2009 Louisiana Laws TITLE 46 Public welfare and assistance :: RS 46:1403 Definitions

§1403.  Definitions

A.  As used in this Chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly states otherwise:

(1)  "Child" means a person who has not reached age eighteen or otherwise been legally emancipated.  The words "child" and "children" are used interchangeably in this Chapter.

(2)  "Child-placing agency" means any institution, society, agency, corporation, facility, person or persons, or any other group engaged in placing children in foster homes or with substitute parents for temporary care or for adoption, or engaged in assisting or facilitating the adoption of children, but shall not mean a person who may occasionally refer children for temporary care.

(3)  "Community home" means any place, facility, or home operated by any institution, society, agency, corporation, person or persons, or any other group which receives therein at least four but not more than six individuals, who are not related to the operator and whose parents or guardians are not residents of the same facility, for supervision, care, lodging, and maintenance, with or without transfer of custody.

(4)  "Day care center" means any place or facility operated by any institution, society, agency, corporation, person or persons, or any other group for the purpose of providing care, supervision, and guidance of seven or more children, not including those related to the caregiver, unaccompanied by parent or guardian, on a regular basis for at least twelve and one-half hours in a continuous seven-day week.  A day care center that remains open for more than twelve and one-half hours in a continuous seven-day week, and in which no individual child remains for more than twenty-four hours in one continuous stay shall be known as a full-time day care center.  A day care center that remains open after 9:00 p.m. shall meet the appropriate regulations established for nighttime care.

(5)  "Department" means the Department of Health and Hospitals, with respect to facilities and agencies funded under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, and the Department of Social Services for all other facilities and agencies.

(6)  "Group home" means any place, facility, or home operated by any institution, society, agency, corporation, person or persons, or any other group which receives therein at least seven but not more than fifteen children who are not related to the operators and whose parents or guardians are not residents of the same facility for supervision, care, lodging, and maintenance, with or without transfer of custody.

(7)  "Maternity home" means any place or facility in which any institution, society, agency, corporation, person or persons, or any other group regularly receives and provides necessary services for children before, during, and immediately following birth.  This definition shall not include any place or facility which receives and provides services for women who receive maternity care in the home of a relative within the sixth degree of kindred, computed according to civil law, or general or special hospitals in which maternity treatment and care is part of the medical services performed and the care of children only brief and incidental.

(8)  "Related" or "relative" means a natural or adopted child or grandchild of the caregiver or a child in the legal custody of the caregiver.

(9)  "Residential home" means any place, facility, or home operated by any institution, society, agency, corporation, person or persons, or any other group to provide full-time care for more than fifteen children who are not related to the operators and whose parents or guardians are not residents of the same facility, with or without transfer of custody.  A residential home as defined in this Paragraph includes facilities known as children's homes, halfway houses, residential treatment centers, training schools, and facilities for the mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, socially maladjusted, or otherwise mentally or physically handicapped.

(10)  "School", as referred to in R.S. 46:1415, means any institution or facility which provides for education of children in grades one or above. Any kindergarten or prekindergarten attached thereto shall be considered part of that school.

B.  For purposes of this Chapter "child care facility" shall include community homes, maternity homes, group homes, day care centers, and residential homes as defined in this Section.

Acts 1985, No. 286, §1; Acts 1987, No. 812, §1; Acts 1990, No. 351, §2, eff. July 10, 1990; Acts 1990 No. 901, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; Acts 1999, No. 1237, §1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts 2004, No. 915, §1; Acts 2009, No. 194, §2, eff. June 30, 2009.