Definitions

Section 300 Section 300.20  Definitions "Abandonment" means parental conduct that demonstrates the purpose of relinquishing all parental rights and claims to the child.  Abandonment is also defined as any parental conduct that evinces a settled purpose to forego all parental duties and relinquish all parental claims to the child. "Abused child" means a child whose parent or immediate family member, or any person responsible for the child's welfare, or any individual residing in the same home as the child, or a paramour of the child's parent: inflicts, causes to be inflicted, or allows to be inflicted upon such child physical or mental injury, by other than accidental means, which causes death, disfigurement, impairment of physical or emotional health, or loss or impairment of any bodily function; creates a substantial risk of physical or mental injury to such child by other than accidental means which would be likely to cause death, disfigurement, impairment of physical or emotional health, or loss of or impairment of any bodily function; commits or allows to be committed any sex offense against such child, as such sex offenses are defined in the Criminal Code of 2012 [720 ILCS 5] or in the Wrongs to Children Act [720 ILCS 150] , and extending those definitions of sex offenses to include children under 18 years of age; commits or allows to be committed an act or acts of torture upon such child; inflicts excessive corporal punishment; commits or allows to be committed the offense of female genital mutilation, as defined in Section 12-34 of the Criminal Code of 2012 , against the child; causes to be sold, transferred, distributed, or given to such child under 18 years of age, a controlled substance as defined in Section 102 of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act [720 ILCS 570] in violation of Article IV of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act or in violation of the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act [720 ILCS 646] , except for controlled substances that are prescribed in accordance with Article III of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act and are dispensed to such child in a manner that substantially complies with the prescription; or commits or allows to be committed the offense of involuntary servitude, involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, or trafficking in persons for forced labor or services as defined in Section 10-9 of the Criminal Code of 2012 against the child. A child shall not be considered abused for the sole reason that the child has been relinquished in accordance with the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act [325 ILCS 2]. [325 ILCS 5/3] "Act" means the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act [325 ILCS 5]. "Blatant disregard" means an incident where the real, significant, and imminent risk of harm would be so obvious to a reasonable parent or caretaker that it is unlikely that a reasonable parent or caretaker would have exposed the child to the danger without exercising precautionary measures to protect the child from harm. [325 ILCS 5/3] "CANTS/SACWIS 8" or "C/S8" means the Department's document titled Notification of a Report of Suspected Child Abuse and/or Neglect. This document explains the Department's child abuse/neglect allegation investigation process. "CANTS/SACWIS 9" or "C/S9" means the Department's document titled Notification of Intent to Indicate Child Care Worker for Report of Child Abuse and/or Neglect. This document is used to notify a person that the Department plans to indicate that person as a perpetrator of child abuse/neglect. "CANTS/SACWIS 10" or "C/S10" means the Department's document titled Notice of Intent to Indicate a Child Care Worker for Report of Child Abuse and/or Neglect-Questions and Answers. This is an informational document explaining the impact of a determination of indicated child abuse/neglect and the appeal process. "CANTS/SACWIS 11" or "C/S11" means the Department's document titled Notification of Indicated Decision in an Employment Related Report of Suspected Child Abuse and/or Neglect. This is the document by which the Department notifies a person that the Department has determined that there is credible evidence that he or she is responsible for the child abuse or neglect described in that document. "Caregiver" means the child's parents, guardian, custodian or relative with whom the child lives and who has primary responsibility for the care and supervision of the child. "Child" means any person under the age of 18 years, unless legally emancipated by reason of marriage or entry into a branch of the United States armed services .  [325 ILCS 5/3] "Child care facility" means any person, group of persons, agency, association, organization, corporation, institution, center or group, whether established for gain or otherwise, who or which receives or arranges for care or placement of one or more children, unrelated to the operator of the facility, apart from the parents, with or without the transfer of the right of custody in any facility as defined in the Child Care Act of 1969 [225 ILCS 10] , established and maintained for the care of children. "Child care facility" includes a relative who is licensed as a foster family home under Section 4 of the Child Care Act of 1969. [225 ILCS 10/2.05] "Child care worker" means any person who is employed to work directly with children and any person who is an owner/operator of a child care facility, regardless of whether the facility is licensed by the Department. Child care facilities, for purposes of this definition, include child care institutions; child welfare agencies; day care/night care centers; day care/night care homes; day care/night care group day care homes; group homes; hospitals or health care facilities; schools, including school teachers and administrators, but not tenured school teachers or administrators who have other disciplinary processes available to them; and before and after school programs, recreational programs and summer camps. "Child care worker" also means persons employed as full-time nannies. A child care worker may, at his or her discretion, be subject to this Part if alleged to be responsible for child abuse or neglect outside of his or her employment. "Child care worker" includes a person: currently employed as a child care worker; currently enrolled in an academic program that leads to a position as a child care worker; or who has applied for a license required for a child care worker position.  A person will be considered to be "employed as a child care worker" under this Part if, at the time of the notice of the investigation, he or she: has applied for, or will apply within 180 days for, a position as a child care worker; is enrolled in, or will commence within 180 days, an academic program that leads to a position as a child care worker; or has applied for a license as a child care worker. "Child-placing agency" means a licensed public or private agency that receives a child for the purpose of placing or arranging for the placement of the child in a foster family home or other facility for child care, apart from the custody of the child's parents. [325 ILCS 2/10] "Child Protective Service Unit" or "CPS" means certain specialized State employees of the Department assigned by the Director or his or her designee to perform the duties and responsibilities described under this Part. [325 ILCS 5/3]  CPS staff are also referred to as child protection staff. "Children for whom the Department is legally responsible" means children for whom the Department has temporary protective custody, custody or guardianship via court order, or children whose parents have signed an adoptive surrender or voluntary placement agreement with the Department. "CPSW" means a Child Protective Service Worker. "Collateral contact" means obtaining information concerning a child, parent, or other person responsible for the child from a person who has knowledge of the family situation but was not directly involved in referring the child or family to the Department for services. "Contact between siblings" means contact between or among siblings who are residing apart from one another, and may include, but is not limited to:  telephone calls; video conferencing; in person visitation; sending/receiving cards, letters, emails, text messages, gifts, etc.; sharing photographs or information; use of any approved social media (e.g., Facebook); and any other agreed upon forms of communication technology. "Credible evidence of child abuse or neglect" means that the available facts, when viewed in light of surrounding circumstances, would cause a reasonable person to believe that a child was abused or neglected. "Delegation of an investigation" means the investigation of a report of child abuse or neglect has been deferred to another authority.  The Department maintains responsibility for determining whether the report is indicated or unfounded, entering information about the report in the State Central Register and notifying the subjects of the report and mandated reporters of the results of the investigation. "Department" or "DCFS" means the Department of Children and Family Services. "Determination" means a final Department decision about whether there is credible evidence that child abuse or neglect occurred.  A determination must be either "indicated" or "unfounded". "DR Specialist" means a Differential Response Specialist as described in Section 300.45(e)(1). "Disfigurement" means a serious or protracted blemish, scar, or deformity that spoils a person's appearance or limits bodily functions. "Ecomap" means a pictorial representation of family connections to different systems and community and other resources to identify significant people and/or systems around the family to illustrate the strengths, impact and quality of each connection. (Hartman, A., Diagrammatic Assessment of Family Relationships. Social Casework, 59, 465-476 (1978).) "Emergency medical facility" means a freestanding emergency center or trauma center, as defined in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act [210 ILCS 50] . [325 ILCS 2/10] "Emergency medical professional" includes licensed physicians, and any emergency medical technician-basic, emergency medical technician-intermediate, emergency medical technician-paramedic, trauma nurse specialist, and pre-hospital RN, as defined in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act. [325 ILCS 2/10] "Fictive kin" means any individual, unrelated by birth or marriage, who: is shown to have significant and close personal or emotional ties with the child or the child's family prior to the child's placement with the individual; or is the current foster parent of a child in the custody or guardianship of the Department pursuant to the Child and Family Services Act and the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 , if the child has been placed in the home for at least one year and has established a significant and family-like relationship with the foster parent, and the foster parent has been identified by the Department as the child's permanent connection . [20 ILCS 505/7(b)] "Fire station" means a fire station within the State with at least one staff person. [325 ILCS 2/10] "Formal investigation" means those activities conducted by Department child protection staff necessary to make a determination as to whether a report of suspected child abuse or neglect is indicated or unfounded.  Those activities shall include: direct contact with the subject or subjects of the report as soon as possible after the report is received; an evaluation of the environment of the child named in the report and any other children in the same environment; a determination of the risk to such children if they continue to remain in the existing environments, as well as a determination of the nature, extent and cause of any condition enumerated in such report; the name, age and condition of other children in the environment; and an evaluation as to whether there would be an immediate and urgent necessity to remove the child from the environment if appropriate family preservation services were provided. After seeing to the safety of the child or children, the Department shall forthwith notify the subjects of the report, in writing, of the existence of the report and their rights existing under the Act in regard to amendment or expungement. [325 ILCS 5/7.4(b)(3)] "Genogram" means a pictorial representation of an individual's family relationships. "Godparent" is a person who sponsors a child at baptism or one in whom the parents have entrusted a special duty that includes assisting in raising a child if the parent cannot raise the child.  If the person is considered to be the child's godparent, in order for placement to occur, the same placement selection criteria as contained in 89 Ill. Adm. Code 301.60 (Placement Selection Criteria) must be met.  If the godparent is not a licensed foster parent, all the conditions currently in effect for placement with relatives in 89 Ill. Adm. Code 301.80 (Relative Home Placement) must be met. "Hospital" has the same meaning as in the Hospital Licensing Act [210 ILCS 85]. "Indicated report" means any report of child abuse or neglect made to the Department for which it is determined, after an investigation, that credible evidence of the alleged abuse or neglect exists. "Initial investigation" means those activities conducted by Department child protection staff to determine whether a report of suspected child abuse or neglect is a good faith indication of abuse or neglect and, therefore, requires a formal investigation.  Good faith in this context means that the report was made with the honest intention to identify actual child abuse or neglect. "Initial oral report" means a report alleging child abuse or neglect for which the State Central Register has no prior records on the family. "Involved subject" means a child who is the alleged victim of child abuse or neglect or a person who is the alleged perpetrator of the child abuse or neglect. "Legal custody" means the relationship created by a court order in the best interest of a newborn infant that imposes on the infant's custodian the responsibility of physical possession of the infant, the duty to protect, train, and discipline the infant, and the duty to provide the infant with food, shelter, education, and medical care, except as these are limited by parental rights and responsibilities. [325 ILCS 2/10] "Local law enforcement agency" means the police of a city, town, village or other incorporated area or the sheriff of an unincorporated area or any sworn officer of the Illinois Department of State Police. "Mandated reporters" means those individuals required to report suspected child abuse or neglect to the Department.  A list of these persons and their associated responsibilities is provided in Section 300.30. "Member of the clergy" means a clergyman or practitioner of any religious denomination accredited by the religious body to which he or she belongs. [325 ILCS 5/3] "Neglected child" means any child: who is not receiving the proper or necessary nourishment or medically indicated treatment, including food or care, not provided solely on the basis of present or anticipated mental or physical impairment as determined by a physician acting alone or in consultation with other physicians or otherwise is not receiving the proper or necessary support, or medical or other remedial care recognized under State law as necessary for a child's well-being (including when there is harm or substantial risk of harm to the child's health or welfare) , or other care necessary for a child's well-being, including adequate food, clothing and shelter; or who is subjected to an environment that is injurious insofar as: the child's environment creates a likelihood of harm to the child's health, physical well-being, or welfare; and the likely harm to the child is the result of a blatant disregard of parent or caretaker responsibilities; or who is abandoned by his or her parents or other person responsible for the child's welfare without a proper plan of care; or who has been provided with interim crisis intervention services under Section 3-5 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 [705 ILCS 405/3-5] and whose parent, guardian, or custodian refuses to permit the child to return home and no other living arrangement agreeable to the parent, guardian, or custodian can be made, and the parent, guardian, or custodian has not made any other appropriate living arrangement for the child; or who is a newborn infant whose blood, urine or meconium contains any amount of controlled substance as defined in Section 102(f) of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act [720 ILCS 570/102(f)] or a metabolite thereof, with the exception of a controlled substance or metabolite thereof whose presence in the newborn infant is the result of medical treatment administered to the mother or newborn infant. A child shall not be considered neglected for the sole reason that the child's parent or other person responsible for his or her welfare has left the child in the care of an adult relative for any period of time . A child shall not be considered neglected for the sole reason that the child has been relinquished in accordance with the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act [325 ILCS 5] . A child shall not be considered neglected or abused for the sole reason that such child's parent or other person responsible for his or her welfare depends upon spiritual means through prayer alone for the treatment or cure of disease or remedial care under Section 4 of the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. When the circumstances indicate harm or substantial risk of harm to the child's health or welfare and necessary medical care is not being provided to treat or prevent that harm or risk of harm because the parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare depends upon spiritual means alone for treatment or cure, the child is subject to the requirements of the Act for the reporting of, investigation of, and provision of protective services with respect to the child and his or her health needs, and in such cases spiritual means through prayer alone for the treatment or cure of disease or for remedial care will not be recognized as a substitute for necessary medical care, if the Department or, as necessary, a juvenile court determines that medical care is necessary. A child shall not be considered neglected or abused solely because the child is not attending school in accordance with the requirements of Article 26 of the School Code [105 ILCS 5] . [325 ILCS 5/3] "Newborn infant" means a child who a licensed physician reasonably believes is 30 days old or less at the time the child is initially relinquished to a hospital, police station, fire station, or emergency medical facility, and who is not an abused or a neglected child. [325 ILCS 2/10] "Permanent connection" means a family-like relationship, consistent with a child's best interests, health, safety and well-being, that provides: safe, stable and committed parenting; unconditional love and lifelong support; and a permanent legal status between child and family. For a child for whom the Department is legally responsible, a permanent connection may be the child's parents or another caregiver in the child's home of origin. When the child cannot be safely returned home, a permanent connection may be the current or former foster parent or relative caregiver, an individual identified as an adoptive or legal guardianship placement resource, or another individual from among the child's or family's lifelong connections with whom a child has developed a familial relationship. "Perpetrator" means a person who, as a result of investigation, has been determined by the Department to have caused child abuse or neglect . "Person responsible for the child's welfare" means: the child's parent, guardian, foster parent or relative caregiver; an operator, supervisor or employee of a public or private residential agency or institution or public or private profit or not-for-profit child care facility; or any other person responsible for the child's welfare at the time of the alleged abuse or neglect, including: any person that is the custodian of a child under 18 years of age who commits or allows to be committed, against the child, the offense of involuntary servitude, involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, or trafficking in persons for forced labor or services, as provided in Section 10-9 of the Criminal Code of 2012; or any person who came to know the child through an official capacity or position of trust, including but not limited to health care professionals, educational personnel, recreational supervisors, members of the clergy and volunteers or support personnel in any setting where children may be subject to abuse or neglect. [325 ILCS 5/3] "Police station" means: a municipal police station; a county sheriff's office; a campus police department located on any college or university owned or controlled by the State or any private college or private university that is not owned or controlled by the State when employees or the campus police department are present; or any of the district headquarters of the Illinois State Police. [325 ILCS 2/10] "Private guardianship" means an individual person appointed by the court to assume the responsibilities of the guardianship of the person as defined in Section 1-3 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 [705 ILCS 405/1-3] or Article XI of the Probate Act of 1975 [755 ILCS 5]. "Relative", for purposes of placement of children for whom the Department is legally responsible, means any person, 21 years of age or over, other than the parent, who: is currently related to the child in any of the following ways by blood or adoption:  grandparent, sibling, great-grandparent, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, first cousin, first cousin once removed (children of one's first cousin to oneself), second cousin (children of first cousins are second cousins to each other), godparent (as defined in this Section), great-uncle, or great-aunt; is the spouse , or party to a civil union, of such a relative; is the child's step-father, step-mother, step-grandfather, step-grandmother, or adult step-brother or step-sister; is the partner, or adult child of a partner, in a civil union with the child's mother or father; or is a fictive kin as defined in this Section. "Relative" also includes a person related in any of the foregoing ways to a sibling of a child, even though the person is not related to the child, when the child and its sibling are placed together with that person. For children who have been in the guardianship of the Department, have been adopted, and are subsequently returned to the temporary custody or guardianship of the Department, a "relative" may also include any person who would have qualified as a relative under this definition prior to the adoption, but only if the Department determines that it would be in the best interests of the child to consider this person a relative. [20 ILCS 505/7(b)] "Relinquish" means to bring a newborn infant, who a licensed physician reasonably believes is 30 days old or less, to a hospital, police station, fire station, or emergency medical facility and to leave the infant with personnel of the facility, if the person leaving the infant does not express an intent to return for the infant or states that he or she will not return for the infant.  In the case of a mother who gives birth to an infant in a hospital, the mother's act of leaving that newborn infant at the hospital: without expressing an intent to return for the infant; or stating that she will not return for the infant is not a "relinquishment" under the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act . [325 ILCS 2/10] "Siblings" mean children who have at least one parent in common.  Children continue to be considered siblings after parental rights are terminated, if parental rights were terminated while a petition under Article II of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 was pending.  Children continue to be considered siblings after one or more of the children are adopted or placed in private guardianship, if they were in the custody or guardianship of the Department pursuant to Article II of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 [705 ILCS 405] immediately prior to the adoption or guardianship. Step-siblings may be considered "siblings" when the children enter into substitute care together, have a positive relationship and share at least one parent in common. "Strengthening and Supporting Families service period" means a level of service intervention that will average 90 days, but no more than 120 days. "State Central Register" is the record of child abuse and/or neglect reports maintained by the Department pursuant to the Act. "Subject of a report" means any child reported to the child abuse/neglect State Central Register, and his or her parent, personal guardian or other person responsible for the child's welfare who is named in the report. "SSF worker" means a Strengthening and Supporting Families worker. "Temporary protective custody" means custody within a hospital or other medical facility or a place previously designated by the Department, subject to review by the Court.  Temporary protective custody cannot exceed 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. "Undetermined report" means any report of child abuse or neglect made to the Department in which it was not possible to complete an investigation within 60 days on the basis of information provided to the Department. "Unfounded report" means any report of child abuse or neglect for which it is determined, after an investigation, that no credible evidence of the alleged abuse or neglect exists. "Visitation" means face-to-face contact: between parents and their children who are in substitute care; between siblings in substitute care who are placed apart from one another; or between siblings in substitute care with siblings who are not in substitute care (e.g., emancipated, case closed due to independence, adopted, placed in private guardianship, living in home of parent, etc.).