, or any other action that seeks to induce pain;

(16) "department" means the Department of Health and Social Services;

(17) "division" means the division of family and youth services in the department;

(18) "emergency shelter care" means care in a full time care facility that is short-term in nature, usually not exceeding 90 days; the term includes respite care;

(19) "facility" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 and includes other parts of the building housing the facility and adjoining grounds over which the operator of the facility has direct control;

(20) "foster group home" means a foster home in which one or more foster parents operate not more than one group home for no more than eight children;

(21) "foster home" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 , usually for no more than six children, that is the home of a foster parent;

(22) "foster parent" means the person or persons providing foster care for children and includes a shelter home parent;

(23) "full time care facility" means a foster home or a residential child care facility;

(24) "group home" means a foster group home and a residential group home;

(25) "home" means a foster home;

(26) "human services field" means social services, juvenile corrections, education, mental health, developmental disabilities, health care, pastoral counseling and related subjects;

(27) "IEP" means an individualized education program for a child with special needs age three through 18 developed by a school district in accordance with 4 AAC 52.140 or by a department infant learning program grantee or the child's private physician under criteria contained in 7 AAC 23.090(d) (3), for a child age birth up to three years;

(28) "IHP" means an individualized habilitation plan for a child with special needs developed by a state agency, contractor, or grantee in accordance with AS 47.80.120 ;

(29) "infant" means a child age birth up to 12 months of age;

(30) "kindergarten aged child" means a child age five;

(31) "license" means a permit issued under AS 47.10.392 or a license issued under AS 47.35;

(32) "licensee" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 and includes a person to whom a permit has been issued under AS 47.10.392 ;

(33) "licensing representative" means an employee of the division or an individual or organization responsible for evaluating a facility under AS 47.35.010 (a)(4) and 7 AAC 50.040 and presumes review and approval of the representative's decisions by the division or organization authorized under 7 AAC 50.040;

(34) "mental health professional" has the meaning given in AS 47.30.915 ;

(35) deleted 7/1/2000;

(36) "operator" means the person licensed to operate a facility;

(37) "parent" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 ;

(38) "physician" has the meaning given in 12 AAC 40.990;

(39) "placement worker" means an employee or volunteer of a child placement agency who arranges for placement of a child in a residential child care facility or a child foster home; "placement worker" includes an employee of the department with regard to the placement of children;

(40) deleted 7/1/2000;

(41) "regular volunteer" means a person who volunteers for at least one day a week for at least five consecutive weeks;

(42) "relative" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 ;

(43) "residential center" means a residential child care facility for 13 or more children;

(44) "residential child care facility" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 ;

(45) "residential group home" means a residential child care facility for no more than 10 children;

(46) "runaway child" has the meaning given in AS 47.10.390 for "runaway minor;"

(47) "school aged child" means a child age six through age 18;

(48) "shelter home" means a foster home exclusively for runaway youth;

(49) "sleeping hours" means the hours from midnight to six a.m.;

(50) "supervised transition living" or "supervised apartment living" means a short term program for adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 to enable those for whom independent living is the plan to prepare to lead self-sufficient adult lives;

(51) "supervision of children" means protective oversight of children including

(A) a prudent level of awareness of and responsibility for a child's ongoing activity;

(B) knowledge of program, the applicable requirements of this chapter, and children's needs; and

(C) the degree of supervision indicated by a child's age, developmental level, and physical, emotional, and social needs;

(52) "toddler" means a child age 12 months up to age 30 months;

(53) "treatment" means a series of planned interventions designed to address a child's physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and developmental disorders and bring about positive measurable changes needed to facilitate the child's successful functioning and return to its family or community;

(54) "waking hours" means the hours from six a.m. to midnight;

(55) "young child" means a child age birth up to age nine.

(56) "adolescent" means a child in the period of life from puberty to maturity terminating legally at age 18;

(57) "maternity home" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 ;

(58) "504 plan" means an individualized plan as set out in 34 C.F.R. § 104.33;

(59) "semi-secure residential child care facility" has the meaning given in AS 47.35.900 ; "semi-secure residential child care facility" does not include a facility licensed under 7 AAC 50.805 as a semi-secure residential psychiatric treatment center;

(60) "contractor" means a contractor who performs services for a facility and has routine contact with children in the facility;

(61) "EPSDT" means the early periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment provided under 7 AAC 43.452;

(62) "medically-fragile child" means a child who lacks physical or emotional strength and requires frequent medical attention from personnel outside of the facility;

(63) "chemical restraint" means a drug that is administered to manage a resident's behavior in a way that reduces the safety risk to the resident or others, that has the temporary effect of restricting the resident's freedom of movement, and that is not a standard treatment for the resident's medical or psychiatric condition;

(64) "freestanding" means individually licensed as a residential psychiatric treatment center under this chapter, and independent from administrative or financial control of another facility;

(65) "functional assessment" means a systematic evaluation of a potential resident to assess that individual's functioning level in the areas of living skills, learning, education, work, interpersonal skills, and other life skills necessary for independent living, in order to develop a treatment plan under 7 AAC 50.840;

(66) "GAF" means the Global Assessment of Functioning assessment instrument published in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, dated 1994; that assessment instrument is adopted by reference, as amended from time to time;

(67) "Indian custodian" has the meaning given in 25 U.S.C. 1903(6) (Indian Child Welfare Act);

(68) "isolation" means the involuntary confinement or seclusion of a resident alone in a locked behavior-management room;

(69) "locked behavior-management room" means a room or area in which a child is isolated by locking the door to the room, or by stationing staff in or outside the room or area for the purpose of preventing the child from leaving the room;

(70) "mechanical restraint" means a device attached or adjacent to the resident's body that the resident cannot easily remove and that restricts freedom of movement or normal access by the resident to the resident's body;

(71) "personal restraint" means the application of physical force without the use of any device, for the purpose of restricting the free movement of a resident's body;

(72) "professional mental health clinician" has the meaning given in AS 47.30.980 ;

(73) "professional review organization" means an independent team of medical professionals, including at least one physician, who have competence in the treatment and diagnosis of mental illness, and who operate under an agreement with the state to provide independent reviews;

(74) "residential psychiatric treatment center" means a facility that

(A) provides residential child care and inpatient psychiatric services, in a semi-secure or secure setting of a residential nature, for the diagnosis and treatment of children six years of age or older for mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders; and

(B) is not a hospital, nursing facility, or facility for the mentally retarded that is required to be licensed under AS 18.20; however, for purposes of this subparagraph, "residential psychiatric treatment center" includes a facility owned or operated by a hospital, nursing facility, or facility for the mentally retarded, if the owned or operated facility is freestanding;

(75) "restraint" means a personal restraint, mechanical restraint, or chemical restraint.

History: Eff. 1/1/96, Register 136; am 3/1/98, Register 145; am 1/1/2001, Register 156; am 6/21/2001, Register 158

Authority: AS 44.29.020

AS 47.05.012

AS 47.10.300

AS 47.10.392

AS 47.35.010

AS 47.35.085

Editor's note: The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, dated 1994 and adopted by reference in 7 AAC 50.990, may be obtained by writing to the American Psychiatric Association, 1400 K Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. This manual is also available for viewing at the Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Family and Youth Services, 130 Seward Street, Suite 406, Juneau, Alaska.