55 Pa. Code § 3490.121 - Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this section and §§ 3490.122-3490.127 (relating to verification of the existence of child abuse and student abuse records for child care services) have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

Administrator-A person hired by or under contract with a legal entity to be responsible for the management and operation of a child care service.

Applicant-A person who will have direct contact with children in a child care service, who does one of the following:

(i) Applies for gainful employment in a child care service, including an administrator, or other support personnel.

(ii) Applies for employment with a contractor who is under contract with a child care facility or program.

(iii) Is employed by a contractor seeking a contract with a child care facility or program.

Child care service-

(i) Child day care centers, group and family day care homes, foster homes, adoptive parents, boarding homes for children, juvenile detention center services or programs for delinquent or dependent children; mental health, mental retardation, early intervention and drug and alcohol services for children; and other child care services which are provided by or subject to approval, licensure, registration or certification by the Department or a county social services agency or which are provided under a contract with the Department or a county social services agency.

(ii) The term does not include services or programs which may be offered by public and private schools, intermediate units or area vocational-technical schools.

Child caretaker-

(i) A person whether compensated or not who provides care for a child and who voluntarily solicits certification from the Department under section 6344 of the CPSL (relating to information relating to prospective child-care personnel).

(ii) The term includes a babysitter, scout leader or den parent.

Direct contact with children-Access to children by a paid employe of or person under contract with a child care service who has routine and unsupervised access to children in the course of carrying out the employe's responsibilities in a child care service.

Legal entity-Includes a society partnership, corporation or another governing authority legally responsible for the administration and operation of a child care service.

Operator-A person who provides a child care service but is not hired by or under contract with a legal entity.

Permanent employe-A child care worker who meets one of the following conditions:

(i) Has met the requirement of § 3490.122 (relating to responsibilities of an applicant, prospective operator or legal entity of a child care service).

(ii) Was employed prior to January 1, 1986, and was not required to submit the requests for clearances.

Request for verification-A request to the Statewide Central Register from an applicant, operator of a child care service, foster parent or adoptive parent or a child caretaker seeking voluntary certification to determine whether the applicant is named as a perpetrator in an indicated or founded report of child abuse.

Notes

55 Pa. Code § 3490.121

The provisions of this § 3490.121 adopted December 27, 1985, effective 1/1/1986, 15 Pa.B. 4629; amended April 27, 1990, effective 4/28/1990 and apply retroactively to January 5, 1988, 20 Pa.B. 2286; amended July 2, 1999, effective 7/3/1999, 29 Pa.B. 3513.