[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR1355.20]

[Page 253-256]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 1355--GENERAL--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1355.20  Definitions.

    (a) Unless otherwise specified, the following terms as they appear 
in 45 CFR parts 1355, 1356 and 1357 of this title are defined as 
follows--
    Act means the Social Security Act, as amended.
    ACYF means the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, 
Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U. S. Department of 
Health and Human Services.
    Adoption means the method provided by State law which establishes 
the legal relationship of parent and child between persons who are not 
so related by birth, with the same mutual rights and obligations that 
exist between children and their birth parents. This relationship can 
only be termed ``adoption'' after the legal process is complete.
    Child abuse and neglect means the definition contained in 42 U.S.C. 
5106(g)(2).
    Child care institution means a private child care institution, or a 
public child care institution which accommodates no more than twenty-
five children, and is licensed by the State in which it is situated or 
has been approved by the agency of such State or tribal licensing 
authority (with respect to child care institutions on or near Indian 
Reservations) responsible for licensing or approval of institutions of 
this type as meeting the standards established for such licensing. This 
definition must not include detention facilities, forestry camps, 
training schools, or any other facility operated primarily for the 
detention of children who are determined to be delinquent.

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    Commissioner means the Commissioner on Children, Youth and Families, 
Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services.
    Date a child is considered to have entered foster care means the 
earlier of: The date of the first judicial finding that the child has 
been subjected to child abuse or neglect; or, the date that is 60 
calendar days after the date on which the child is removed from the home 
pursuant to Sec. 1356.21(k). A State may use a date earlier than that 
required in this paragraph, such as the date the child is physically 
removed from the home. This definition determines the date used in 
calculating all time period requirements for the periodic reviews, 
permanency hearings, and termination of parental rights provision in 
section 475(5) of the Act and for providing time-limited reunification 
services described at section 431(a)(7) of the Act. The definition has 
no relationship to establishing initial title IV-E eligibility.
    Department means the United States Department of Health and Human 
Services.
    Detention facility in the context of the definition of child care 
institution in section 472(c)(2) of the Act means a physically 
restricting facility for the care of children who require secure custody 
pending court adjudication, court disposition, execution of a court 
order or after commitment.
    Entity, as used in Sec. 1355.38, means any organization or agency 
(e.g., a private child placing agency) that is separate and independent 
of the State agency; performs title IV-E functions pursuant to a 
contract or subcontract with the State agency; and, receives title IV-E 
funds. A State court is not an ``entity'' for the purposes of 
Sec. 1355.38 except if an administrative arm of the State court carries 
out title IV-E administrative functions pursuant to a contract with the 
State agency.
    Foster care means 24-hour substitute care for children placed away 
from their parents or guardians and for whom the State agency has 
placement and care responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, 
placements in foster family homes, foster homes of relatives, group 
homes, emergency shelters, residential facilities, child care 
institutions, and preadoptive homes. A child is in foster care in 
accordance with this definition regardless of whether the foster care 
facility is licensed and payments are made by the State or local agency 
for the care of the child, whether adoption subsidy payments are being 
made prior to the finalization of an adoption, or whether there is 
Federal matching of any payments that are made.
    Foster care maintenance payments are payments made on behalf of a 
child eligible for title IV-E foster care to cover the cost of (and the 
cost of providing) food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, school 
supplies, a child's personal incidentals, liability insurance with 
respect to a child, and reasonable travel for a child's visitation with 
family, or other caretakers. Local travel associated with providing the 
items listed above is also an allowable expense. In the case of child 
care institutions, such term must include the reasonable costs of 
administration and operation of such institutions as are necessarily 
required to provide the items described in the preceding sentences. 
``Daily supervision'' for which foster care maintenance payments may be 
made includes:
    (1) Foster family care--licensed child care, when work 
responsibilities preclude foster parents from being at home when the 
child for whom they have care and responsibility in foster care is not 
in school, licensed child care when the foster parent is required to 
participate, without the child, in activities associated with parenting 
a child in foster care that are beyond the scope of ordinary parental 
duties, such as attendance at administrative or judicial reviews, case 
conferences, or foster parent training. Payments to cover these costs 
may be: included in the basic foster care maintenance payment; a 
separate payment to the foster parent, or a separate payment to the 
child care provider; and
    (2) Child care institutions--routine day-to-day direction and 
arrangements to ensure the well-being and safety of the child.
    Foster family home means, for the purpose of title IV-E eligibility, 
the home of an individual or family licensed or

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approved as meeting the standards established by the State licensing or 
approval authority(ies) (or with respect to foster family homes on or 
near Indian reservations, by the tribal licensing or approval 
authority(ies)), that provides 24-hour out-of-home care for children. 
The term may include group homes, agency-operated boarding homes or 
other facilities licensed or approved for the purpose of providing 
foster care by the State agency responsible for approval or licensing of 
such facilities. Foster family homes that are approved must be held to 
the same standards as foster family homes that are licensed. Anything 
less than full licensure or approval is insufficient for meeting title 
IV-E eligibility requirements. States may, however, claim title IV-E 
reimbursement during the period of time between the date a prospective 
foster family home satisfies all requirements for licensure or approval 
and the date the actual license is issued, not to exceed 60 days.
    Full review means the joint Federal and State review of all 
federally-assisted child and family services programs in the States, 
including family preservation and support services, child protective 
services, foster care, adoption, and independent living services, for 
the purpose of determining the State's substantial conformity with the 
State plan requirements of titles IV-B and IV-E as listed in 
Sec. 1355.34 of this part. A full review consists of two phases, the 
statewide assessment and a subsequent on-site review, as described in 
Sec. 1355.33 of this part.
    Legal guardianship means a judicially-created relationship between 
child and caretaker which is intended to be permanent and self-
sustaining as evidenced by the transfer to the caretaker of the 
following parental rights with respect to the child: protection, 
education, care and control of the person, custody of the person, and 
decision-making. The term legal guardian means the caretaker in such a 
relationship.
    National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) means the 
voluntary national data collection and analysis system established by 
the Administration for Children and Families in response to a 
requirement in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (Pub. L. 93-
247), as amended.
    Partial review means:
    (1) For the purpose of the child and family services review, the 
joint Federal and State review of one or more federally-assisted child 
and family services program(s) in the States, including family 
preservation and support services, child protective services, foster 
care, adoption, and independent living services. A partial review may 
consist of any of the components of the full review, as mutually agreed 
upon by the State and the Administration for Children and Families as 
being sufficient to determine substantial conformity of the reviewed 
components with the State plan requirements of titles IV-B and IV-E as 
listed in Sec. 1355.34 of this part; and
    (2) For the purpose of title IV-B and title IV-E State plan 
compliance issues that are outside the prescribed child and family 
services review format, e.g., compliance with AFCARS requirements, a 
review of State laws, policies, regulations, or other information 
appropriate to the nature of the concern, to determine State plan 
compliance.
    Permanency hearing means:
    (1) The hearing required by section 475(5)(C) of the Act to 
determine the permanency plan for a child in foster care. Within this 
context, the court (including a Tribal court) or administrative body 
determines whether and, if applicable, when the child will be:
    (i) Returned to the parent;
    (ii) Placed for adoption, with the State filing a petition for 
termination of parental rights;
    (iii) Referred for legal guardianship;
    (iv) Placed permanently with a fit and willing relative; or
    (v) Placed in another planned permanent living arrangement, but only 
in cases where the State agency has documented to the State court a 
compelling reason for determining that it would not be in the best 
interests of the child to follow one of the four specified options 
above.
    (2) The permanency hearing must be held no later than 12 months 
after the date the child is considered to have entered foster care in 
accordance with the definition at Sec. 1355.20 of this part or

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within 30 days of a judicial determination that reasonable efforts to 
reunify the child and family are not required. After the initial 
permanency hearing, subsequent permanency hearings must be held not less 
frequently than every 12 months during the continuation of foster care. 
The permanency hearing must be conducted by a family or juvenile court 
or another court of competent jurisdiction or by an administrative body 
appointed or approved by the court which is not a part of or under the 
supervision or direction of the State agency. Paper reviews, ex parte 
hearings, agreed orders, or other actions or hearings which are not open 
to the participation of the parents of the child, the child (if of 
appropriate age), and foster parents or preadoptive parents (if any) are 
not permanency hearings.
    State means, for title IV-B, the 50 States, the District of 
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. For 
title IV-E the term ``State'' means the 50 States, the District of 
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin 
Islands, Guam, and American Samoa.
    State agency means the State agency administering or supervising the 
administration of the title IV-B and title IV-E State plans and the 
title XX social services block grant program. An exception to this 
requirement is permitted by section 103(d) of the Adoption Assistance 
and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-272). Section 103(d) provides 
that, if on December 1, 1974, the title IV-B program (in a State or 
local agency) and the social services program under section 402(a)(3) of 
the Act (the predecessor program to title XX) were administered by 
separate agencies, that separate administration of the programs could 
continue at State option.
    Statewide assessment means the initial phase of a full review of all 
federally-assisted child and family services programs in the States, 
including family preservation and support services, child protective 
services, foster care, adoption, and independent living services as 
described in Sec. 1355.33(b) of this part, for the purpose of 
determining the State's substantial conformity with the State plan 
requirements of titles IV-B and IV-E as listed in Sec. 1355.34 of this 
part.
    (b) Unless otherwise specified, the definitions contained in section 
475 of the Act apply to all programs under titles IV-E and IV-B of the 
Act.

[48 FR 23114, May 23, 1983, as amended at 57 FR 30429, July 9, 1992; 58 
FR 67924, Dec. 22, 1993; 61 FR 58653, Nov. 18, 1996; 65 FR 4076, Jan. 
25, 2000; 66 FR 58675, Nov. 23, 2001]