Iowa Code § 237.1 (2026)

As used in this chapter:

1. “Agency” means a person that does not meet the definition of an individual or a kinship caregiver.

2. “Agency licensee” means an agency issued a license under this chapter.

3. “Approval” means the authorization granted to a kinship caregiver by the department through an expedited process under this chapter to provide child foster care, and allows the kinship caregiver to receive maximum financial support and to obtain the information and resources necessary to meet the needs of a child under a court-ordered placement with the kinship caregiver.

4. “Approved kinship caregiver” means a kinship caregiver granted approval under this chapter.

5. “Child” means the same as defined in section 234.1.

6. “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 or fictive kin of the child if the relative or fictive kin is an individual licensee or an approved kinship caregiver, but not including a guardian of the child. “Child foster care” does not include any of the following care situations:

a. Care furnished by an individual who receives the child of a personal friend as an occasional and personal guest in the individual’s home, free of charge and not as a business.

b. Care furnished by an individual with whom a child has been placed for lawful adoption, unless that adoption is not completed within two years after placement.

c. Care furnished by a private boarding school subject to approval by the state board of education pursuant to section 256.11. \n Tue Dec 09 22:20:40 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 237 (45, 2) §237.1, CHILD FOSTER CARE FACILITIES 2\n\n d. Child care furnished by a child care center, a child development home, or a child care home as those terms are defined in section 237A.1.

e. Care furnished in a hospital licensed under chapter 135B or care furnished in a nursing facility licensed under chapter 135C.

f. Care furnished by a relative or fictive kin of a child when the child is not under the placement, care, or supervision of the department.

7. “Department” means the department of health and human services.

8. “Director” means the director of health and human services.

9. “Facility” means the personnel, program, physical plant, and equipment of a licensee or approved kinship caregiver. “Facility” includes a foster family home.

10. “Fictive kin” means the same as defined in section 232.2.

11. “Foster family home” means a single-family home environment in which child foster care is provided.

12. “Individual” means a natural person or a married couple.

13. “Individual licensee” means an individual, including an individual who is a relative or fictive kin, issued a license under this chapter.

14. “Kinship caregiver” means a relative or fictive kin of a child.

15. “License” means the authorization issued to an individual or an agency by the department under this chapter to provide child foster care.

16. “Licensee” means an individual or an agency licensed under this chapter.

17. “Protective locked environment” means a setting that prevents egress from a building or grounds as a protective measure to ensure safety and security.

18. “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 caretaker shall use when determining whether to allow a child in child foster care under the placement, care, or supervision of the department to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, or social activities. For the purposes of this subsection, “caretaker” means a licensee with which a child in child foster care has been placed, an approved kinship caregiver with whom a child in child foster care has been placed, or a juvenile shelter care home approved under chapter 232 in which a child in child foster care has been placed.

19. “Relative” means an individual related to a child within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity by marriage or through adoption. [C27, 31, 35, §3661-a42, -a43; C39, §3661.056, 3661.057; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, §237.1, 237.2; C81, §237.1; 82 Acts, ch 1016, §1] 83 Acts, ch 96, §157, 159; 86 Acts, ch 1245, §1418; 87 Acts, ch 44, §1; 90 Acts, ch 1039, §14; 99 Acts, ch 192, §29; 2002 Acts, ch 1142, §2, 31; 2016 Acts, ch 1063, §20; 2017 Acts, ch 100, §1; 2019 Acts, ch 126, §4; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §726; 2024 Acts, ch 1170, §416; 2025 Acts, ch 86, §33; 2025 Acts, ch 135, §12 Referred to in §16.1, 232.2, 235A.15, 282.19 See Code editor’s note on simple harmonization at the beginning of this Code volume Section amended \n