441—156.1 (234) Definitions.
“Basic family foster care” means the 24-hour care and supervision of a child provided by a licensed foster family. It includes the provision of food, lodging, clothing, shelter, support, ordinary transportation, recreation, and training which is appropriate for the child’s age, mental, and physical capacity. It also includes assisting and contributing to the creation and updating of a child’s lifebook and personal history, as well as assisting the child in maintaining cultural and ethnic connections.
“Basic maintenance payment” means the monthly reimbursement paid to foster parents for providing basic family foster care. The payment is based on the schedule found in subrule 156.6(l).
“Child welfare services” means age-appropriate activities to maintain a child’s connection to the child’s family and community, to promote reunification or other permanent placement, and to facilitate a child’s transition to adulthood.
“Cost of foster care” means the maintenance and supervision costs of foster family care, the maintenance costs of group care, and the maintenance and service costs of supervised apartment living and shelter care. The cost for foster family care supervision and supervised apartment living services, when provided directly by the department caseworker rather than purchased from a provider, shall be $250 per month. When using this average monthly charge results in unearned income or parental liability being collected in excess of the cost of foster care, the excess funds shall be placed in the child’s escrow account. The cost for foster family supervision and supervised apartment living services purchased from a private provider shall be the actual costs paid by the department.
“Department” means the Iowa department of human services.
“Difficulty of care maintenance payment” means a monthly payment made, in addition to the basic maintenance payment, to foster parents providing care to a special needs child to cover the extra expenses, care and supervision, associated with the child’s special needs.
“Director” means the director of the child support recovery unit of the department or the director’s designee.
“Earned income” means income in the form of a salary, wages, tips, bonuses, commissions earned as an employee, income from job corps or profit from self-employment.
“Escrow account” means an interest bearing account in a bank or savings and loan association which is maintained by the department in the name of a particular child.
“Foster care” means substitute care furnished on a 24-hour-a-day basis to an eligible child, in a licensed or approved facility, by a person or agency other than the child’s parent or guardian, but does not include care provided in a family home through an informal arrangement for a period of less than 20 days. Child foster care shall include but is not limited to the provision of food, lodging, training, education, supervision and health care.
“Foster family care” means foster care provided in a single family living unit licensed by the department according to 441—Chapter 113 or licensed or approved by the state in which it is located.
“Group care maintenance” means food, clothing, shelter, school supplies, personal incidentals, daily care, general parenting, discipline, and supervision of children to ensure their well-being and safety, and administration of maintenance items provided in a group care facility.
“Income” means earned and unearned income.
“Mental health professional” means the same as defined in rule 441—24.61(225C,230A).
“Mentally retarded” means a child meeting the definition in Iowa Code section 222.2(5).
“Mental retardation professional” means the same as defined in the department of inspections and appeals subrule 481—57.1(15).
“Parent” means the biological or adoptive parent of the child.
“Parental liability” means a parent’s liability for the support of a child during the period of foster care placement. Liability shall be determined pursuant to 441—Chapter 99, Division I.
“Personal allowance” means the family investment program schedule of living costs for the areas of food, clothing, personal care and supplies, medicine chest items and communications as defined in 441—subrules 41.8(2) and 41.28(2).
“Physician” means a licensed medical or osteopathic doctor as defined in rule 441—77.1(249A).
“Required school fees” means fees required for the participation in school or extracurricular activities and fees related to enrolling a child in preschool when a mental health or mental retardation professional has recommended school attendance.
“Service area manager” means the department employee or designee responsible for managing department offices within a department service area and for implementing policies and procedures of the department.
“Special needs child” means a child with one or more of the following conditions:
	  1. 	 The child has been diagnosed by a physician to have a disability which substantially limits one or more major life activities; and requires professional treatment, assistance in self-care, or the purchase of special adaptive equipment.
	  2. 	 The child has been determined by a qualified mental retardation professional to have mental retardation.
	  3. 	 The child has been diagnosed by a qualified mental health professional to have a psychiatric condition which impairs the child’s mental, intellectual, or social functioning.
	  4. 	 The child has been diagnosed by a qualified mental health professional to have a behavioral or emotional disorder characterized by situationally inappropriate behavior, which deviates substantially from behavior appropriate to the child’s age or which significantly interferes with the child’s intellectual, social, or personal adjustment.
	  5. 	 The child has been diagnosed by a qualified medical professional, mental health professional, or substance abuse treatment supervisor as having a substance abuse problem.
	  6. 	 The child is an unaccompanied refugee minor.
	  7. 	 The child has been adjudicated delinquent.
	  8. 	 The child has been diagnosed as HIV-infected or has had an HIV-positive test result by a qualified medical professional.
“Substance abuse treatment supervisor” means the same as treatment supervisor as defined in department of public health rule 641—155.1(125).
“Unearned income” means any income which is not earned income and includes supplemental security income (SSI) and other funds available to a child residing in a foster care placement.
This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code section 234.39.
[ARC 7606B, IAB 3/11/09, effective 5/1/09; ARC 7741B, IAB 5/6/09, effective 7/1/09]