Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 37.2 > Subtitle I > Chapter 3 - Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services

• Abuse: means any act or failure to act by an employee or other person responsible for the care of an individual in a facility or program operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, that was performed or was failed to be performed knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally, and that caused or might have caused physical or psychological harm, injury, or death to an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Abused or neglected child: means any child:

  1. See Virginia Code 16.1-228

• Adoptive home: means the place of residence of any natural person in which a child resides as a member of the household and in which he has been placed for the purposes of adoption or in which he has been legally adopted by another member of the household. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or older. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assets: means the buildings and land of state facilities operated by the Department. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
• Assistive technology: means any item, piece of equipment or device that enables an individual with a disability to improve his or her independence and quality of life. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• attorney: means attorney-at-law. See Virginia Code 54.1-3900
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Authority: means the Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority established pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• authority: means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 (§ 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Board of Directors of the Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• Board: means the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Bonds: means notes, bonds, certificates, and other evidence of indebtedness or obligation of the Authority. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• Child in need of services: means (i) a child whose behavior, conduct or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being and physical safety of the child or (ii) a child under the age of 14 whose behavior, conduct or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being and physical safety of another person; however, no child who in good faith is under treatment solely by spiritual means through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination shall for that reason alone be considered to be a child in need of services, nor shall any child who habitually remains away from or habitually deserts or abandons his family as a result of what the court or the local child protective services unit determines to be incidents of physical, emotional or sexual abuse in the home be considered a child in need of services for that reason alone. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Child in need of supervision: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 16.1-228

• Child welfare agency: means a child-placing agency, child-caring institution or independent foster home as defined in § 63. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Community services board: means the public body established pursuant to § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delinquent act: means (i) an act designated a crime under the law of the Commonwealth, or an ordinance of any city, county, town, or service district, or under federal law, (ii) a violation of § 18. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Delinquent child: means a child who has committed a delinquent act or an adult who has committed a delinquent act prior to his 18th birthday, except where the jurisdiction of the juvenile court has been terminated under the provisions of § 16. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Department: means the Department of Juvenile Justice and "Director" means the administrative head in charge thereof or such of his assistants and subordinates as are designated by him to discharge the duties imposed upon him under this law. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Department: means the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• detention home: means a local, regional or state public or private locked residential facility that has construction fixtures designed to prevent escape and to restrict the movement and activities of children held in lawful custody. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Developmental disability: means a severe, chronic disability of an individual that (i) is attributable to a mental or physical impairment, or a combination of mental and physical impairments, other than a sole diagnosis of mental illness; (ii) is manifested before the individual reaches 22 years of age; (iii) is likely to continue indefinitely; (iv) results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, or economic self-sufficiency; and (v) reflects the individual's need for a combination and sequence of special interdisciplinary or generic services, individualized supports, or other forms of assistance that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Developmental services: means planned, individualized, and person-centered services and supports provided to individuals with developmental disabilities for the purpose of enabling these individuals to increase their self-determination and independence, obtain employment, participate fully in all aspects of community life, advocate for themselves, and achieve their fullest potential to the greatest extent possible. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Facility: means a state or licensed hospital, training center, psychiatric hospital, or other type of residential or outpatient mental health or developmental services facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Family abuse: means any act involving violence, force, or threat that results in bodily injury or places one in reasonable apprehension of death, sexual assault, or bodily injury and that is committed by a person against such person's family or household member. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
• Fictive kin: means persons who are not related to a child by blood or adoption but have an established relationship with the child or his family. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fund: means the Assistive Technology Loan Fund established pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• Fund: means the Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Trust Fund. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Hearing dog: means a dog trained to alert its owner by touch to sounds of danger and sounds to which the owner should respond. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Independent living services: includes counseling, education, housing, employment, and money management skills development and access to essential documents and other appropriate services to help children or persons prepare for self-sufficiency. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• individual: means a current direct recipient of public or private mental health, developmental, or substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, or habilitation services and includes the terms "consumer" "patient" "resident" "recipient" or "client. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Intellectual disability: means a disability, originating before the age of 18 years, characterized concurrently by (i) significant subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning, administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean and (ii) significant limitations in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• judge: means the judge or the substitute judge of the juvenile and domestic relations district court of each county or city. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• juvenile and domestic relations court: means the juvenile and domestic relations district court of each county or city. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• law: means the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Law embraced in this chapter. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legal custody: means (i) a legal status created by court order which vests in a custodian the right to have physical custody of the child, to determine and redetermine where and with whom he shall live, the right and duty to protect, train and discipline him and to provide him with food, shelter, education and ordinary medical care, all subject to any residual parental rights and responsibilities or (ii) the legal status created by court order of joint custody as defined in § 20-107. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• licensed: means a state hospital and a licensed hospital that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Mental health services: means planned individualized interventions intended to reduce or ameliorate mental illness or the effects of mental illness through care, treatment, counseling, rehabilitation, medical or psychiatric care, or other supports provided to individuals with mental illness for the purpose of enabling these individuals to increase their self-determination and independence, obtain remunerative employment, participate fully in all aspects of community life, advocate for themselves, and achieve their fullest potential to the greatest extent possible. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Mental illness: means a disorder of thought, mood, emotion, perception, or orientation that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to address basic life necessities and requires care and treatment for the health, safety, or recovery of the individual or for the safety of others. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Mental impairment: means (i) a disability attributable to intellectual disability, autism, or any other neurological disability closely related to intellectual disability and requiring treatment similar to that required by individuals with intellectual disability or (ii) an organic or mental impairment that has substantial adverse effects on an individual's cognitive or volitional functions, including central nervous system disorders or significant discrepancies among mental functions of an individual. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• minor: means a person who is (i) younger than 18 years of age or (ii) for purposes of the Fostering Futures program set forth in Article 2 (§ 63. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Neglect: means failure by a person or a program or facility operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, responsible for providing services to do so, including nourishment, treatment, care, goods, or services necessary to the health, safety, or welfare of an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Net proceeds: means the gross amount received by the seller on account of the sale of any assets (i) less costs incurred on behalf of the seller in connection with such sale and (ii), if after the sale the sold assets will be used by an entity other than a state agency or instrumentality or a local governmental entity in a governmental activity and debt obligations financed any portion of the sold assets and any amount of such obligations is outstanding at the time of the sale, less the amount necessary to provide for the payment or redemption of the portion of such outstanding obligations that financed the sold assets, which amount shall be used to pay or redeem such obligations or shall be transferred to the third party issuer of the obligations for a use permitted in accordance with such obligations. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Otherwise disabled person: means any person who has a physical, sensory, intellectual, developmental, or mental disability or a mental illness. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Parent: includes parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person standing in loco parentis. See Virginia Code 16.1-278.1
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Person with a disability: means any person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his major life activities or who has a record of such impairment. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. ^Source:
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Presentence report: A report prepared by a court's probation officer, after a person has been convicted of an offense, summarizing for the court the background information needed to determine the appropriate sentence. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Public facilities: means (i) airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities; (ii) educational facilities; (iii) flood control, bank and shore protection, watershed protection, and dams; (iv) hospital facilities; (v) judicial and court facilities; (vi) correctional facilities, including jails and penitentiaries; (vii) library facilities; (viii) military installations; (ix) parks so designated by the Commonwealth or by the locality in its comprehensive plan; (x) properties of historical significance so designated by the Commonwealth; (xi) law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and rescue facilities; (xii) sanitary sewer, water or stormwater facilities; (xiii) transportation facilities including highways, roads, streets, and bridges, traffic signals, related easements and rights-of-way, mass transit, ports, and any components of federal, state, or local transportation facilities; (xiv) waste management facilities for hazardous, radioactive, or other waste; (xv) office facilities occupied by a public corporation; and (xvi) such other facilities that are necessary to the construction, maintenance, or operation of a public facility as listed in clauses (i) through (xv) and directly related thereto. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• Qualified residential treatment program: means a program that (i) provides 24-hour residential placement services for children in foster care; (ii) has adopted a trauma-informed treatment model that meets the clinical and other needs of children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders, including any clinical or other needs identified through assessments conducted pursuant to clause (viii) of this definition; (iii) employs registered or licensed nursing and other clinical staff who provide care, on site and within the scope of their practice, and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; (iv) conducts outreach with the child's family members, including efforts to maintain connections between the child and his siblings and other family; documents and maintains records of such outreach efforts; and maintains contact information for any known biological family and fictive kin of the child; (v) whenever appropriate and in the best interest of the child, facilitates participation by family members in the child's treatment program before and after discharge and documents the manner in which such participation is facilitated; (vi) provides discharge planning and family-based aftercare support for at least six months after discharge; (vii) is licensed in accordance with 42 U. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Qualifying borrower: means any person who demonstrates that a loan made pursuant to this chapter will assist one or more persons with disabilities to improve their independence or become more productive members of the community. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Service area: means the city or county or combination of cities and counties or counties or cities that is served by a community services board or behavioral health authority or the cities and counties that are served by a state facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Service dog: means a dog trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a mobility-impaired or otherwise disabled person. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Shelter care: means the temporary care of children in physically unrestricting facilities. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 1-206
• State Board: means the State Board of Juvenile Justice. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• State hospital: means a hospital, psychiatric institute, or other institution operated by the Department that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Status offender: means a child who commits an act prohibited by law which would not be criminal if committed by an adult. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Substance abuse: means the use of drugs, enumerated in the Virginia Drug Control Act (§ 54. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Three-unit service dog team: means a team consisting of a trained service dog, a person with a disability, and a person who is an adult and who has been trained to handle the service dog. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• Training center: means a facility operated by the Department that provides training, habilitation, or other individually focused supports to persons with intellectual disability. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Violent juvenile felony: means any of the delinquent acts enumerated in subsection B or C of § 16. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.