Illinois Administrative Code › Title 89 - SOCIAL SERVICES › Part 431 - CONFIDENTIALITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OF PERSONS SERVED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES › Section 431.20 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
"ANCRA" means the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act [325
				ILCS 5 ].
"Case record or record" means the record maintained for a
				family service case, a child service case, or a payment/monitoring-only case,
				which may include the child abuse/neglect (CA/N) investigative file. The term
				"case record" applies to records maintained by the Department or a purchase of
				service agency responsible for case management regardless of whether the
				services were provided directly by Department staff or purchased from a private
				provider. The confidentiality of case record information and access to that
				information may differ, depending on the type of information sought.
"Case transfer" means the conveying of information from one
				Department region, site or field office to another; from one purchase of
				service agency to the Department or to another; from the Department to a
				purchase of service agency. A different worker is assigned when a case is
				transferred and those activities necessary to transfer case management
				responsibility for service delivery to a family and/or child from worker to
				worker or Department office to Department office or Department office to
				purchase of service agency or purchase of service agency to purchase of service
				agency are completed. Transfer includes physical delivery of the case record as
				necessary for service provision.
"Children for whom the Department is legally responsible" means
				children for whom the Department has temporary protective custody or custody or
				guardianship via court order, or children whose parents have signed an adoptive
				surrender or voluntary placement agreement with the Department.
"Court appointed special advocate" means a person appointed by
				a court to protect the minor's best interests and insure the proper delivery of
				child welfare services.
"Disclose" and "permit access to" means to release, transfer,
				permit examination of, or otherwise communicate information orally, in writing,
				by electronic means or in any other manner.
"Department" or "DCFS" means the Illinois Department of
				Children and Family Services.
"HIPAA" means the federal Health Insurance Portability and
				Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996,
				Public Law
				104-191, which amends the Internal Revenue Service
				Code of 1986 and includes a section on Administrative Simplification requiring
				the protection of confidentiality and security of health data through setting
				and enforcing standards that protect the confidentiality and integrity of
				"individually identifiable health information".
"Impound" means to seize and retain in legal custody during the
				pendency of an investigation and any disciplinary, civil or criminal actions
				that result from an investigation conducted pursuant to the authority of the
				DCFS-Office of the Inspector General.
"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.
"Mental health information" means records, reports or other
				information about the provision of mental health or developmental disability
				services as defined in the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities
				Confidentiality Act [740 ILCS 110 ].
"Minor" means any individual who has not reached his or her
				18th birthday.
"Person served by the Department" or "client" means any person
				who receives services or applies for services from the Department through its
				various offices. The term includes children for whom the Department is legally
				responsible, persons who involuntarily are investigated by the Department
				concerning allegations of child abuse or neglect and who may receive Department
				services during the course of, or subsequent to, the investigation, persons who
				are receiving Department services through an order of the court, and persons
				who voluntarily request services from the Department.
"Personal information" means any identifying information,
				excluding work products, that is a part of the permanent record and that
				describes, locates or indexes anything about an individual including, but not
				limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, criminal or
				employment records, registration or membership in an organization or activity,
				or admission to an institution. Personal information may be classified as
				mental health information, child abuse or neglect information, medical
				information, or other types of sensitive information and may be governed by
				different access, consent and disclosure requirements.
"Serious physical injury", for purposes of this Part, includes
				but is not limited to brain damage, skull fractures, subdural hematomas,
				internal injuries, wounds, third degree burns, multiple or spiral fractures,
				poisoning, or physical injury when evidence indicates the child has been
				tortured.
"State Central Register" means the specialized Department unit
				that receives and transmits reports of alleged child abuse and neglect.
"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.
"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.
"Work product", for the purposes of this Part, means a worker's
				notes that are not part of the permanent record and concern interviewing
				technique, strategies for working with a person served by the Department and
				personal observations; these notes are kept for the worker's own personal use
				and are not disclosed to any other person except the worker's supervisor or
				attorney.