For the purposes of this part:

Act means the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act as amended, 42 U.S.C. 5701 et seq.

Aftercare means additional services provided beyond the period of residential stay that offer continuity and supportive follow-up to youth served by the program.

Background check means the review of an individual employee's or employment applicant's personal information, which shall include State or Tribal criminal history records (including fingerprint checks); Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history records, including fingerprint checks, to the extent FSYB determines this to be practicable and specifies the requirement in a Funding Opportunity Announcement that is applicable to a grantee's award; a child abuse and neglect registry check, to the extent FSYB determines this to be practicable and specifies the requirement in a Funding Opportunity Announcement that is applicable to a grantee's award; and a sex offender registry check for all employees, consultants, contractors, and volunteers who have regular, unsupervised contact with individual youth, and for all adult occupants of host homes. As appropriate to job functions, it shall also include verification of educational credentials and employment experience, and an examination of the individual's driving records (for those who will transport youth), and professional licensing records.

Case management means identifying and assessing the needs of the client, including consulting with the client, and, as appropriate, arranging, coordinating, monitoring, evaluating, and advocating for a package of services to meet the specific needs of the client.

Client means a runaway, homeless, or street youth, or a youth at risk of running away or becoming homeless, who is served by a program grantee.

Congregate care means a shelter type that combines living quarters and restroom facilities with centralized dining services, shared living spaces, and access to social and recreational activities, and which is not a family home.

Contact means the engagement between Street Outreach Program staff and youth who are at risk of homelessness or runaway status or homeless youth in need of services that could reasonably lead to shelter or significant harm reduction. Contact may occur on the streets, at a drop-in center, or at other locations known to be frequented by homeless, runaway, or street youth.

Core competencies of youth worker means the ability to demonstrate skills in six domain areas:

(1) Professionalism (including, but not limited to, consistent and reliable job performance, awareness and use of professional ethics to guide practice);

(2) Applied positive youth development approach (including, but not limited to, skills to develop a positive youth development plan and identifying the client's strengths in order to best apply a positive youth development framework);

(3) Cultural and human diversity (including, but not limited to, gaining knowledge and skills to meet the needs of clients of a different race, ethnicity, nationality, religion/spirituality, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation);

(4) Applied human development (including, but not limited to, understanding the developmental needs of those at risk and with special needs);

(5) Relationship and communication (including, but not limited to, working with clients in a collaborative manner); and

(6) Developmental practice methods (including, but not limited to, utilizing methods focused on genuine relationships, health and safety, intervention planning).

Counseling services means the provision of guidance, support, referrals for services including, but not limited to, health services, and advice to runaway or otherwise homeless youth and their families, as well as to youth and families when a young person is at risk of running away, as appropriate. These services are provided in consultation with clients and are designed to alleviate the problems that have put the youth at risk of running away or contributed to his or her running away or being homeless. Any treatment or referral to treatment that aims to change someone's sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is prohibited.

Drop-in center means a place operated and staffed for runaway or homeless youth that clients can visit without an appointment to get advice or information, to receive services or service referrals, or to meet other runaway or homeless youth.

Drug abuse education and prevention services means services to prevent or reduce drug and/or alcohol abuse by runaway and homeless youth, and may include: (1) Individual, family, group, and peer counseling; (2) drop-in services; (3) assistance to runaway and homeless youth in rural areas (including the development of community support groups); (4) information and training relating to drug and/or alcohol abuse by runaway and homeless youth for individuals involved in providing services to such youth; and (5) activities to improve the availability of local drug and/or alcohol abuse prevention services to runaway and homeless youth.

Education or employment means performance in and completion of educational and training activities, especially for younger youth, and starting and maintaining adequate and stable employment, particularly for older youth.

Health care services means physical, mental, behavioral, and dental health services. It includes services provided to runaway and homeless youth and in the case of Maternity Group Homes also includes services provided to a pregnant youth and the child(ren) of the youth. Where applicable and allowable within a program, it includes information on appropriate health related services provided to family or household members of the youth. Any treatment or referral to treatment that aims to change someone's sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is prohibited.

Home-based services means services provided to youth and their families for the purpose of preventing such youth from running away or otherwise becoming separated from their families and assisting runaway youth to return to their families. It includes services that are provided in the residences of families (to the extent practicable), including intensive individual and family counseling and training relating to life skills and parenting.

Homeless youth means an individual who cannot live safely with a parent, legal guardian, or relative, and who has no other safe alternative living arrangement. For purposes of Basic Center Program eligibility, a homeless youth must be less than 18 years of age (or higher if allowed by a state or local law or regulation that applies to licensure requirements for child- or youth-serving facilities). For purposes of Transitional Living Program eligibility, a homeless youth cannot be less than 16 years of age and must be less than 22 years of age (unless the individual commenced his or her stay before age 22, and the maximum service period has not ended).

Host family home means a family or single adult home or domicile, other than that of a parent or permanent legal guardian, that provides shelter to homeless youth.

Intake means a process for gathering information to assess eligibility and the services required to meet the immediate needs of the client. The intake process may be operated independently but grantees should, at minimum, ensure they are working with their local Continuum of Care Program to ensure that referrals are coordinated and youth have access to all of the community's resources.

Juvenile justice system means agencies that include, but are not limited to, juvenile courts, correctional institutions, detention facilities, law enforcement, training schools, or agencies that use probation, parole, and/or court ordered confinement.

Maternity group home means a community-based, adult-supervised transitional living arrangement where client oversight is provided on site or on-call 24 hours a day and that provides pregnant or parenting youth and their children with a supportive environment in which to learn parenting skills, including child development, family budgeting, health and nutrition, and other skills to promote their long-term economic independence and ensure the well-being of their children.

Outreach means finding runaway, homeless, and street youth, or youth at risk of becoming runaway or homeless, who might not use services due to lack of awareness or active avoidance, providing information to them about services and benefits, and encouraging the use of appropriate services.

Permanent connections means ongoing attachments to families or adult role models, communities, schools, and other positive social networks which support young people's ability to access new ideas and opportunities that support thriving, and they provide a social safety net when young people are at-risk of re-entering homelessness

Risk and protective factors mean those factors that are measureable characteristics of a youth that can occur at multiple levels, including biological, psychological, family, community, and cultural levels, that precede and are associated with an outcome. Risk factors are associated with higher likelihood of problematic outcomes, and protective factors are associated with higher likelihood of positive outcomes.

Runaway youth means an individual under 18 years of age who absents himself or herself from home or place of legal residence without the permission of a parent or legal guardian.

Runaway and Homeless Youth project means a community-based program outside the juvenile justice or child welfare systems that provides runaway prevention, outreach, shelter, or transition services to runaway, homeless, or street youth or youth at risk of running away or becoming homeless.

Safe and appropriate exits means settings that reflect achievement of the intended purposes of the Basic Center and Transitional Living Programs as outlined in section 382(a) of the Act. Examples of Safe and Appropriate Exits are exits:

(1) To the private residence of a parent, guardian, another adult relative, or another adult that has the youth's best interest in mind and can provide a stable arrangement;

(2) To another residential program if the youth's transition to the other residential program is consistent with the youth's needs; or

(3) To independent living if consistent with the youth's needs and abilities.

Safe and appropriate exits are not exits:

(1) To the street;

(2) To a locked correctional institute or detention center if the youth became involved in activities that lead to this exit after entering the program;

(3) To another residential program if the youth's transition to the other residential program is inconsistent with the youth's needs; or

(4) To an unknown or unspecified other living situation.

Screening and assessment means valid and reliable standardized instruments and practices used to identify each youth's individual strengths and needs across multiple aspects of health, wellbeing and behavior in order to inform appropriate service decisions and provide a baseline for monitoring outcomes over time. Screening involves abbreviated instruments, for example with trauma and health problems, which can indicate certain youth for more thorough diagnostic assessments and service needs. Assessment, which is used here to mean assessment more broadly than for the purposes of diagnosis, involves evaluating multiple aspects of social, emotional, and behavioral competencies and functioning in order to inform service decisions and monitor outcomes.

Service plan or treatment plan means a written plan of action based on the assessment of client needs and strengths and engaging in joint problem solving with the client that identifies problems, sets goals, and describes a strategy for achieving those goals. To the extent possible, the plan should incorporate the use of trauma informed, evidence-based, or evidence-informed interventions. As appropriate, the service and treatment plans should address both physical and mental safety issues.

Short-term training means the provision of local, state, or regionally-based instruction to runaway or otherwise homeless youth service providers in skill areas that will directly strengthen service delivery.

Social and emotional well-being means the development of key competencies, attitudes, and behaviors that equip a young person experiencing homelessness to avoid unhealthy risks and to succeed across multiple domains of daily life, including school, work, relationships, and community.

Stable housing means a safe and reliable place to call home. Stable housing fulfills a critical and basic need for homeless youth. It is essential to enabling enable functioning across a range of life activities.

State means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any territory or possession of the United States.

Street youth means an individual who is a runaway youth or an indefinitely or intermittently homeless youth who spends a significant amount of time on the street or in other areas that increase the risk to such youth for sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, prostitution, or drug and/or alcohol abuse. For purposes of this definition, youth means an individual who is age 21 or less.

Supervised apartments mean a type of shelter setting using building(s) with separate residential units where client supervision is provided on site or on call 24 hours a day.

Technical assistance means the provision of expertise or support for the purpose of strengthening the capabilities of grantee organizations to deliver services.

Temporary shelter means all Basic Center Program shelter settings in which runaway and homeless youth are provided room and board, crisis intervention, and other services on a 24-hour basis for up to 21 days. The 21 day restriction is on the use of RHY funds through the Basic Center Program, not a restriction on the length of stay permitted by the facility.