Sec. 14.31.05.03. Definitions

A. In this chapter, the following terms have the meanings indicated.

B. Terms Defined.

(1) "Agency" means the Maryland Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, or the Department of Juvenile Services.

(2) "Alternative living unit" means a residence owned, leased, or operated by a licensee that:

(a) Provides residential services for children who, because of a developmental disability, require specialized living arrangements;

(b) Admits not more than three children; and

(c) Provides 24 hours of supervision per unit, per day.

(3) "Applicant" means a person who seeks a license.

(4) "Aversive technique" means the use of painful or noxious stimuli to the body, which is intrusive to the individual's physical, mental, or emotional well being, to terminate challenging or maladaptive behavior.

(5) "Behavior plan" means a plan designed to modify a child's behavior through the use of clinically accepted techniques.

(6) "Child" means an individual younger than 21 years old, unless otherwise defined in the regulations of an agency that serves children in need of placement in a residential child care program.

(7) "Children's Cabinet" means those agencies directed by Executive Order:

(a) To examine Maryland's system of services to children and their families; and

(b) To facilitate ongoing improvements to this delivery system.

(8) "Community-based behavioral respite" means relief services provided by a community residential licensee designed to meet the individual behavioral needs of a child with a serious emotional disturbance for not more than 30 days in a community-based setting.

(9) "Corrective action plan" means a program's detailed remedy to correct deficiencies in the program's compliance with State licensing regulations and with other legal requirements identified by the licensing agency or other State or federal agency.

(10) "Day" means a calendar day.

(11) "Developmental disability" means a severe chronic disability of an individual that:

(a) Is attributable to a physical or mental impairment, other than the sole diagnosis of mental illness, or to a combination of mental and physical impairments;

(b) Is likely to continue indefinitely;

(c) Is manifested before the age of 22;

(d) Results in an inability to live independently without external support or continuing and regular assistance; and

(e) Reflects the need for a combination and sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic care, treatment, or other services that are individually planned and coordinated for the individual.

(12) "Emergency shelter placement" means the immediate placement of a child in a residential child care program because the placing agency or individual satisfactorily documents that it is physically impossible to accomplish a planned placement as required by this chapter and good practice.

(13) "Employee" means an individual who works for a licensee for compensation.

(14) "Expansion request" means a request for materials required by the Governor's Office for Children under COMAR 14.31.02 of a licensed provider who wishes to expand a residential child care program to an additional location.

(15) "Facility" means the physical premises where a residential child care program is operated.

(16) "Group home" means a facility owned, leased, or operated by a licensee that provides:

(a) Residential services for youths such as care, diagnosis, training, education, and rehabilitation; and

(b) A group living experience.

(17) "Individualized educational program" means a plan for special education and related services designed to provide a free appropriate public education to a student with disabilities under 28 U.S.C. §1401 et seq. and COMAR 13A.05.01.

(18) "Interagency Rates Committee" means the Maryland Interagency Rates Advisory Committee constituted under COMAR 14.31.04 to establish State reimbursement rates for services to children in residential child care programs and other programs.

(19) "License" means the approval granted by a licensing agency to operate a private residential child care program.

(20) Licensee.

(a) "Licensee" means a corporation that has been granted a license to operate a residential child care program.

(b) "Licensee", unless the context indicates otherwise, includes the corporation's:

(i) Board of directors;

(ii) Officers;

(iii) Employees;

(iv) Agents;

(v) Assigns; and

(vi) Volunteers.

(21) "Licensing agency" means the agency designated by the Governor's Office for Children to be responsible for licensing a private residential child care program.

(22) "Management of disruptive behavior" means an agency-approved curriculum for managing challenging or aggressive behavior.

(23) "Mechanical support" means a mechanical device used to support an individual's proper body position, balance, or alignment.

(24) "Medically fragile child" means a child who is dependent upon any combination of the following:

(a) Mechanical ventilation for at least part of each day;

(b) Intravenous administration of nutritional substances or drugs;

(c) Other device-based respiratory or nutritional support on a daily basis, including tracheotomy tube care, suctioning, or oxygen support;

(d) Other medical devices that compensate for vital body functions; including:

(i) Apnea or cardiorespiratory monitors;

(ii) Renal dialysis; or

(iii) Other mechanical devices; or

(e) Substantial nursing care in connection with disabilities.

(25) "Monitoring" means the evaluation of a program's compliance with regulations.

(26) "Mother infant programs" are residential child care programs that provide special services and residential care to children who are mothers and their infants.

(27) "Nonpublic residential educational facility" means the residential facility of a nonpublic school program approved under COMAR 13A.05.02.12 for the placement of students with disabilities.

(28) Parent.

(a) "Parent" means a child's biological or adoptive parent.

(b) "Parent", unless otherwise indicated, includes a child's guardian, or custodian or parent surrogate appointed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

(29) " Physical plant" means the building or buildings in which a private residential child care program or state-operated program is operated.

(30) "Placing agency" means the agency, individual, or entity that places a child in a private residential child care program or State-operated program.

(31) "Program for pregnant adolescents" means a residential program that provides comprehensive prenatal care, dental care, delivery services, pediatric services, and day care arrangements for pregnant minors.

(32) Program.

(a) "Program" means a private residential child care program.

(b) "Program", unless otherwise indicated, includes the physical plant.

(33) "Psychiatric respite" means residential programs on hospital grounds in which children discharged from inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations receive transition services in anticipation of placement in a residential treatment or community-based setting.

(34) "Quality assurance plan" means a plan submitted to the licensing agency by the licensee or applicant that documents the means by which achievement of goals and objectives established by the licensee will be measured.

(35) Residential Child Care Program.

(a) "Residential child care program" means an entity that provides care for children 24-hours-per-day within a structured set of services and activities that are designed to achieve specific objectives relative to the needs of the children served, including the provision of:

(i) Food;

(ii) Clothing;

(iii) Shelter;

(iv) Education;

(v) Social services;

(vi) Health;

(vii) Mental health;

(viii) Recreation; or

(ix) Any combination of these services and activities.

(b) "Residential child care program" includes residential services for children in:

(i) Residential facilities for children with developmental disabilities;

(ii) Child care homes;

(iii) Child care institutions;

(iv) Therapeutic group homes; and

(v) Group homes.

(36) "Residential crisis services" means intensive mental health and support services that are:

(a) Provided to a child with mental illness who is expecting, or is at risk of, a psychiatric crisis that would impair the child's ability to function in the community;

(b) Designed to prevent a psychiatric inpatient admission of the child, provide an alternative to the psychiatric inpatient admission, or shorten the length of an inpatient stay; and

(c) Provided on a short-term basis in a community-based setting for not more than 30 days.

(37) "Secure care program" means a program that employs locked doors or other physical means to prevent egress by alleged or adjudicated delinquent children.

(38) "Shelter care" means care in:

(a) A shelter care program licensed solely for the temporary care of children for not more than 60 days; or

(b) A self-contained structured shelter care program licensed by the Department of Juvenile Services for the temporary care of children for not more than 90 days.

(39) "State-operated residential educational facility" means the Maryland School for the Deaf and the Maryland School for the Blind.

(40) "Submit" means to deliver a document:

(a) In a manner that ensures its receipt by the party to whom it is addressed; and

(b) Which is considered complete only upon actual receipt by that party.

(41) "Teen mother program" means a licensed residential program that provides care and services for children who are mothers with an infant.

(42) "Therapeutic group home" means a small private group home that provides residential child care as well as access to a range of diagnostic and therapeutic mental health services for children and adolescents who have mental disorders.

(43) "Treatment foster care" means a 24-hour substitute care program operated by a licensed child placement agency or local department of social services for children with a serious emotional, behavioral, medical, or psychological condition.

(44) "Variance" means an alternative to a specific licensing regulation.

(45) "Volunteer" means an individual who provides services without compensation at a residential child care program.

(46) "Waiver" means the setting aside of a specific licensing regulation.

(47) "Wilderness program" means a program:

(a) In which facilities and activities are related to nature as much as possible in a site that is left essentially in its natural state; and

(b) Where living and program quarters and activities are integrated into the natural environment.