Illinois Administrative Code › Title 89 - SOCIAL SERVICES › Part 300 - REPORTS OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT › Section 300.20 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
"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.).