Part I
General

22VAC40-100-10. Definitions.

A. A child caring institution, as defined in Chapter 10 (§ 63.1-195 et seq.) of Title 63.1 of the Code of Virginia as provided for in subsection C of § 63.2-1737 of the Code of Virginia, is any facility, other than an institution operated by the State state, a county, or a city, and maintained for the purpose of receiving children for full-time care, maintenance, protection, and guidance separated from their parents or guardians except:

1. A bona fide educational institution (or or boarding school) school whose pupils, in the ordinary course of events, return annually to the home of their parents or guardians for not less than two months of summer vacation;

2. An establishment required to be licensed as a summer camp; and

3. A bona fide hospital legally maintained as such.

B. A group home is a child caring institution operated by an individual other than in his private family home or by a corporation which does not exceed 12 children, including the group parents' own children.

C. An independent foster home is a private individual foster home in which any child, other than a child by birth or adoption of such person, resides as a member of the household and has been placed therein independently of a child placing agency except (i) a home in which are received only children related by birth or adoption of the person who maintains such home and legitimate children of personal friends of such person and (ii) a home in which are received a child or children committed under the provisions of subdivisions A 3, C 5 or E 9 of § 16.1-279 of the Code of Virginia, subdivision A 4 of § 16.1-278.2, subdivision 6 of § 16.1-278.4, or subdivision A 13 of § 16.1-278.8 of the Code of Virginia.

Any facility caring for more than 12 such children shall not be deemed an independent foster home.

An independent foster home is subject to a different set of standards.

22VAC40-100-340. Confidentiality.

The child caring institution shall share only that information relative to the needs of others working with the child or to those having a legal right to that information in conformity with § 63.1-209, Code of Virginia, which provides the following:

(a) "1. Confidential records. The records of all child welfare agencies and representatives of the Commissioner commissioner regarding licensing and persons received or placed out by them and the facts learned by them concerning such persons and their parents or relatives shall be confidential information, provided that the Commissioner commissioner, the State Board board, and their agents shall have access to such information, that it shall be disclosed upon proper order of any court, and that it may be disclosed to any person having a legitimate interest in the placement of any such person. It shall be unlawful for any officer, agent, or employee of any child welfare agency, for the Commissioner commissioner, the State Board board, or their agents or employees, and for any person who has held any such position, and for any other person to whom any such information is disclosed as herein above provided, to disclose, directly or indirectly, any such confidential information, except as herein provided. Every violation of this section shall constitute a misdemeanor and be punishable as such.

(b) 2. Any person who has attained his majority, and who has not been legally adopted in accordance with the provisions of former Chapter 11 (§ 63.1-220 et seq.) of this title Title 63.1 of the Code of Virginia, and who believes that he has been placed out by a child placing agency, shall have the right to demand and receive from the Commissioner commissioner, the State Board board, or any such agency, such information as any of them may have concerning his own parents or relatives."