Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 290-2-5-.03 - Definitions

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, the words, phrases and symbols set forth herein shall mean the following:

(a) "Adult" means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older. This term does not include an eighteen (18) year old who is a resident of the Institution.
(b) "Applicant" means the following:
1. When the Institution is owned by a sole proprietorship, the individual proprietor shall be the applicant for the license, complete the statement of responsibility and serve as the licensee;
2. When the Institution is owned by a partnership, the general partners shall be the applicant for the license, complete the statement of responsibility and serve as the licensee;
3. When the Institution is owned by an association, the governing body of the association shall authorize the application for the license and complete the statement of responsibility and the association shall serve as the licensee; and
4. When the Institution is owned by a corporation, the governing body of the corporation shall authorize the application for the license and complete the statement of responsibility and the corporation shall serve as the licensee.
(c) "Behavior management" means those principles and techniques used by a facility to assist a resident in facilitating self-control, addressing inappropriate behavior, and achieving positive outcomes in a constructive and safe manner. Behavior management principles and techniques shall be used in accordance with the individual service plan, written policies and procedures governing service expectations, service plan goals, safety, security, and these rules and regulations.
(d) "Chemical restraint" means medications that are administered to manage a resident's behavior in a way that reduces the safety risk to the resident or others; that have the temporary effect of restricting the resident's freedom of movement; and that are not being used as part of a standard regimen, as specified in the child's service plan, to treat current symptoms of a medical or psychiatric condition.
(e) "Child care worker" means the person employed by the Institution who is responsible for providing direct care, supervision, and support to residents. This includes a child care worker who resides in the living unit(s) with residents.
(f) "Child-caring institution" means a child welfare agency that is any institution, society, agency, or facility, whether incorporated or not, which either primarily or incidentally provides full-time care for children through 18 years of age outside of their own homes, subject to such exceptions as may be provided in rules and regulations of the Board of Human Services. This full-time care is referred to as room, board and watchful oversight. For purposes of these rules, a child-caring institution means any institution, society, agency, or facility that provides such care to six or more children. The term "child-caring institution" includes a qualified residential treatment program and a commercial sexual exploitation recovery center. The term "facility" or "institution" may be used interchangeably with the term "child-caring institution" in these rules.
(g) "Child-placing agency" means any institution, society, agency, or facility, whether incorporated or not, which places children in foster homes for temporary care or in prospective adoptive homes for adoption. For purposes of this definition, agencies that engage in placement activities are required to be licensed as Child-Placing Agencies. This term does not apply to a licensed professional providing only home study preparation services as an evaluator.
(h) "Commercial sexual exploitation recovery center" means a child-caring institution certified as a victim assistance program, as provided for in subsection (e) of Code Section 15-21-132, which provides full-time residential care and support services to youth through 18 years of age who are victims of sexual exploitation as defined in Code Section 49-5-40.
(i) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Human Services.
(j) "Criminal history background check" means a search as required by law of the criminal records maintained by law enforcement authorities to determine whether the applicant has a criminal record as defined in these rules.
(k) "Criminal Justice Coordinating Council" means an executive branch agency that is a statewide body established to build consensus and unity among the State's diverse and interdependent criminal justice system components as defined in Code Section 35-6a-1 et seq.
(l) "Criminal record" means:
1. Conviction of a crime; or
2. Arrest, charge, and sentencing for a crime where:
(i) A plea of nolo contendere was entered to the charge; or
(ii) First offender treatment without adjudication of guilt pursuant to the charge was granted; or
(iii) Adjudication or sentence was otherwise withheld or not entered on the charge; or
3. Arrest and being charged for a crime if the charge is pending, unless the time for prosecuting such crime has expired pursuant to O.C.G.A. Section 17-3-1et seq.
(m) "Department" means the Georgia Department of Human Services.
(n) "Director" means the chief administrative or executive officer of the Institution.
(o) "Emergency safety interventions" mean those behavioral intervention techniques that are authorized under an approved emergency safety intervention plan and are utilized by properly trained staff in an urgent situation to prevent a child from doing immediate harm to self or others.
(p) "Emergency safety intervention plan" means the plan developed by the facility utilizing a nationally recognized, evidence-based, training program for emergency safety intervention, approved by the Department. The plan shall clearly identify the emergency safety interventions staff may utilize and those that may never be used.
(q) "Employee" means any person, other than a director, employed by an Institution to perform any duties at any of the Institution's facilities which involve personal contact between that person and any child being cared for at the Institution and also includes any adult person who resides at the Institution or who, with or without compensation, performs duties for the Institution which involve personal contact between that person and any child cared for by the Institution. For purposes of these rules, the term "employee" does not include a resident of the Institution.
(r) "Fictive kin" means a person who is not related to a child by blood, marriage, or adoption but who prior to the child's placement in foster care is known to the child's family, has a substantial and positive relationship with the child, and is willing and able to provide a suitable home for the child.
(s) "Fingerprint records check determination" means a satisfactory or unsatisfactory determination by the Department based upon a records check comparison of Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) information with fingerprints and other information in a records check application.
(t) "Foster Care" means supervised care in a substitute home on a 24 hour full-time basis for a temporary period of time.
(u) "Human services professional" means the person(s) employed by the facility who is responsible for providing oversight of services to children and their families in the home setting. The human services professional is responsible for monitoring the residents' needs and ensuring that appropriate services are being provided and arranged for in order to meet those needs. Duties include, but are not limited to: the coordination of the facility's admission evaluation; the development of the service and Room, Board, Watchful Oversight plans; case work services as provided in the resident's service plans; and monitoring of the resident's educational and/or vocational needs.
(v) "Living unit" means the physical location where residents live within the Institution.
(w) "Manual hold" means the application of physical force, without the use of any device, for the purpose of restricting the free movement of a child's body and is considered a form of restraint. A manual hold does not include briefly holding a child without undue force to calm or comfort the child, holding a child by the hand or by the shoulders or back to walk the child safely from one area to another where the child is not forcefully resisting the assistance, or assisting the child in voluntarily participating in activities of daily living.
(x) "Mechanical restraint" means a device attached or adjacent to the child's body that is not a prescribed and approved medical protection device and that he or she cannot easily remove that restricts freedom of movement or normal access to his or her body. A mechanical restraint does not include devices used to assist a child with appropriate positioning or posture secondary to physical impairments or disabilities.
(y) "Medicaid Rehabilitation Option Provider (MRO)" means that category of behavioral health services designed for the maximum reduction of impairments related to mental illness or addiction and restoration of a Medicaid recipient to his/her best possible functional level.
(z) "Owner" means any individual or any person affiliated with a corporation, partnership, or association with 10 percent or greater ownership interest in the business or facility licensed as a child-caring institution and who:
1. Purports to or exercises authority of the owner in a child-caring institution;
2. Applies to operate or operates a child-caring institution;
3. Enters into a contract to acquire ownership of a child-caring institution.
(aa) "Preliminary records check application" means an application for a preliminary records check determination on forms provided by the Department.
(bb) "Preliminary records check determination" means a satisfactory or unsatisfactory determination by the Department based only upon a comparison of Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) information with other than fingerprint information regarding the person upon whom the records check is being performed.
(cc) "Qualified individual" means a trained professional or licensed clinician designated by the Division of Family and Children Services to complete an assessment, which will assist in determining the resident's appropriate level of care.
(dd) "Qualified residential treatment program" means a program that is licensed as a child-caring institution in accordance with 42 U.S.C. Section 671(a)(10) that:
1. Has a trauma-informed treatment model that is designed to address the needs, including clinical needs as appropriate, of children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders or disturbances and, with respect to a child, is able to implement the treatment identified for the child by the assessment to determine appropriateness of placement as provided for in Code Section 15-11-219;
2. Has registered or licensed nursing staff and other licensed clinical staff who:
(i) Provide care within the scope of their practice;
(ii) Are onsite in accordance with the treatment model referred to in paragraph 1 of this rule; and
(iii) Are available 24 hours a day and seven days a week;
3. To the extent appropriate, in accordance with the child's best interests, facilitates participation of family members in the child's treatment program;
4. Facilitates outreach to the family members of the child, including siblings, documents how the outreach is made, including contact information, and maintains contact information for any known biological family and fictive kin of the child;
5. Documents how family members are integrated into the treatment process for the child, including post-discharge, and how sibling connections are maintained;
6. Provides discharge planning and family-based aftercare support for at least six months post-discharge; and
7. Is accredited in accordance with 42 U.S.C. Section 672(k)(4)(G).
(ee) "Reasonable and prudent parenting" means the standard characterized by careful and sensible parental decisions that maintain the health, safety, and best interests of a child while at the same time encouraging the emotional and developmental growth of the child, that a caregiver shall use when determining whether to allow a child in foster care under the responsibility of the State to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and social activities.
(ff) "Records" mean the individual files in any format established and maintained by a child-caring institution which include data concerning an employee, director, child, or applicant.
(gg) "Records check application" means two sets of classifiable fingerprints, a records search fee to be established by the Department by rule and regulation, payable in such form as the Department may direct to cover the cost of a fingerprint records check, and an affidavit by the applicant disclosing the nature and date of any arrest, charge, or conviction of the applicant for the violation of any law; except for motor vehicle parking violations, whether or not the violation occurred in this state, and such additional information as the Department may require.
(hh) "Resident" means a person who receives full-time care and services at the Institution in accordance with these rules and regulations. This term shall be used interchangeably with the term "child."
(ii) "Room, board and watchful oversight" means providing safe lodging, adequately nutritious meals, and continuous care and oversight to ensure a child's basic needs are met.
(jj) "Satisfactory criminal history background check determination" means a written determination that a person for whom a records check was performed was found to have no criminal record.
(kk) "Seclusion" means the involuntary confinement of a child away from other children, due to imminent risk of harm to self or others, in a room or an area from which the child is physically prevented from leaving.
(ll) "Serious occurrence" means an occurrence that has or may have dangerous or significant consequences relating to the care, supervision, or treatment of a child.
(mm) "Supervision" means the continued responsibility of the Institution to take reasonable action to provide for the health, safety, and well-being of a resident while under the supervision of a director, employees, contractors, and volunteers of the Institution, including protection from physical, emotional, social, moral, financial harm and personal exploitation while in care. The Institution is responsible for providing the degree of supervision indicated by a child's age, developmental level, physical, emotional, and social needs.
(nn) "Time-out" means a behavior management technique that involves the brief separation of a child from a group or setting where a child is experiencing some behavioral or emotional distress, not to exceed twenty (20) minutes, designed to de-escalate the emotionally charged condition of the child. During "time-out" a child's freedom of movement is not physically restricted.
(oo) "Trauma-informed treatment" means a treatment model designed to address the identified needs, including clinical needs as appropriate, of a resident with serious emotional or behavior disorders or disturbances and is able to implement the treatment identified for the resident by the assessment completed by the qualified individual.
(pp) "Unsatisfactory criminal history background check determination" means a written determination that a person for whom a records check was performed has a criminal record.
(qq) "Variance" means a decision by the Department to grant a modification to all or part of the literal requirements of a rule.
(rr) "Waiver" means a decision by the Department not to apply all or part of a rule.
(ss) The singular includes the plural, the plural the singular, and the masculine the feminine, when consistent with the intent of these Rules.

Notes

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 290-2-5-.03
O.C.G.A. §§ 49-5-3, 49-5-8, 49-5-12, 15-11-2.
Original Rule entitled "Need" adopted. F. Oct. 1, 1974; eff. Oct. 21, 1974. Repealed: New Rule entitled "Social Services" adopted. F. Aug. 26, 1975; eff. Sept. 15, 1975. Repealed: New Rule entitled "Definitions" adopted. F. June 30, 1994; eff. August 1, 1994, as specified by the Agency. Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Aug. 22, 2006; eff. Sept. 11, 2006. Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. June 5, 2007; eff. June 25, 2007. Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Jan. 24, 2008; eff. Feb. 13, 2008. Amended: F. Dec. 7, 2020; eff. Jan. 1, 2021, as specified by the Agency. Amended: F. Jan. 9, 2024; eff. Jan. 29, 2025.

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