1. 1. “Abandonment” has the meaning ascribed to “abandoned” in A.R.S. § 8-201 (1).
2. 2. “Abuse” has the meaning ascribed in A.R.S. § 8-201 (2).
3. 3. “Age” means years of a person’s lifetime when used in reference to a number, unless the term “months” is used.
4. 4. “Adult” means a person age 18 or older.
5. 5. “Applicant” means a person who submits a written application to the Department to become certified as a child care provider.
6. 6. “Backup provider” means an adult who, or an entity that, provides child care when a provider is not available.
7. 7. “CACFP” means the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
8. 8. “Certificate” means a document the Department issues to a provider as evidence that the provider has met the child care standards of this Article.
9. 9. “Child” means a person younger than age 18.
10. 10. “Child care” means the compensated care, supervision, recreation, socialization, guidance, and protection of a child who is unaccompanied by a parent.
11. 11. “Child care personnel” means all adults residing in a home facility, an in-home provider, and any backup provider.
12. 12. “Child care registration agreement” means a written contract between a provider and the Department; that establishes the rights and duties of the provider and the Department for provision of child care.
13. 13. “Child care specialist” means a Department child care eligibility and/or certification staff person.
14. 14. “CHILDS” means the Children’s Information Library and Data Source, which is a comprehensive, automated system to support child welfare policies and procedures, and includes information on investigations, ongoing case management, and payments.
15. 15. “CHILDS Central Registry” means the Child Protective Services Central Registry, a confidential, computerized database within CHILDS, which the Department maintains according to A.R.S. § 8-804.
16. 16. “Child with special needs” means a child who needs increased supervision, modified equipment, modified activities, or a modified facility, due to any physical, mental, sensory, or emotional delay, or medical condition, and includes a child who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the child’s major life activities; or who is regarded as having an impairment, regardless of whether the child has the impairment.
17. 17. “Client” means a person who applies for and meets the eligibility criteria for a child care service program administered by the Department.
18. 18. “Compensation” means something given or received, such as money, goods, or services, as payment for child care services.
19. 19. “Corporal punishment” means any act that is administered as a form of discipline and that either is intended to cause bodily pain, or may result in physical damage or injury.
20. 20. “CPS” means Child Protective Services, a Department administration that operates a program to investigate allegations of child maltreatment and provide protective services.
21. 21. “Department” means the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

22. 22. “Developmentally appropriate” means an action that takes into account:

    1. a. A child’s age and family background;
    2. b. The predictable changes that occur in a child’s physical, emotional, social, cultural, and cognitive development; and
    3. c. The individual child’s pattern and timing of growth, personality, and learning style.
23. 23. “DHS” means the Arizona Department of Health Services.
24. 24. “Direct supervision” means within sight and sound.
25. 25. “Exploitation” means an act of taking advantage of, or making use of a child selfishly, unethically, or unjustly for one’s own advantage or profit, in a manner contrary to the best interests of the child, such as having a child panhandle, steal, or perform other illegal activities.
26. 26. “Evening care” means child care provided at any time between 6:30 p.m. and midnight.
27. 27. “Heating device” means an instrument designed to produce heat for a room or inside area and includes a non-electric stove, fireplace, freestanding stove, or space heater.
28. 28. “Home facility” means a provider’s residence that the Department has certified as a location where child care services may be provided.
29. 29. “Household member” means a person who does not provide child care services and who resides in the home facility of a provider for 21 consecutive days or longer or who resides periodically throughout the year for a total of at least 21 days.

30. 30. “Infant” means:

    1. a. A child who is younger than 12 months old; and
    2. b. A child who is younger than 18 months old and not walking.
31. 31. “In-home provider” means a provider who cares for a child in the child’s home.
32. 32. “Maltreatment” means abuse, neglect, exploitation, or abandonment of a child.
33. 33. “Medication” means any prescribed or over-the-counter drug or medicine.
34. 34. “Mechanical restraint” means a device to restrict a child’s movement.
35. 35. “Neglect” has the same meaning ascribed in A.R.S. § 8-201.
36. 36. “Night-time care” means child care provided at any time between midnight and 6:00 a.m.
37. 37. “Non-parent relative” means a caretaker relative who exercises responsibility for the day-to day physical care, guidance, and support of a child who physically resides with the relative and who is by affinity, consanguinity, or court decree, a grandparent, great grandparent, sibling of the whole or half-blood, stepbrother, stepsister, aunt, uncle, great aunt, great uncle, or first cousin of the child.
38. 38. “Parent” means the biological or adoptive parent of a child, a court-appointed guardian, or a non-parent relative.
39. 39. “Provider” means an adult who is not the parent or guardian of a child needing care, and to whom the Department has issued a certificate, and includes a backup provider who performs the provider’s duties when the provider is unavailable.
40. 40. “Physical restraint” means the use of bodily force to restrict a child’s freedom of movement.

41. 41. “Safeguard” means to use reasonable efforts and developmentally appropriate measures to eliminate the risk of harm to a child in care and ensure that a child in care will not be harmed by a particular object, substance, or activity. Safeguarding may include:

    1. a. Locking up a particular substance or item;
    2. b. Putting a substance or item beyond the reach of a child who is not mobile;
    3. c. Erecting a barrier that prevents a child from reaching a particular place, item, or substance;
    4. d. Mandating the use of a protective safety device; or
    5. e. Providing direct supervision.
42. 42. “Sanitize” means treatment by a heating or chemical process that reduces the bacterial count, including pathogens, to a safe level.
43. 43. “Time out” means removing a child from a situation by directing the child to remain in a specific chair or place identified as the time out place, for no more than one minute for each year of a child’s age, but no more than 10 minutes.
44. 44. “Undue hardship” means significant difficulty or substantial expense concerning the operation of a provider’s program. In this subsection, “significant” and “substantial” are measured relative to the level of net income the provider earns from child care services.
45. 45. “Unusual incident” means any accident, injury, behavior problem, or other extraordinary situation involving a provider or a child in care, including suspected child maltreatment.

The following definitions apply in this Article:

Historical Note

Adopted effective July 6, 1976 (Supp. 76-4). Section repealed, new Section adopted effective May 11, 1994 (Supp. 94-2). Amended by final rulemaking at 5 A.A.R. 1983, effective May 20, 1999 (Supp. 99-2). Amended by final rulemaking at 22 A.A.R. 3185, effective October 28, 2016 (Supp. 16-4).