Illinois Administrative Code › Title 89 - SOCIAL SERVICES › Part 385 - BACKGROUND CHECKS › Section 385.20 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
"Access to children" means a child care facility employee's
				duties that require the employee to 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 and
				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.
"Adult" means any person who is 18 years of age or
				older.
"Assistant" or "child care assistant" means a person whose
				credentials have been evaluated and approved by the DCFS Licensing Division for
				the purpose of assisting a licensed home caregiver in the operation of the day
				care home, group day care home, or foster family home.
"Authorization for background check" means a complete, signed
				form prescribed by the Department which authorizes a background check as
				defined in this Part and submission of fingerprints, if required. An
				authorization for a background check may be used for the initial and all
				subsequent background checks required to determine compliance with the
				requirements of this Part.
"Background check" means:
a criminal history check via fingerprints of persons age 18 and
				over that are submitted to the Illinois State Police (ISP) and the Federal
				Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for comparison to their criminal history records
				or the National Crime Information Database (NCID) when applicable for
				prospective foster and adoptive parents; and
a check of the Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking
				System/Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (CANTS/SACWIS) and
				other state child protection systems, and the National Registry 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 and National Sex Offender
				Registries.
"Child" means any person under 18 years of
				age.
(Section 2.01 of the Child Care Act)
"Child Care Act" means the Illinois Child Care Act of 1969 [225
				ILCS 10].
"Child care facility" means any person, group of
				persons, agency, association or organization, 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, established and maintained for the care of
				children. "Child care facility" includes a relative who is licensed or who
				applies for a license as a foster family home under
Section 4 of the
				Child Care Act. (Section 2.05 of the Child Care Act) A child care facility also
				means those facilities described in the Child Care Act, including any child
				care institution, maternity center, child welfare agency, day care center, day
				care agency, group home, foster family home, day care home, group day care
				home, partially exempt secure child care facility, or youth emergency
				shelter.
"Conditional employee" means an individual (including any
				volunteer, unlicensed contractual employee, 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 and who has commenced such duties while awaiting the results of the
				background check required by this Part.
"Conviction" means a judgment of conviction or sentence
				entered upon a plea of guilty or upon a verdict or finding of guilty of an
				offense, rendered by a legally constituted jury or by a court of competent
				jurisdiction authorized to try the case without a jury.
(Section 2-5
				of the Criminal Code of 2012 [720 ILCS
				5/2-5])
"Denial of application for license" means the refusal to grant
				a license or permit to a person, group of persons, agency, association or
				organization that applied for a license to operate a child care
				facility.
"Department" or "DCFS" means the Illinois Department of
				Children and Family Services.
(Section 2.02 of the Child Care
				Act)
"Director" means the Director of the Illinois Department of
				Children and Family Services.
"Employee" means any staff person employed by a child care
				facility, including any volunteer, unlicensed contractual employee, substitute,
				or assistant and other support staff who have access to children.
"Final placement decision" means the decision made by the
				Department, within 90 days, including background check results, 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
				interests of the child.
"Governing body" means the board of directors of a corporation;
				otherwise, the term means the owners or other persons, agency, association or
				organization legally responsible for the operation of the child care
				facility.
"Illinois Sex Offender Registry" means the registry of any
				person convicted of a felony sex crime or an attempt to commit a felony sex
				crime operated and maintained by the Illinois State Police.
"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.
"License applicant" means
, for purposes of
				background checks,
the operator or person with direct responsibility
				for daily operation of the facility to be licensed.
(Section 4.4 of
				the Child Care Act)
"Licensing entity" means the Department or a supervising agency
				recommending the license or processing the employment application.
"Licensing representative" means a person authorized by the
				Department under the Child Care Act to examine facilities for licensure.
"Member of the household" means a person of any age whose legal
				residence is at a licensed foster home, day care home or group day care home,
				or any adult who stays in the home on a regular or part-time basis, including
				paramours.
"Minor traffic violation" means a traffic violation under the
				laws of the State of Illinois or any municipal authority therein or another
				state or municipal authority that is punishable solely as a petty offense.
				(Section 6-601 of the Illinois Driver Licensing Law [625
				ILCS 5/6-601])
"Multi-function agency" means an agency, association, or other
				organization that operates a child care facility, child welfare agency, or day
				care agency in addition to other services not subject to licensure under the
				Child Care Act. A child care facility, child welfare agency, or day care agency
				may consist of distinct units, divisions, or departments of a multi-function
				agency. In a multi-function agency, only the persons with direct authority for
				the operations of the child care facility and those who have access to
				children, as defined in this Section, are subject to the background check
				requirements of this Part.
"National Crime Information Database" or "NCID" means the
				National Crime Information Center and its incorporated criminal history
				databases.
"National Registry" means an electronic national registry of
				substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect supplied by the states, created
				by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the
				U.S. Attorney General.
"National Sex Offender Registry" means an electronic national
				registry, operated and maintained by the United States Department of Justice,
				of any person convicted of a felony sex crime or an attempt to commit a felony
				sex crime in any state.
"Non-Licensed Service Provider"
means an individual or
				entity that contracts with the
Department
to provide child
				welfare services that enable the
Department
to perform its
				duties under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act
[325 ILCS
				5]
, the Child Care Act, and the Children and Family Services
				Act
[20 ILCS 505]. [225 ILCS
				10/2.28] It also includes a person who provides child
				care in their home to a child for whom the Department is legally responsible on
				a weekly basis, such as weekly or several times per week, and caring for no
				more than 3 children under the age of 12 or receives only children from a
				single household for less than 24 hours per day. The three children include the
				family's own children or adopted children and any other persons under the age
				of 12, whether related or unrelated to the service provider. (See 89 Ill. Adm.
				Code
				377.3(d))
"Operator" means any person responsible for the day-to-day
				management of the child facility.
"Parental involvement" means parental assistance with a child
				care program such as participation in field trips, parties, attendance on
				special days for special events, or parental support and cooperation in the
				classroom.
"Persons subject to background checks" means:
the operators of the child care facility;
all current and conditional employees of the child care
				facility;
all direct child welfare agency employees (see 89 Ill. Adm.
				Code 412);
any person who is used to replace or supplement staff;
any person who has access to children, as defined in this
				Section;
any person, including non-licensed service providers, who
				provides services that allow unsupervised access to children if the requirement
				for background checks is a condition of a contract or agreement or is required
				otherwise under 89 Ill. Adm. Code 357 (Purchase of Service); and
volunteers who have unsupervised contact with children.
If the child care facility operates in a family home, the
				license applicants and all members and prospective members of the household age
				13 and over are subject to background checks, even if these members of the
				household are not usually present in the home during the hours the child care
				facility is in operation.
Non-licensed service providers who, on a regular basis, provide
				care in the provider's home to a child for whom the Department is legally
				responsible and all members of the household age 13 or over are subject to
				background checks.
For a final placement decision in a relative home, the relative
				and all members of the household age 18 and over are subject to criminal
				background checks (see
				20
				ILCS 505/5 (v-1)).
"POS" means point of
				service.
"Presumption of Unsuitability" means a licensee,
				applicant for licensure, or a member of the applicant's or licensee's household
				that has been:
indicated as a perpetrator of neglect and/or abuse
				that resulted in a 20- or 50-year retention; or
indicated as a
				perpetrator on two separate child protection investigations, each with 5-year
				retentions.
"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 allowed 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 Department,
				replacing CANTS.
"Seasonal child care program" means a child care
				facility that operates a seasonal program that is subject to licensing by the
				Department.
"State Central Register" means the child abuse and
				neglect data system maintained by the Department pursuant to the Abused and
				Neglected Child Reporting Act [325 ILCS 40].
"Supervising agency"
				means a licensed child welfare agency, a licensed day care agency, a
				license-exempt agency, or the Department.
"Work-Study student"
				means a fulltime or parttime undergraduate, graduate or professional student
				participating in the Federal Work-Study Program administered through their
				school's financial aid office.