Section 59.02. Definitions.

  In this chapter:

(1)  "Child" means an individual under 18 years of age, and refers both to a child placed for shelter care and to any other individual under 18 years of age living in the shelter care facility.

(2)  "Department" means the Wisconsin department of children and families.

(3)  "Executive" means the individual designated by the board of a corporation to be primarily responsible for the administration of all shelter care facilities operated by the corporation.

(4)  "Family care staffing" means that at least one shelter care worker, whether an independent operator or an employee of a licensee, has the facility as a primary domicile.

(4g)  "Hold-over room" means a nonsecure room in a county government facility, the purpose of which is to provide a safe environment for holding a child to facilitate the child's appearance at a court hearing within 24 hours or over the weekend if the child is placed in the hold-over room on a Friday or on the weekend, or to transport the child to another facility within 24 hours.

(4m)  "Hold-over room attendant" means a staff person or volunteer who provides care and supervision of the occupant or occupants of a hold-over room.

(5)  "Licensee" means the person who is primarily responsible for the operation of a facility and who is licensed by the department to operate the facility.

(6)  "Licensing agency" means the department.

(6g)  "Nonsecure" means a child is not held or prevented from leaving against his or her will.

(7)  "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, corporation or public agency other than the department.

(8)  "Privately-operated shelter care facility" means a facility operated by persons who are not county employees and from whom a county board of supervisors purchases services pursuant to s. 938.22 (5) , Stats.

(9)  "Publicly-operated shelter facility" means a facility operated by a county board of supervisors pursuant to s. 938.22 (1) , Stats.

(10)  "Relief help" means an individual who is used to replace shelter care workers on an unscheduled basis and for a few hours or few days at a time. An individual regularly scheduled to replace shelter care workers on days off or for vacations and other prolonged periods is not relief help but an additional shelter care worker.

(11)  "Shelter care" means short-term, nonsecure residential care and physical custody of children pending court action. "Short-term"means a maximum of 30 days for each episode, with extension for up to another 30 days as provided in s. DCF 59.05 (3) (b) , except that for a hold-over room "short-term" means not longer than 24 hours or, if the placement is made on a Friday or on the weekend, not longer than over the weekend until the following Monday.

(12)  "Shelter care worker" means an individual who provides primary care and supervision of children in a shelter care facility on a regular schedule, either on a full-time or part-time basis, but not a hold-over room attendant.

(13)  "Shift staffing" means that all shelter care workers employed by the licensee provide care on a rotating or shift basis in the shelter care facility.

(14)  "Superintendent" means an individual designated pursuant to s. 938.22 (3) , Stats., by the juvenile court judge or, when 2 or more counties cooperate to provide shelter care, by a committee of juvenile court judges, to supervise the provision of shelter care within a county.

(15)  "Unit supervisor" means the individual in a shelter care facility who is primarily responsible for supervising the day-to-day activities of that facility.

(16)  "Volunteer" means any individual providing services to the shelter care facility who receives no monetary reimbursement for services. Payment for out-of-pocket expenses is not considered reimbursement for services.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1982, No. 324 , eff. 1-1-83; emerg. cr. (4g), (4m), (6g), emerg. am. (11), (12), eff. 12-1-93, cr. (4g), (4m), (6g), am. (11), (12), Register, September, 1994, No. 465 , eff. 10-1-94; correction in (11) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register, September, 1994, No. 465 ; corrections in (8), (9) and (14) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register, December, 1999, No. 528 ; correction in (8) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register December 2004 No. 588 ; corrections in (2) and (11) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 6. and 7., Stats., Register November 2008 No. 635 .