§ 63-7-2710 — Definitions.

For purposes of this article: (1) "Administrative case review" means a review open to the child and if the child consents, the child's parents, conducted by a panel of appropriate persons. Although at least one member of the panel must be a person who is not responsible for the case management of or the delivery of services to the child or the child's parents, employees of the Department of Social Services are appropriate persons and may participate as panelist. (2) "Child" means a person who is or was in the legal custody of the department on the person's eighteenth birthday, who has not attained age twenty-one, and who meets at least one of the following requirements: (a) is completing secondary education or a program leading to an equivalent credential; (b) is enrolled in an institution which provides post-secondary or vocational education; (c) is participating in a program or activity designed to promote or remove barriers to employment; (d) is employed for at least eighty hours a month; or (e) is incapable of doing any of the above-described activities due to a physical, intellectual, emotional, or psychiatric condition that limits participation, and the presence of the condition is supported by regularly updated information in the transition plan. (3) "Childcare institution" means a private childcare institution, or a public childcare institution which accommodates no more than twenty-five children, that is licensed by the department. "Childcare institution" does not include wilderness camps or training schools, nor does it include any facility that exists primarily for the detention or correction of children. (4) "Court" means the family court. (5) "Department" means the Department of Social Services. (6) "Foster family home" means the private home of an individual or family that is licensed by the department and in which a child in foster care has been placed in the care of an individual who resides with the child; has been licensed by the department to be a foster parent that the department deems capable of adhering to the reasonable and prudent parent standard as defined in Section 63-7-20(24); provides twenty-four hour substitute care for children placed away from their parents or other caretakers; and provides care for children subject to capacity limitations set forth in Section 63-7-2400. This term also includes kinship, relative, and child-specific homes. (7) "Legal custody" means the right to the physical custody, care, and control of the child; the right to determine where the child shall live; the right and duty to provide protection, food, clothing, shelter, ordinary medical care, education, supervision, and discipline for a child and in an emergency to authorize surgery or other extraordinary care. The court may in its order place other rights and duties with the legal custodian. (8) "Placement and care responsibility" means the authority conveyed through the court, through written authorization prior to the child's eighteenth birthday, or through a voluntary placement agreement to provide supervision of the child and the child's placement. (9) "Supervised independent living setting" means any housing arrangement that is licensed or approved by the department and which makes support services for a successful transition to adulthood available to the child. Case management for the child must be provided by the department or a contracted provider. The child must reside in the setting voluntarily and the setting does not include wilderness camps or training schools, nor does it include any facility that exists primarily for the detention or correction of children. (10) "Transition plan" means a written case plan that is personalized, as detailed as the child may elect, and that includes specific options on housing, health insurance, education, local opportunities for mentors and for continuing support services, work force supports, and employment services. A transition plan also must include information about the importance of designating another individual to make health care treatment decisions on behalf of the child if the child becomes unable to participate in such decisions and the child does not have, or does not want, a relative who would otherwise be authorized to make such decisions, and provides the child with the option to execute a health care power of attorney or health care proxy. (11) "Voluntary placement agreement" means a written agreement, binding on the child and the department, which describes at a minimum, the legal status of the child, as well as the rights and obligations of the child and the department while the child is under the placement and care responsibility of the department.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 2022 Act No. 143 (H.3509), SECTION 1, eff April 25, 2022 and upon contingency. Editor's Note 2022 Act No. 143, SECTION 3, provides as follows: "SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and is contingent upon funding in the general appropriations bill."