Terms Used In Iowa Code > Chapter 237 - Child Foster Care Facilities

• Agency: means a person which provides child foster care and which does not meet the definition of an individual as defined under this section. See Iowa Code 237.1
• caregiver: means an individual or an agency licensed under this chapter with which a child in foster care has been placed or a juvenile shelter care home approved under chapter 232 in which a child in foster care has been placed. See Iowa Code 237.1
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Child: means child as defined in section 234. See Iowa Code 237.1
• Child: includes but shall not be limited to a stepchild, foster child, or legally adopted child and means a child actually or apparently under eighteen years of age, and a dependent person eighteen years of age or over who is unable to maintain the person's self and is likely to become a public charge. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Child foster care: means the provision of parental nurturing, including but not limited to the furnishing of food, lodging, training, education, supervision, treatment, or other care, to a child on a full-time basis by a person, including a relative of the child if the relative is licensed under this chapter, but not including a guardian of the child. See Iowa Code 237.1
• Council: means the council on health and human services. See Iowa Code 237.1
• Court: shall mean and include any court upon which jurisdiction has been conferred to determine the liability of persons for the support of dependents. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the department of health and human services. See Iowa Code 237.1
• Department: means the department of health and human services. See Iowa Code 249L.2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent: shall mean and include a spouse, child, mother, father, grandparent, or grandchild who is in need of and entitled to support from a person who is declared to be legally liable for such support. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Director: means the director of health and human services. See Iowa Code 237.1
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Facility: means the personnel, program, physical plant, and equipment of a licensee. See Iowa Code 237.1
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Individual: means an individual person or a married couple who provides child foster care in a single-family home environment and which does not meet the definition of an agency under this section. See Iowa Code 237.1
• Institution: means a birthing hospital. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Judicial officer: means a supreme court justice, a judge of the court of appeals, a district judge, a district associate judge, an associate juvenile judge, an associate probate judge, or a magistrate. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Licensee: means an individual or an agency licensed under this chapter. See Iowa Code 237.1
• month: means a calendar month, and the word "year" and the abbreviation "A. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Nursing facility: means a licensed nursing facility as defined in section 135C. See Iowa Code 249L.2
• Party: means a petitioner, a respondent, or a person who intervenes in a proceeding instituted under this chapter. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
• property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Reasonable and prudent parent standard: means the standard characterized by careful and sensible parenting decisions that maintain the health, safety, and best interests of a child, while at the same time encouraging the emotional and developmental growth of a child, that a caregiver shall use when determining whether to allow a child in foster care under the placement, care, or supervision of the department to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, or social activities. See Iowa Code 237.1
• state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
• year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1