Glossary Of Common Terms - IN.gov
Glossary of Common TermsAll terms are defined in the context of Child Welfare and applicablefederal and state law. Definitions may vary in other context.A B C D E F G H I J K L MN O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZAAbandonment: Act of a parent, guardian, or custodian leaving a child without adequate care,supervision, support, or parental contact for an excessive period of time and with no intention ofreturning. The age of the child is an important factor. In legal terminology, “abandonment cases”are suits calling for a Child in Need of Services (CHINS) or Termination of Parental Rights(TPR).Absent parent: A biological or legal parent who does not live in the same household as thechild.Accreditation: The acknowledgement and verification that an organization fulfills explicitspecified standards. For example, public and private child and family service agencies mayapply for accreditation with several accrediting bodies- including the Council on Accreditation ofServices for Families and Children- conduct a self-assessment, and undergo periodicaccreditation reviews to ensure that they meet quality standards.Acculturation: The process whereby immigrants adapt to and integrate with the host society’sculture by modifying their own.Active efforts: The term used to describe the level of effort that any party seeking to effect afoster care placement of, or termination of parental rights to an Indian child under State law isrequired to make in order to satisfy the court that: Proactive efforts have been made to provide remedial services and rehabilitationdesigned to prevent the breakup of the Indian family; and These efforts have proved unsuccessful.Additional Appropriation: Permission to spend specified amount approved by a legislativebranch or governmental body in addition to a previously approved budget.Adjudicate: A finding of the court which shows that allegations made in a petition aresubstantiated or proved.Adjudicated father: A person not married to a child’s mother when the child was born, whoserelationship to the child has been established by court order or paternity affidavit.Administration for Children and Families (ACF): An agency within the U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services that provides national leadership and creates opportunities forfamilies to lead economically and socially productive lives. ACF’s programs are designed to helpchildren develop into healthy adults and to help communities become more prosperous andPage 1 of 27
supportive of their members. ACF is responsible for Federal programs that promote theeconomic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities.Administrative Law Judge (ALJ): A Hearing Officer who is hired or appointed by agovernmental agency to preside over and issue decisions in administrative appeals.Adoption: The legal process by which a child becomes the legal child of a person or personsother than his or her biological parents.Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS): A federally regulatedsystem for collecting reliable information regarding children under the care and supervision ofthe State and are receiving Title IV-B and/or Title IV-E federal funds for placement and care.Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA): Federal legislation signed into law in 1997, whichprovides time limits and guidelines related to children’s permanency goals.Adoption Assistance Agreement: A written agreement, binding on the parties to theagreement, between the State agency, other relevant agencies, and the prospective adoptiveparents of a minor child, which at a minimum: Specifies the nature, duration, and amount of any payments, services, and assistance tobe provided under such agreement; and Stipulates that the agreement shall remain in effect regardless of the State of which theadoptive parents are residents at any given time.Adoption Assistance Program (AAP): A federal program by which the local office, through theuse of Title IV-E funds, provides financial assistance to parents who adopt or plan to adopt aneligible child.Adoption Disruption: An adoption that is terminated prior to finalization, often after the child isplaced in the adoptive home, necessitating in a new placement plan for the child.Adoption Dissolution: A term used to describe an adoption that ends after it is legallyfinalized, resulting in the child’s return to (or entry into) foster care or placement with newadoptive parents. This process requires court action.Adoption Exchange: An organization that provides adoption information to educateprospective adoptive parents and connect waiting families with waiting children. Often theseorganizations serve to promote the adoption of children. An adoption exchange may be local,State, regional, national, or international in scope.Adoption Petition: The legal document through which prospective parents request the court’spermission to adopt a specific child.Adoption Placement: The point at which a child begins to live with a prospective adoptiveparent, prior to finalization of the adoption.Adoption Plan: The birth parent’s decisions to allow his or her biological child to be adoptedinto an adoptive family.Adoption Proceedings: Those court proceedings leading to the adoption of a child by aqualified pre-adoptive parent. These proceedings require the filing of all mandated officialPage 2 of 27
documents that testify to the absence of any factors that would prohibit the adoption and theappropriateness of the placement for the specific child to be adopted. If there is no factorpresent that would indicate that the adoption should not be finalized, the court issues an officialadoption decree.Adoption Revocation: Legal withdrawal of an agreement to adoption by the birth parents.Circumstances and time limits for revocation are established by States.Adult Sibling: Any brother or sister by blood, half-blood, or adoption that is at least 18 years ofage.Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Per the Centers for Disease Control, ACEs are allpotential traumatic experiences that occur to people under the age of 18, including all typesCA/N and growing up in an environment of violence, substance abuse, or with a caregiver whois experiencing mental health issues. The more adverse experiences a child faces, the higherthe likelihood the child will encounter issues with development, mental health, self-regulation,and chronic health conditions.Affidavit of Diligent Inquiry (ADI): A sworn statement that the individual made reasonableefforts to locate someone.Agreed Entry: A document that the parties agreed to, which has been ordered by the court.Allegation: A charge or complaint about an act or condition which needs to be proved at ahearing.Alleged Father: A person whose biological relationship to a child is claimed, but has not beenestablished by court order or paternity affidavit and who was not married to the child’s motheron or before the date when the child was or is to be born.Another Planned Permanent Living Arrangement (APPLA): A planned, permanentarrangement that is the goal for a youth age 16 years or older after permanency plans forreunification, adoption, legal guardianship, and relative placement have been ruled out. Thisplan usually involves the designation of a specific adult or couple who will exercise certainpowers and responsibilities and likely live with the youth. Furthermore, the caregiver’s familialrelationship will continue beyond the youth’s formal involvement in foster care.Appellant: The initiator of an appeal of an action or decision of the court, person, or agencywith authority to review the decision.Appropriation: Permission by a legislative branch or governmental body to spend a specificamount for a certain purpose or purposes.Appropriation Account: An account used to keep track of appropriation used and amount ofappropriation left.Assessment: An evaluation of a report of Child Abuse and/or Neglect (CA/N). The process ofgathering and analyzing information about the child, his or her family, and the circumstancesthat led to DCS involvement.Page 3 of 27
Assessment Decision: The decision, based upon the assessment findings, as to whether theassessment should be classified as unsubstantiated or substantiated.Assessment Findings: The sum total of all the information compiled during the course of anassessment.Assessment Status: The point at which the assessment is along the progression from start tofinish (i.e., not yet started, not yet finished, incomplete due to circumstances that preventcompletion, closed).BBaby Doe: A medically disabled infant with life-threatening conditions for whom medicallyindicated treatment is withheld. This is a federal statutory definition and does not apply to ormean an infant abandoned by his or her parent.Background check: A background check consisting of any or all of the following sources ofchild protection, juvenile or criminal history: Fingerprint-Based National Criminal History Check National Sex Offender Registry Check Child Protection Services History Check (CPS History Check) Local Criminal Court Records Check Triple I Check (National Emergency Name-Based Criminal History Record Check)Best Interests (BI): Title IV-E court order language that indicates the removal of a child fromthe home is beneficial and necessary to protect the safety of the child. To decide something is ina child’s best interests means that all decisions about the child’s well-being regardingplacement, visitation, services, etc. are made with the ultimate goal of encouraging the child’ssecurity, mental health, emotional development, and happiness into young adulthood.Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: As a standard of proof, it is that quantum of evidence that issufficiently conclusive and complete as to remove all reasonable doubt regarding the factssought to be established. This is the standard required in criminal cases such as those thatinvolve proving that a child is a delinquent.Birth Parent: An individual’s biological mother or father.Bonding: The process of forming a psychological attachment between two (2) persons.CCandidacy: The status of an individual child being a candidate for foster care and therefore atimminent risk of placement. The Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) will make an initialdetermination as to whether an individual child is at imminent risk of placement and will redetermine imminent risk every 180 days. See the definition of “child at imminent risk ofplacement” below.Caregiver: A person who provides for the physical, emotional, and social needs of a dependentperson who cannot provide for his or her own needs. The term most often applies to parents orparent surrogates, daycare and nursery workers, health care specialists, and relatives caring forchildren, elderly, or ill family members.Page 4 of 27
Case File: A folder or other container holding documentation and a running record of DCSactivities relating to a specific child.Case Management: Services that include the assessment and identification of client needs, theidentification of available resources to meet client needs, the development of an individualizedservice plan; the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of services for each client, andadvocacy for a client to assure that services and resources are accessible and provided.Case Plan: A written document that follows a prescribed format and identifies specificinformation about the actions that will be taken and the outcomes that are to be achieved.Case Plan Goal: A statement of the desired primary outcome resulting from the involvement ofDCS and other supporters of the family such as other family members, friends, neighbors andother providers of services required by the family. The case plan goals and the objectives andactivities necessary to achieve them must be realistic and achievable for the family. They are tobe developed in the course of a Child and Family Team (CFT) meeting which offers anopportunity for all participants to provide input. It is important to limit the number of goals thefamily needs to work on, making sure to include those goals that are critical to ensuring thesafety of the child.Case Records: Written information and documentation of facts to be preserved as evidenceeither for service delivery, accountability for court proceedings, or both.Central Client Index (CCI): This is the database that contains all information stored in the casemanagement system. The State Central Registry and the CCI have been combined to form theChild Protection Index (CPI). See Child Protection Index below.Child: A person under the age of 18.Child Abuse and/or Neglect (CA/N): The term used to refer to a child who is alleged to be inneed of services, as defined in Indiana Code (IC) 31-34-1-1 through IC 31-34-1-11; i.e., theCHINS definitions. See Chapter 3 Intake, Statutory Definition of Child Abuse and Neglect.Child Advocacy Center (CAC): Community-based, child-friendly, multidisciplinary servicecenter for children and families affected by sexual abuse or severe physical abuse. Thesecenters bring together, often in one (1) location, child protective services, law enforcement,prosecutors, and medical and mental health professionals to provide a coordinated,comprehensive response to victims and their caregivers.Child and Family Services Review (CFSR): The CFSR is the federal government’s review ofhow state child welfare systems perform, based on the outcomes that children and familiesexperience. The CFSR examines the delivery of child welfare services and looks at theoutcomes for children and families who receive services in the areas of safety, permanency,and child and family well-being.Child and Family Team (CFT) Meeting: A process that brings together (a) family; (b)interested people such as friends, neighbors, community members; and (c) formal resourcessuch as child welfare, mental health, education, and other agencies with the family for thepurpose of: Learning what the family hopes to accomplish;Page 5 of 27
Setting reasonable and meaningful goals;Recognizing and affirming the family strengths;Assessing family needs;Finding solutions to meet family needs;Designing individualized supports and services that match the family’s needs and buildon their strengths;Achieving clarity about who is responsible for agreed upon tasks; andAgreeing on the next steps.The CFTM functions to serve the child and family’s achievement of safety, permanency, stabilityand well-being. This group will bring together the wisdom and expertise of family and friends aswell as the resources, experience and expertise of formal supports to work together to assuresafety and meet the goals of children and families.Child at Imminent Risk of Placement: A child less than 18 years of age who, in the nearfuture, reasonably may be expected to face out-of-home placement under IC 31-27 through IC31-28 and IC 31-30 through IC 31-40 as a result of at least one of the following: Dependency, abuse, or neglect. Emotional disturbance. Family conflict so extensive that reasonable control of the child is not exercised. Delinquency adjudication.Child-Caring Institution (CCI): A residential facility that provides child care on a 24-hour basisfor more than 10 children or a residential facility with a capacity of not more than 10 children thatdoes not meet the residential structure requirements of a group home.Child Fatality Review Panel: Multidisciplinary teams whose specific task is to identify missedprevention opportunities in child fatalities. The goal of a child fatality review panel is to learn,through confidential case review, what could have or should have been done to prevent thedeaths.Child in Need of Services (CHINS): See Chapter 6 Court Involvement, Statutory Definition ofCHINS.Child-Placing Agency: Any person, association or corporation advertising as: Placing or finding homes for children; or Placing or assisting in placing children in homes of persons other than relatives; or Causing or assisting in causing the placement of children for adoption or in anotherplanned permanent living arrangement.Child Protection Index (CPI): This database contains all information formerly stored in the CCIand the notice requirements from the State Central Registry (SCR). Combining these elementsinto a single entity (the CPI) allows outside agencies conducting child protection serviceschecks relative to their employees or volunteers to have access to all substantiated informationinstead of the limited information previously available in the SCR. All information formerlyhoused in the CCI is accessible to DCS staff in the CPI.Child Protection Team (CPT): An interdisciplinary, community-wide group, the members ofwhich are either specified by statute or appointed by the local office director.Page 6 of 27
Child Support Payments (court-ordered): Court-ordered payments made to DCS by theparent or guardian for expenses incurred in the current month for children in out-of-home care.When voluntary child support is not forthcoming from the child’s parent or guardian and DCSbelieves the parent or guardian is capable of producing it, DCS refers the matter to the court torequest support. See also Reimbursement Payments.Child Welfare Services: A continuum of services, ranging from prevention to intervention totreatment, for the purpose of: Protecting and promoting the welfare of all children; Preventing the neglect, abuse, or exploitation of children; Supporting at-risk families through services which allow children, where appropriate, toremain safely with their families or return to their families in a timely manner; Promoting the safety, permanency, and well-being of children in care and adoptivehomes; and Providing training, professional development, and support to ensure a well-qualified childwelfare workforce.Clear and Convincing: A level of proof required in civil cases for the plaintiff to prevail. It is ahigher burden of proof than preponderance of evidence but less than beyond a reasonabledoubt. This is the level of burden of proof that is required in termination of parental rights casesand in all CHINS proceedings involving Native American children (the burden of proof for TPRunder ICWA is “beyond a reasonable doubt”).Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): The codification of the general and permanent rulespublished in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the FederalGovernment.Coercive Intervention: The inability or unwillingness of the parent, guardian, or custodian toprovide needed supervision and/or services for a child without a court order.Co-facilitator: The person who mirrors and supports the facilitator.Collateral Information: Secondary information gathered in the course of an investigation thattends to support or refute the primary allegations (i.e., information gathered from schoolteachers, neighbors). These sources of information cannot be approached until the decision toinvestigate is made.Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS): Case management InformationSystem developed by states and tribes to meet their child welfare program needs.Concurrent Planning: Planning that requires caseworkers to plan both for reunification and forpermanent placement elsewhere. Ideally, concurrent planning: Achieves early permanency for children within or outside the birth family; Decreases a child’s length of stay in foster care; Develops a pool of resource families that can be of assistance to both child and family,and Maintains family relationships.Conditionally Safe: One (1) or more safety factors were identified, and the child can beprotected by the voluntary interventions identified in the safety response.Page 7 of 27
Confidentiality: The legally required process and ethical practice of not disclosing privateinformation about a client without the client’s consent, as well as, not soliciting privateinformation from a client unless it is essential in assuring saf
Glossary of Common Terms . . guardian, or custodian leaving a child without adequatecare, supervision, support, or parental contact for an excessive period of timeand with no intention of returning. The age of the child is an important factor. In legal terminology, “abandonment cases” . the likelihood the child will encounter issues .
ITIL Glossary of Terms, Definitions and Acronyms in Hungarian, V3.1.24.h2.5, 24 February 2008, prepared by itSMF Hungary 1 ITIL V3 Hungarian Glossary Notes: 1. This ITIL V3 Hungarian Glossary (internal version: 2.5) is the itSMF Hungary's official translation of ITIL V3 Glossary of Terms, Definitions and Acronyms (version 3.1.24). 2. The Hungarian ITIL Terms have a relatively long .
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