Rule 290-2-29-.04. Definitions

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, the words, phrases and symbols set forth herein shall mean the following:

1. (a) "Adult" means any person 18 years of age or older who resides in the home.

2. (b) "Applicant" means the following:

   1. 1. When the home is owned by a sole proprietorship, the individual proprietor shall be the applicant for the license, complete the statement of responsibility and serve as the licensee;
   2. 2. When the home is owned by a partnership, the general partners shall be the applicant for the license, complete the statement of responsibility and serve as the licensee;
   3. 3. When the home is owned by an association, the governing body of the association shall authorize the application for the license and complete the statement of responsibility and the association shall serve as the licensee; and
   4. 4. When the home is owned by a corporation, the governing body of the corporation shall authorize the application for the license and complete the statement of responsibility and the corporation shall serve as the licensee.
3. (c) "Behavior management" means those principles and techniques used by a home to assist a resident in facilitating self-control, addressing inappropriate behavior, and achieving positive outcomes in a constructive and safe manner. Behavior management principles and techniques shall be used in accordance with the individual service plan, written policies and procedures governing service expectations, service plan goals, safety, security, and these rules and regulations.
4. (d) "Board" means the persons or legal entity in whom the ultimate legal responsibility, authority and accountability for the conduct of the home is vested.
5. (e) "Chemical restraint" means medications that are administered to manage a resident's behavior in a way that reduces the safety risk to the resident or others; that have the temporary effect of restricting the resident's freedom of movement; and that are not being used as part of a standard regimen, as specified in the child's service plan, to treat current symptoms of a medical or psychiatric condition.
6. (f) "Child-caring institution" means a child welfare agency that is any institution, society, agency, or facility, whether incorporated or not, which either primarily or incidentally provides full-time care for children through 18 years of age outside of their own homes, subject to such exceptions as may be provided in rules and regulations of the Board of Human Services. This full-time care is referred to as room, board and watchful oversight. For purposes of these rules, a child-caring institution means any institution, society, agency, or facility that provides such care to six or more children. The term "child-caring institution" includes a qualified residential treatment program and a commercial sexual exploitation recovery center.
7. (g) "Child placement," or "placement activity" means the selection, by a person or agency other than the child's parent or guardian, of a foster family or prospective adoptive family, or effecting the movement of the child into the foster family or prospective adoptive family. This definition includes any preparation of a home study of a foster home or of a prospective adoptive home. Counseling with respect to options available, legal services, or services as an agent for the purpose of notice of revocation of consent by the biological parent does not constitute child placement under this definition. For purposes of this rule, this definition does not include the Department or a licensed professional providing only home study preparation services as an evaluator.
8. (h) "Child-placing agency" means any institution, society, agency, or facility, whether incorporated or not, which places children in foster homes for temporary care or in prospective adoptive homes for adoption. For purposes of this definition, agencies that engage in placement activities are required to be licensed as Child-Placing Agencies.
9. (i) "Commercial sexual exploitation recovery center" means a child-caring institution certified as a victim assistance program, as provided for in subsection (e) of Code Section 15-21-132, which provides full-time residential care and support services to youth through 18 years of age who are victims of sexual exploitation as defined in Code Section 49-5-40.
10. (j) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Human Services.
11. (k) "Confinement" means the concluding state of pregnancy from the onset of labor to the birth of the child.
12. (l) "Criminal history background check" means a search as required by law of the criminal records maintained by law enforcement authorities to determine whether the applicant has a criminal record as defined in these rules.

13. (m) "Criminal record" means:

    1. 1. Conviction of a crime; or

    2. 2. Arrest, charge, and sentencing for a crime where:

       1. (i) A plea of nolo contendere was entered to the charge; or
       2. (ii) First offender treatment without adjudication of guilt pursuant to the charge was granted; or
       3. (iii) Adjudication or sentence was otherwise withheld or not entered on the charge; or
    3. 3. Arrest and being charged for a crime if the charge is pending, unless the time for prosecuting such crime has expired pursuant to O.C.G.A. Sec. 17-3-1et seq.
14. (n) "Day(s)" means calendar day(s) unless otherwise specified.
15. (o) "Department" means the Georgia Department of Human Services.
16. (p) "Direct care staff" means the person(s) employed by the home who is (are) responsible for providing direct care, supervision, and support to residents. This includes a direct care staff member who resides in the living unit(s) with residents.
17. (q) "Director" means the chief administrative or executive officer of the home.
18. (r) "Disaster Preparedness Plan" means a written document that identifies potential hazards or events that, should they occur, would cause an emergency situation at the home and that proposes, for each identified emergency situation, a course of action so as to minimize the threat to the health and safety of the residents within the home.
19. (s) "Emergency safety interventions" mean those behavioral intervention techniques that are authorized under an approved emergency safety intervention plan and are utilized by properly trained staff in an urgent situation to prevent a child from doing immediate harm to self or others.
20. (t) "Emergency safety intervention plan" means the plan developed by the facility utilizing a nationally recognized, evidence-based, training program for emergency safety intervention, approved by the Department. The plan shall clearly identify the emergency safety interventions staff may utilize and those that may never be used.

21. (u) "Employee" means any person, other than a director, employed by a home to perform any duties which involve personal contact between that person and any resident being cared for at the home and also includes any adult person who resides at the home or who, with or without compensation, performs duties for the home which involve personal contact between that person and any resident cared for by the home.

    1. 1. For purposes of these rules, an employee does not include a resident of the home;
    2. 2. For purposes of criminal history background check determinations, an "employee" means any person employed by the home or any adult person that resides at the home or who provides care to residents placed in the home.
22. (v) "Executive Director" means the person responsible for overall administration of the home.
23. (w) "Fingerprint records check determination" means a satisfactory or unsatisfactory determination by the Department based upon a records check comparison of Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) information with fingerprints and other information in a records check application.
24. (x) "Foster care" means supervised care for a child in a home other than the child's own home on a 24-hour full-time basis for a temporary period of time.
25. (y) "Foster family" or "foster home" means a private home where the foster parent(s) live which has been approved by the Agency to provide 24-hour care, lodging, supervision and maintenance for no more than six foster children under the age of 19, unless limited exceptions apply in accordance with rules and regulations.
26. (z) "Foster parent(s)" means the adult member(s) of a foster family who provides supervision and care in a parental role for a child in foster care and who has a satisfactory criminal history background check determination.
27. (aa) "Home" means a maternity home or second chance home as referenced in these rules.
28. (bb) "Human services professional" means a person employed by the home who provides direct services and supervision to residents and their child(ren) in the home setting. The human services professional is responsible for monitoring the residents' needs and ensuring that appropriate services are being provided and arranged for in order to meet those needs. Duties include, but are not limited to: the coordination of the home's admission evaluation; the development of the service and room, board, watchful oversight plans; case work services as provided in the resident's service plans; and monitoring of the resident's educational and/or vocational needs.
29. (cc) "Infant" means a child from birth to one (1) year old.
30. (dd) "Isolation" means the separation of one (1) or more persons from others in order to reduce the spread of illness.
31. (ee) "Isolation room" means a bedroom with its own bathroom in which residents with acute illness are kept separate from other residents in order to reduce the spread of the illness.
32. (ff) "License" means a document issued by the Department that grants permission for the holder to provide services.
33. (gg) "Living unit" means the physical location where residents live within the home.
34. (hh) "Manual hold" means the application of physical force, without the use of any device, for the purpose of restricting the free movement of a resident's body and is considered a form of restraint. A manual hold does not include briefly holding a resident without undue force to calm or comfort the resident, holding a resident by the hand or by the shoulders or back to walk the resident safely from one area to another where the resident is not forcefully resisting the assistance, or assisting the resident in voluntarily participating in activities of daily living.
35. (ii) "Maternity home" means any place in which any person, society, agency, corporation or facility receives, treats or cares for, within any six-month period, more than one (1) pregnant woman whose child is to be born out of wedlock, either before, during or within two (2) weeks after childbirth. Such term shall not include a commercial sexual exploitation recovery center. For purposes of these rules, services provided include full-time residential care, support and supervision for more than one (1) pregnant youth through 21 years of age who is either admitted during pregnancy or within two (2) weeks after delivery, and who is not related to the owner by blood or marriage. For purposes of these rules, a maternity home may only provide such services to youth admitted to the home for a maximum period of eight (8) weeks following delivery unless providing second chance home services.
36. (jj) "Maternity supportive housing residence" means a residential home that houses on behalf of a nonprofit organization up to six pregnant women aged 18 years or older and their minor children at any one time during the woman's pregnancy and up to 18 months after childbirth; provided however, that no medical services shall be provided.
37. (kk) "Mechanical Restraint" means a device attached or adjacent to the resident's body that is not a prescribed and approved medical protection device and that she cannot easily remove that restricts freedom of movement or normal access to her body. A mechanical restraint does not include devices used to assist a youth with appropriate positioning or posture secondary to physical impairments or disabilities.
38. (ll) "Medicaid Rehabilitation Option Provider" means that category of behavioral health services designed for the maximum reduction of impairments related to mental illness or addiction and restoration of a Medicaid recipient to her best possible functional level.
39. (mm) "Medication error" means any deviation from the prescribed dosage, use or administration of a medication. A resident's refusal to take medication as prescribed constitutes a medication error. For over-the-counter medications, a medication error is any use that is not in accordance with the directions or instructions on the bottle.
40. (nn) "Notifiable diseases" are those diseases, injuries, and conditions requiring notice and reporting to the county board of health and the Georgia Department of Community Health.
41. (oo) "Outbreak" means two (2) or more cases of similar illness not considered foodborne or waterborne.

42. (pp) "Owner" means any individual or any person affiliated with a corporation, partnership, or association with 10 percent or greater ownership interest in the business or agency licensed as a home and who:

    1. 1. Purports to or exercises authority of the owner in a home;
    2. 2. Applies to operate or operates a home;
    3. 3. Enters into a contract to acquire ownership of a home.
43. (qq) "Plan of correction" means a written plan submitted by the home acceptable to the Department. The plan shall identify the existing noncompliance of the home, the responsible staff, the proposed procedures, methods, means and period of time to correct the noncompliance. The plan shall also include the date of the implementation of the corrective action plan.
44. (rr) "Postnatal" means the six-week period after an infant is born.
45. (ss) "Postpartum" means the six-week period after giving birth.
46. (tt) "Preliminary records check application" means an application for a preliminary records check determination on forms provided by the Department.
47. (uu) "Preliminary records check determination" means a satisfactory or unsatisfactory determination by the Department based only upon a comparison of Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) information with other than fingerprint information regarding the person upon whom the records check is being performed.
48. (vv) "Psychotropic medication" means a prescription medication that is used to treat or manage a psychiatric symptom or challenging behavior. Some psychotropic medications fall into specific medication classes like antipsychotics or antidepressants. In other cases, the medications may be primarily used for other diseases but have been found effective in controlling behaviors thus making that specific use a psychotropic medication.
49. (ww) "Record(s)" means the individual files in any format established and maintained by a home which include data concerning an employee, director, child, or applicant.
50. (xx) "Records check application" means two (2) sets of classifiable fingerprints, a records search fee to be established by the Department by rule and regulation, payable in such form as the Department may direct to cover the cost of a fingerprint records check, and an affidavit by the applicant disclosing the nature and date of any arrest, charge, or conviction of the applicant for the violation of any law; except for motor vehicle parking violations, whether or not the violation occurred in this state, and such additional information as the Department may require.
51. (yy) "Resident" means a pregnant or parenting youth or a child of a parenting youth who receives full-time care and services at the home in accordance with these rules and regulations. This term shall be used interchangeably with the term "child" or "youth."
52. (zz) "Room, board and watchful oversight" means providing safe lodging, adequately nutritious meals, and continuous care and oversight to ensure a resident's basic needs are met.
53. (aaa) "Safeguard" means to take reasonable measures to eliminate the risk of harm to a resident receiving care. Where a specific method is not otherwise prescribed in these regulations, safeguards may include, but are not limited to, locking up a particular substance or item, storing a substance or item out of reach, erecting a barrier that prevents a resident in care from reaching a particular place, item or substance, using protective safety devices, or providing supervision.
54. (bbb) "Satisfactory criminal history background check determination" means a written determination that a person for whom a records check was performed was found to have no criminal record.
55. (ccc) "Seclusion" means the involuntary confinement of a resident away from other residents, due to imminent risk of harm to self or others, in a room or an area from which the resident is physically prevented from leaving.
56. (ddd) "Second chance home" means a licensed maternity home that provides full-time residential care, support and supervision to pregnant and parenting youth through 21 years of age and their child that is expected to last for more than an eight (8) week period following delivery. Program services include parenting skills, such as child development, education, job training, transitioning to independent living, family budgeting, health and nutrition, and other skills to promote residents' long-term independence and the well-being of their child.
57. (eee) "Self-administration of medications" means that a resident administers prescription and non-prescription medication in the manner directed by a physician without assistance or direction.
58. (fff) "Self-possession of medication" means that a resident carries medication on her person to allow for immediate and self-determined administration.
59. (ggg) "Serious occurrence" means an occurrence that has or may have dangerous or significant consequences relating to the care, supervision, or treatment of a child.
60. (hhh) "Supervision" means the continued responsibility of the home to take reasonable action to provide for the health, safety, and well-being of a resident while under the supervision of a director, employees, contractors, and volunteers of the home, including protection from physical, emotional, social, moral, financial harm and personal exploitation while in care. The home is responsible for providing the degree of supervision indicated by a resident's age, developmental level, physical, emotional, and social needs.
61. (iii) "Temporary license" means written authorization granted by the Department to an applicant for license to admit residents to the home on a conditional basis to allow a newly established home a reasonable, but limited period of time to demonstrate that operational procedures are in satisfactory compliance with these rules and regulations, or to allow an established and currently operating home a reasonable, but specified, length of time to comply with these rules and regulations, provided said home shall first present a Plan of Correction which is acceptable to the Department.
62. (jjj) "Time-out" means a behavior management technique that involves the brief separation of a resident from a group or setting where a resident is experiencing some behavioral or emotional distress, not to exceed twenty (20) minutes, designed to deescalate the emotionally charged condition of the resident. During "time-out" a resident's freedom of movement is not physically restricted.
63. (kkk) "Unsatisfactory criminal history background check determination" means a written determination that a person for whom a records check was performed has a criminal record.
64. (lll) "Variance" means a decision by the Department to grant a modification to all or part of the literal requirements of a rule.
65. (mmm) "Waiver" means a decision by the Department not to apply all or part of a rule.
66. (nnn) The singular includes the plural, the plural the singular, and the masculine the feminine, when consistent with the intent of these Rules.

Authority: O.C.G.A. §§ 49-5-3, 49-5-8, 49-5-12, 15-11-2.

History. Original Rule entitled "Definition" adopted. F. Dec. 15, 2011; eff. Jan. 4, 2012.

Amended: F. Jan. 9, 2025; eff. Jan. 29, 2025.