The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Case management" means convening family meetings, developing, revising, and monitoring implementation of any case plan or individual service and safety plan, coordinating and monitoring services needed by the child and family, caseworker-child visits, family visits, and the assumption of court-related duties, excluding legal representation, including preparing court reports, attending judicial hearings and permanency hearings, and ensuring that the child is progressing toward permanency within state and federal mandates, including the Indian child welfare act.
(2) "Certificate of parental improvement" means a certificate issued under RCW
74.13.720 to an individual who has a founded finding of physical abuse or negligent treatment or maltreatment, or a court finding that the individual's child was dependent as a result of a finding that the individual abused or neglected their child pursuant to RCW
13.34.030(6)(b).
(3) "Child" means:
(a) A person less than eighteen years of age; or
(b) A person age eighteen to twenty-one years who is eligible to receive the extended foster care services authorized under RCW
74.13.031.
(4) "Child protective services" has the same meaning as in RCW
26.44.020.
(5) "Child welfare services" means social services including voluntary and in-home services, out-of-home care, case management, and adoption services which strengthen, supplement, or substitute for, parental care and supervision for the purpose of:
(a) Preventing or remedying, or assisting in the solution of problems which may result in families in conflict, or the neglect, abuse, exploitation, or criminal behavior of children;
(b) Protecting and caring for dependent, abused, or neglected children;
(c) Assisting children who are in conflict with their parents, and assisting parents who are in conflict with their children, with services designed to resolve such conflicts;
(d) Protecting and promoting the welfare of children, including the strengthening of their own homes where possible, or, where needed;
(e) Providing adequate care of children away from their homes in foster family homes or day care or other child care agencies or facilities.
"Child welfare services" does not include child protection services.
(6) "Child who is a candidate for foster care" means a child who the department identifies as being at imminent risk of entering foster care but who can remain safely in the child's home or in a kinship placement as long as services or programs that are necessary to prevent entry of the child into foster care are provided, and includes but is not limited to a child whose adoption or guardianship arrangement is at risk of a disruption or dissolution that would result in a foster care placement. The term includes a child for whom there is reasonable cause to believe that any of the following circumstances exist:
(a) The child has been abandoned by the parent as defined in RCW
13.34.030 and the child's health, safety, and welfare is seriously endangered as a result;
(b) The child has been abused or neglected as defined in chapter
26.44 RCW and the child's health, safety, and welfare is seriously endangered as a result;
(c) There is no parent capable of meeting the child's needs such that the child is in circumstances that constitute a serious danger to the child's development;
(d) The child is otherwise at imminent risk of harm.
(7) "Department" means the department of children, youth, and families.
(8) "Extended foster care services" means residential and other support services the department is authorized to provide to dependent children. These services include, but are not limited to, placement in licensed, relative, or otherwise approved care, or supervised independent living settings; assistance in meeting basic needs; independent living services; medical assistance; supervised independent living subsidy; and counseling or treatment.
(9) "Family assessment" means a comprehensive assessment of child safety, risk of subsequent child abuse or neglect, and family strengths and needs that is applied to a child abuse or neglect report. Family assessment does not include a determination as to whether child abuse or neglect occurred, but does determine the need for services to address the safety of the child and the risk of subsequent maltreatment.
(10) "Medical condition" means, for the purposes of qualifying for extended foster care services, a physical or mental health condition as documented by any licensed health care provider regulated by a disciplining authority under RCW
18.130.040.
(11) "Nonminor dependent" means any individual age 18 to 21 years who is participating in extended foster care services authorized under RCW
74.13.031.
(12) "Out-of-home care services" means services provided after the shelter care hearing to or for children in out-of-home care, as that term is defined in RCW
13.34.030, and their families, including the recruitment, training, and management of foster parents, the recruitment of adoptive families, and the facilitation of the adoption process, family reunification, independent living, emergency shelter, residential group care, and foster care, including relative placement.
(13) "Performance-based contracting" means the structuring of all aspects of the procurement of services around the purpose of the work to be performed and the desired results with the contract requirements set forth in clear, specific, and objective terms with measurable outcomes. Contracts shall also include provisions that link the performance of the contractor to the level and timing of reimbursement.
(14) "Permanency services" means long-term services provided to secure a child's safety, permanency, and well-being, including foster care services, family reunification services, adoption services, and preparation for independent living services.
(15) "Prevention and family services and programs" means specific mental health prevention and treatment services, substance abuse prevention and treatment services, and in-home parent skill-based programs that qualify for federal funding under the federal family first prevention services act, P.L. 115-123. For purposes of this chapter, prevention and family services and programs are not remedial services or family reunification services as described in RCW
13.34.025(2).
(16) "Primary prevention services" means services which are designed and delivered for the primary purpose of enhancing child and family well-being and are shown, by analysis of outcomes, to reduce the risk to the likelihood of the initial need for child welfare services.
(17) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department.
(18) "Supervised independent living setting" includes, but is not limited to, apartment living, room and board arrangements, college or university dormitories, and shared roommate settings. Supervised independent living settings must be approved by the department or the court.
(19) "Supervised independent living subsidy" means a foster care maintenance payment.
(20) "Unsupervised" has the same meaning as in RCW
43.43.830.
(21) "Voluntary placement agreement" has, for the purposes of extended foster care services, the same meaning as in RCW
74.13.336.
