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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 675. Definitions
As used in this part or part B of this subchapter:
(1) The term "case plan" means a written document which
includes at least the following:
(A) A description of the type of home or institution in which
a child is to be placed, including a discussion of the safety
and appropriateness of the placement and how the agency which
is responsible for the child plans to carry out the voluntary
placement agreement entered into or judicial determination made
with respect to the child in accordance with section 672(a)(1)
of this title.
(B) A plan for assuring that the child receives safe and
proper care and that services are provided to the parents,
child, and foster parents in order to improve the conditions in
the parents' home, facilitate return of the child to his own
safe home or the permanent placement of the child, and address
the needs of the child while in foster care, including a
discussion of the appropriateness of the services that have
been provided to the child under the plan.
(C) To the extent available and accessible, the health and
education records of the child, including -
(i) the names and addresses of the child's health and
educational providers;
(ii) the child's grade level performance;
(iii) the child's school record;
(iv) assurances that the child's placement in foster care
takes into account proximity to the school in which the child
is enrolled at the time of placement;
(v) a record of the child's immunizations;
(vi) the child's known medical problems;
(vii) the child's medications; and
(viii) any other relevant health and education information
concerning the child determined to be appropriate by the
State agency.
(D) Where appropriate, for a child age 16 or over, a written
description of the programs and services which will help such
child prepare for the transition from foster care to
independent living.
(E) In the case of a child with respect to whom the
permanency plan is adoption or placement in another permanent
home, documentation of the steps the agency is taking to find
an adoptive family or other permanent living arrangement for
the child, to place the child with an adoptive family, a fit
and willing relative, a legal guardian, or in another planned
permanent living arrangement, and to finalize the adoption or
legal guardianship. At a minimum, such documentation shall
include child specific recruitment efforts such as the use of
State, regional, and national adoption exchanges including
electronic exchange systems.
(2) The term "parents" means biological or adoptive parents or
legal guardians, as determined by applicable State law.
(3) The term "adoption assistance agreement" means a written
agreement, binding on the parties to the agreement, between the
State agency, other relevant agencies, and the prospective
adoptive parents of a minor child which at a minimum (A)
specifies the nature and amount of any payments, services, and
assistance to be provided under such agreement, and (B)
stipulates that the agreement shall remain in effect regardless
of the State of which the adoptive parents are residents at any
given time. The agreement shall contain provisions for the
protection (under an interstate compact approved by the Secretary
or otherwise) of the interests of the child in cases where the
adoptive parents and child move to another State while the
agreement is effective.
(4)(A) The term "foster care maintenance payments" means
payments 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 to the child's home for visitation.
In the case of institutional care, such term shall include the
reasonable costs of administration and operation of such
institution as are necessarily required to provide the items
described in the preceding sentence.
(B) In cases where -
(i) a child placed in a foster family home or child-care
institution is the parent of a son or daughter who is in the
same home or institution, and
(ii) payments described in subparagraph (A) are being made
under this part with respect to such child,
the foster care maintenance payments made with respect to such
child as otherwise determined under subparagraph (A) shall also
include such amounts as may be necessary to cover the cost of the
items described in that subparagraph with respect to such son or
daughter.
(5) The term "case review system" means a procedure for
assuring that -
(A) each child has a case plan designed to achieve placement
in a safe setting that is the least restrictive (most family
like) and most appropriate setting available and in close
proximity to the parents' home, consistent with the best
interest and special needs of the child, which -
(i) if the child has been placed in a foster family home or
child-care institution a substantial distance from the home
of the parents of the child, or in a State different from the
State in which such home is located, sets forth the reasons
why such placement is in the best interests of the child, and
(ii) if the child has been placed in foster care outside
the State in which the home of the parents of the child is
located, requires that, periodically, but not less frequently
than every 12 months, a caseworker on the staff of the State
agency of the State in which the home of the parents of the
child is located, or of the State in which the child has been
placed, visit such child in such home or institution and
submit a report on such visit to the State agency of the
State in which the home of the parents of the child is
located,
(B) the status of each child is reviewed periodically but no
less frequently than once every six months by either a court or
by administrative review (as defined in paragraph (6)) in order
to determine the safety of the child, the continuing necessity
for and appropriateness of the placement, the extent of
compliance with the case plan, and the extent of progress which
has been made toward alleviating or mitigating the causes
necessitating placement in foster care, and to project a likely
date by which the child may be returned to and safely
maintained in the home or placed for adoption or legal
guardianship,
(C) with respect to each such child, procedural safeguards
will be applied, among other things, to assure each child in
foster care under the supervision of the State of a permanency
hearing to be held, in a family or juvenile court or another
court (including a tribal court) of competent jurisdiction, or
by an administrative body appointed or approved by the court,
no later than 12 months after the date the child is considered
to have entered foster care (as determined under subparagraph
(F)) (and not less frequently than every 12 months thereafter
during the continuation of foster care), which hearing shall
determine the permanency plan for the child that includes
whether, and if applicable when, the child will be returned to
the parent, placed for adoption and the State will file a
petition for termination of parental rights, or referred for
legal guardianship, or (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 return home, be referred for termination of parental
rights, or be placed for adoption, with a fit and willing
relative, or with a legal guardian) placed in another planned
permanent living arrangement and, in the case of a child
described in subparagraph (A)(ii), whether the out-of-State
placement continues to be appropriate and in the best interests
of the child, and, in the case of a child who has attained age
16, the services needed to assist the child to make the
transition from foster care to independent living; and
procedural safeguards shall also be applied with respect to
parental rights pertaining to the removal of the child from the
home of his parents, to a change in the child's placement, and
to any determination affecting visitation privileges of
parents; (!1)
(D) a child's health and education record (as described in
paragraph (1)(A)) is reviewed and updated, and supplied to the
foster parent or foster care provider with whom the child is
placed, at the time of each placement of the child in foster
care; (!1)
(E) in the case of a child who has been in foster care under
the responsibility of the State for 15 of the most recent 22
months, or, if a court of competent jurisdiction has determined
a child to be an abandoned infant (as defined under State law)
or has made a determination that the parent has committed
murder of another child of the parent, committed voluntary
manslaughter of another child of the parent, aided or abetted,
attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such a murder or
such a voluntary manslaughter, or committed a felony assault
that has resulted in serious bodily injury to the child or to
another child of the parent, the State shall file a petition to
terminate the parental rights of the child's parents (or, if
such a petition has been filed by another party, seek to be
joined as a party to the petition), and, concurrently, to
identify, recruit, process, and approve a qualified family for
an adoption, unless -
(i) at the option of the State, the child is being cared
for by a relative;
(ii) a State agency has documented in the case plan (which
shall be available for court review) a compelling reason for
determining that filing such a petition would not be in the
best interests of the child; or
(iii) the State has not provided to the family of the
child, consistent with the time period in the State case
plan, such services as the State deems necessary for the safe
return of the child to the child's home, if reasonable
efforts of the type described in section 671(a)(15)(B)(ii) of
this title are required to be made with respect to the child;
(!1)
(F) a child shall be considered to have entered foster care
on the earlier of -
(i) the date of the first judicial finding that the child
has been subjected to child abuse or neglect; or
(ii) the date that is 60 days after the date on which the
child is removed from the home; (!1) and
(G) the foster parents (if any) of a child and any
preadoptive parent or relative providing care for the child are
provided with notice of, and an opportunity to be heard in, any
review or hearing to be held with respect to the child, except
that this subparagraph shall not be construed to require that
any foster parent, preadoptive parent, or relative providing
care for the child be made a party to such a review or hearing
solely on the basis of such notice and opportunity to be heard.
(6) The term "administrative review" means a review open to the
participation of the parents of the child, conducted by a panel
of appropriate persons at least one of whom is not responsible
for the case management of, or the delivery of services to,
either the child or the parents who are the subject of the
review.
(7) The term "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 decisionmaking. The term "legal
guardian" means the caretaker in such a relationship.
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