Illinois Administrative Code › Title 89 - SOCIAL SERVICES › Part 404 - LICENSING STANDARDS FOR CHILD CARE INSTITUTIONS AND MATERNITY CENTERS › Section 404.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
"Access to children" means an employee's job
				duties require that the employee be present in a licensed child care facility
				during the hours that children are present in the facility. In addition, any
				person who is permitted to be alone outside the visual or auditory supervision
				of facility staff with children receiving care in a licensed child care
				facility is subject to the background check requirements of this Part.
"Appropriate activities" means activities or items that are generally
				accepted as suitable for children of the same chronological age or
				developmental level of maturity. Appropriateness is based on the development of
				cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacity that is typical for an
				age or age group, taking into account the individual child's cognitive,
				emotional, physical, and behavioral development. [
				20
				ILCS 505/7.3a ]
"Background check"
				means:
a criminal history check via fingerprints of persons age 18
				and over that are submitted to the Illinois State Police and Federal Bureau of
				Investigation (FBI) for comparison to their criminal history records, as
				appropriate; and
a check of the Statewide Automated Child Welfare
				Information System (SACWIS) and other state child protection systems, as
				appropriate, to determine whether an individual is currently alleged or has
				been indicated as a perpetrator of child abuse or neglect; and
a
				check of the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.
"Caregiver" means a
				licensed foster parent or unlicensed relative caregiver who provides care for a
				child in DCFS custody or guardianship, or a designated official employed by and
				present at the licensed child care facility in which a child in DCFS custody or
				guardianship is placed. For purposes of this Part, the "caregiver" for a youth
				under 18 years of age in a child care institution or maternity center is
				assigned or designated staff of that facility.
"Child" means any
				person under 18 years of age. (Section 2.01 of the Child Care Act of 1969 [
				225 ILCS 10/2.01 ])
"Child care institution" means a child care facility where more than 7
				children are received and maintained for the purpose of providing them with
				care or training or both. The term "child care institution" includes
				residential schools, primarily serving ambulatory handicapped children, and
				those operating a full calendar year, but does not include:
any
				State-operated institution for child care established by legislative
				action;
any juvenile detention or shelter care home established
				and operated by any county or child protection district;
any
				institution, home, place or facility operating under a license pursuant to the
				Nursing Home Care Act [ 210 ILCS 45 ];
any bona fide boarding
				school in which children are primarily taught branches of education
				corresponding to those taught in public schools, grades one through 12, or
				elementary and high schools, and which operates on a regular academic school
				year basis;
any facility licensed as a "group home" as defined in
				the Child Care Act of 1969 (Section 2.06 of the Child Care Act of 1969);
				or
for purposes of this Part, forestry camps, training schools or
				any facility operated primarily for the detention of children who are
				determined to be delinquent.
"Child with a disability" means a
				child up to the age of 22 years old with mental retardation, hearing
				impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual
				impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (hereinafter
				referred to as emotional disturbance), orthopedic impairments, autism,
				traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning
				disabilities; and who, due to these conditions, needs special education and
				related services. (Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement
				Act of 2004;
				34 CFR
				300.8 )
"Conditional employee"
				means an individual (including any substitute or assistant) who has applied for
				and been conditionally selected to perform child care functions or
				administrative, professional, or support functions that allow access to
				children, as defined in this Section, and who has commenced those duties while
				awaiting the results of the background check required by this Part.
"Deemed status" means the Department has approved an institution or
				maternity center as in compliance with the requirements of this Part because
				the institution or maternity center:
has received full
				accreditation status from the Council on Accreditation for Children and Family
				Services (2001 Standards); and
during the past 4 years, has been
				cited with no substantiated licensing violations that affect the health,
				safety, morals, or welfare of children it serves.
"Department" or
				"DCFS" means the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. (Section
				2.02 of the Child Care Act of 1969)
"Employee" means any staff
				person employed by a child care facility, and includes any substitute or
				assistant. This definition includes administrative, professional and other
				support staff who have access to children.
"Initial background
				check" means the individual has cleared a check of the Statewide Automated
				Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) and the Illinois Sex Offender
				Registry.
"License" means a document issued by the Department that
				authorizes child care facilities to operate in accordance with applicable
				standards and the provisions of the Child Care Act of 1969.
"License applicant", for purposes of background checks, means the
				operator or person with direct responsibility for daily operation of the
				facility to be licensed. (Section 4.4 of the Child Care Act of 1969)
"Licensee" means those individuals, agencies or organizations who hold a
				license or permit issued by the Department.
"Licensing
				representative" means persons authorized by the Department under the Child Care
				Act of 1969 to examine facilities for licensure.
"Maternity
				center" means a facility in which any person, agency or corporation, other than
				one licensed as a foster family home or group home under the Child Care Act of
				1969, receives, treats or cares for one or more unwed pregnant girls under 18
				years of age, except that the term does not include any facility licensed under
				the Hospital Licensing Act. (Section 2.07 of the Child Care Act of 1969)
"Medical examination" means a physical examination conducted by a Medical
				Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine licensed to practice medicine in the
				State of Illinois, an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) or Physician Assistant
				(PA). The medical examination must be documented on forms prescribed by the
				Department and signed and dated by the examining practitioner.
"Normalcy parenting" means empowering a caregiver to approve or not
				approve a child's or youth's participation in appropriate extracurricular
				activities based on the caregiver's own assessment using the reasonable and
				prudent parent standard, without prior approval of the Department, the
				permanency worker or the court. The goal of normalcy parenting and the
				reasonable and prudent parent standard is to allow the child's participation in
				extracurricular, enrichment, cultural and social activities that are
				appropriate for the child's normal growth and development.
"Permit" means a one-time only document issued by the Department for a 6
				month period to allow the individual, agency or organization to become eligible
				for a license.
"Persons subject to background checks"
				means:
the operator of the child care facility; and
all current and conditional employees of the child care facility;
				and
any person who is used to replace or supplement staff;
				and
any person who has access to children, as defined in 89 Ill.
				Adm. Code
				385.20 (Background
				Checks).
If the child care facility operates in a family home, the
				license applicant and all members of the household age 13 and over are subject
				to background checks, as appropriate, even if these members of the household
				are not usually present in the home during the hours the child care facility is
				in operation.
"Reasonable and prudent parent standard" means the
				standard, characterized by careful and sensible parental decisions that
				maintain the health, safety, and best interests of a child while at the same
				time encouraging the emotional and developmental growth of the child, that a
				caregiver shall use when determining whether to allow a child in foster care
				under the responsibility of the State to participate in extracurricular,
				enrichment, cultural, and social activities.
"Replacement or
				supplemental staff" means any paid or unpaid individual who is used to perform
				essential staff duties as evidenced by being counted in the staff-child ratio
				or being permitted to be alone with children in a licensed child care facility
				outside the visual or auditory supervision of facility staff.
"SACWIS" means the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System
				operated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family
				Services.