Illinois Administrative Code › Title 89 - SOCIAL SERVICES › Part 301 - PLACEMENT AND VISITATION SERVICES › Subpart A - PLACEMENT SERVICES › Section 301.20 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
"Administrative case review" or "ACR" means case reviews
				  required by
				  42
				  USC 675(1) and 20 ILCS
				  505/6a.
"Child only standard of need" means the assistance standard
				  for cases in which no adult member is included, as established by the Illinois
				  Department of Human Services in 89 Ill. Adm. Code 111 (Assistance
				  Standards).
"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 signed an
				  adoptive surrender or voluntary placement agreement with the Department.
"Contact between siblings" means contact 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.
"Department" as used in this Part, means the Department of
				  Children and Family Services.
"Diligent search", as used in this Part, means the efforts
				  used by the Department to find a joint placement for siblings who must be
				  placed apart from their families. Diligent search is further defined in Section
				  301.70(f).
"Family" means one or more adults and children, related by
				  blood, marriage, civil union or adoption and residing in the same
				  household.
"Father" means
the parent-child relationship is
				  established between a man and a child by:
An unrebutted presumption of the man's parentage of
				  the child under Section 204 of the Illinois Parentage Act of 2015
[
				  750 ILCS 46 ] (Parentage Act)
;
An effective voluntary acknowledgment of paternity by
				  the man under Article 3 of the Parentage Act, unless the acknowledgment has
				  been rescinded or successfully challenged;
An adjudication of the man's
				  parentage;
Adoption of the child by the man; or
A valid gestational surrogacy arrangement that
				  complies with the Gestational Surrogacy Act
[ 750 ILCS 47 ]
or
				  other law.
[
				  750 ILCS
				  46/201(b) ]
AGENCY NOTE: When paternity has been established, the
				  relatives of the biological father, as well as those of the mother, may be
				  considered for the placement of related children.
"Federally-funded foster care" means foster care maintenance
				  payments made in accordance with Title IV-E of the Social Security Act for
				  which federal matching grants are received.
"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
[ 705 ILCS 405
				  ]
, 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) ]
"Foster care payment" means the amount paid by the Department
				  for a child's room, board, clothing, and personal allowance in a licensed
				  foster family home.
"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 the 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 Section
				  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 Section
				  301.80
				  (Relative Home Placement) must be met.
"Joint placement", in the context of sibling placement, means
				  the siblings are placed in the same substitute care setting.
"LEADS" means Law Enforcement Agency Data System.
"Parents" means the child's legal parents whose parental
				  rights have not been terminated. Biological fathers are considered legal
				  parents when paternity has been established as required by the definition of
				  "father" in this Section.
"Permanency goal" means the desired outcome of intervention
				  and service, which is determined to be consistent with the health, safety,
				  well-being, and best interests of the child. A permanent legal status is
				  usually a component of the permanency goal.
"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
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.
"Permanent family placement" means placement in a foster
				  family home or a relative home that is intended to last until the child reaches
				  age 21 or until the child is capable of self-sufficiency. The Department may
				  retain guardianship of the child or the foster parent or relative may assume
				  guardianship of the child.
"Permanent legal status" means a legally binding relationship
				  between a child and a family as established by birth or a court of law.
"Placement Clearance Process" means the approval of a child's
				  placement in foster care or unlicensed relative care from the Placement
				  Clearance Unit.
"Placement decision" means the decision made by the
				  Department, within 90 days after the initial placement of a child with a
				  relative, to leave or remove the child in the relative home based on the
				  evaluation of the results of the criminal background check of the relative and
				  household members and based on the best interest of the child.
"Placing worker" means the Child Protection Specialist,
				  Permanency Worker or Intact Family Worker with responsibility to select the
				  substitute care placement for a child.
"Region" means Cook County or any of the downstate Department
				  of Children and Family Services regions.
"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; or
is the spouse
, or party to a civil union,
of such a relative; or
is the child's step-father, step-mother,
				  step-grandfather, step-grandmother, or adult step-brother or step-sister;
				  or
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) ]
"Residential facility", for the purposes of the Aristotle P.
				  Consent Decree, means all non-foster care or relative home care
				  placements.
"Service plan" means a written plan on a form prescribed by
				  the Department in the plan toward the permanency goal for the children required
				  by 42 USC
				  675(5), 325 ILCS 5/8.2, and
				  89 Ill. Adm. Code 315 (Permanency Planning).
"Siblings" means 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.
"Substitute care" means the care of children who require
				  placement away from their families. Substitute care includes foster family
				  care, care of a child for whom the Department is legally responsible provided
				  in a relative family home, care provided in a group home, and care provided in
				  a child care or other institution.
"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.).
"Voluntary placement agreement" means a time-limited written
				  request and consent from a parent, guardian or legal custodian of a child for
				  placement of the child out of the home. When signed by designated Department
				  staff, the Department agrees to provide child welfare services which include
				  placement.