Illinois Administrative Code › Title 89 - SOCIAL SERVICES › Part 402 - LICENSING STANDARDS FOR FOSTER FAMILY HOMES › Section 402.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
"Adoptive placement" means a living arrangement
				with a family that is directed toward establishing that family as the child's
				new legal parents. To be considered an adoptive placement, the child must be
				placed in a licensed foster family home or license exempt relative home for
				purposes of adoption and:
be legally free (parental rights have
				been terminated or both parents have surrendered their parental rights);
				or
be placed in a legal risk adoptive placement that has passed
				legal screening as described in 89 Ill. Adm. Code 309 (Adoption Services for
				Children for Whom the Department of Children and Family Services is Legally
				Responsible).
"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(b) ]
"Approved smoke detector" or "detector" means a smoke detector of
				the ionization or photoelectric type that complies with all the requirements of
				the rules and regulations of the Illinois State Fire Marshal.
[425 ILCS
				60/2 ]
"Approved in-service training"
				means:
Foster PRIDE module or other Department approved
				training;
foster parent conferences sponsored by the
				Department;
other conferences approved by the Department;
training provided under the auspices of a licensed child welfare agency
				when the agency's foster care program has been accredited by the Council on
				Accreditation of Services for Families and Children, Inc., 520 Eighth Avenue,
				Suite 2202B, New York NY 10018;
materials borrowed from the
				Department's Foster/Adoptive Parent Lending Libraries;
training
				toward first-aid, Heimlich maneuver, and/or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
				certification; or
other training, substantially meeting the
				Department's Foster PRIDE/Adopt PRIDE training, approved in writing by the
				Department of Children and Family Services.
"Background check"
				means:
Individuals 18 years of age or older:
a
				criminal history check via fingerprints that are submitted to the Illinois
				State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for comparison to
				their criminal history records, as appropriate; and
Individuals 13
				years of age or older:
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.
"Child" means
				any person under 18 years of age.
[225 ILCS
				10/2.01 ]
"Child care assistant" means an
				adult, 18 years of age or older, (whether a volunteer or an employee) who
				assists a licensed foster parent in the care of children within the foster
				home.
"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.
[225 ILCS
				10/2.05 ]
"Classifiable fingerprints"
				means fingerprints obtained through an electronic or ink printing process that
				were determined to provide sufficiently clear impressions to identify the
				individual from whom the prints were obtained.
"Common parentage"
				means having the same biological or adoptive father, the same biological or
				adoptive mother, or the same biological or adoptive father and mother.
"Complete application for a foster family home license" means, at a
				minimum,
a completed written
application
form; written
				authorization by the applicant and all adult members of the applicant's
				household to conduct a criminal background investigation; medical evidence in
				the form of a medical report, on forms prescribed by the Department, that the
				applicant and all members of the household are free from communicable diseases
				or physical and mental conditions that affect their ability to provide care for
				the child or children; the names and addresses of at least 3 persons not
				related to the applicant who can attest to the applicant's moral character; the
				name and address of at least one relative who can attest to the applicant's
				capability to care for the child or children; and fingerprints submitted by the
				applicant and all adult members of the applicant's household.
[225 ILCS
				10/4 ]
"Corporal punishment" means
				hitting, spanking, beating, shaking, pinching, and other measures that produce
				physical pain.
"Department" means the Illinois Department
				of Children and Family Services.
[225 ILCS
				10/2.02 ]
"Discipline" means the process
				of helping children to develop inner controls so that they can manage their own
				behavior in socially acceptable ways. Discipline does not include the use of
				corporal punishment as defined in this Part.
"Educational advocacy
				training" means the 6-hour training that prepares foster parents to effectively
				advocate for the special educational needs of the children in their care by
				providing information on children's educational rights and foster parents'
				responsibility to protect those rights.
"Expanded capacity
				license" means the foster family home has been issued a license from the
				Department authorizing the foster family to accept more than six children for
				care (including the family's own children under age 18 and all other children
				under age 18 receiving full-time care) as permitted in Section
				402.15(c) (for
				foster care placements) or (e) (for adoptive placements).
"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
[20 ILCS 505]
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 family home" means the home of an individual or
				family:
that is licensed or approved by the State
				in which it is situated as a foster family home that meets the standards
				established for the licensing or approval; and
in
				which a child in foster care has been placed in the care of an individual, who
				resides with the child and who has been licensed or approved by the State to be
				a foster parent and:
who the Department of
				Children and Family Services deems capable of adhering to the reasonable and
				prudent parent standard;
who provides 24-hour
				substitute care for children placed away from their parents or other
				caretakers; and
who provides the care for no more
				than 6 children, except the Director of Children and Family Services, pursuant
				to Department regulations, may waive the numerical limitation of foster
				children who may be cared for in a foster family home for any of the following
				reasons to allow:
a parenting youth in foster
				care to remain with the child of the parenting youth;
siblings to remain together;
a
				child with an established meaningful relationship with the family to remain
				with the family; or
a family with special
				training or skills to provide care to a child who has a severe
				disability.
The family's or relative's own
				children, under 18 years of age, shall be included in determining the maximum
				number of children served.
[225 ILCS
				10/2.17 ]
"Full-time care" means the
				child is a resident of the household, whether on a temporary, emergency, or
				permanent basis, and is receiving family care usually provided by a parent or
				guardian.
"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 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.
"In-service training" means approved training
				provided to currently licensed foster parents.
"License" means a
				document issued by the Department of Children and Family Services that
				authorizes child care facilities to operate in accordance with applicable
				standards and the provisions of the Child Care Act.
"Licensed
				physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in the State of
				Illinois.
"Licensee" means those individuals, agencies, or
				organizations who hold a license or permit issued by the Department of Children
				and Family Services.
"Licensing representative" means persons
				authorized by the Department under the Child Care Act to perform licensing
				activities.
"Licensing study" means a written review and
				assessment of an application for license, on-site visits, interviews, and the
				collection and review of supporting documents to determine compliance with the
				Child Care Act of 1969 and the standards prescribed by this Part.
"Member of the household" means a person who resides in a family home as
				evidenced by factors including, but not limited to, maintaining clothing and
				personal effects at the household address, or receiving mail at the household
				address, or using identification with the household address.
"Minor traffic violation" means a traffic violation, under the laws of
				the State of Illinois or any municipal authority in Illinois or another state
				or municipal authority, that is punishable solely by fines as a petty
				offense.
"Multi-purpose room" means a room in the foster family
				home that has been designed for several purposes. A multi-purpose room that is
				temporarily converted into a bedroom may only be a pass through room in the
				home if the privacy of the children using the room for a bedroom can be
				ensured. Activities within the room shall be normal bedroom activities such as
				sleeping, dressing and playing while used as a bedroom.
"Non-active status" means a licensed foster home has no foster placements
				and maintains continuous compliance with this Part that, by mutual written
				agreement with the Department, does not receive regular licensing monitoring
				visits by the Department or supervising agency.
"Normalcy
				parenting" means empowering a foster parent to approve or not approve a child's
				participation in appropriate extracurricular enrichment, cultural and social
				activities based on the caregiver's assessment using the reasonable and prudent
				parent standard, without prior approval of the Department, the caseworker 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.
"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.
"Permit" means a
				one-time only document issued by the Department of Children and Family Services
				for a 2 month period to allow the individuals to become eligible for an initial
				foster family home license.
"Petty offense" means any
				offense for which
a fine only is provided, and
a sentence of
				imprisonment is not an authorized disposition.
[730 ILCS
				5/5-1-17]
"Premises" means the location of the foster family home
				in which the family resides and includes the attached yard, garage, basement
				and any other outbuildings.
"Reasonable and prudent parent
				standard" means the standard, characterized by careful and sensible parental
				decisions that maintain the child's health, safety, and best interests while at
				the same time supporting the child's emotional and developmental growth, that a
				caregiver shall use when determining whether to allow a child in out-of-home
				care to participate in extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and social
				activities.
[20 ILCS
				505/7.3a(b) ]
"Relative",
for purposes of placement of children for
				whom the Department is legally responsible
, shall include 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
;
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 and documents that it would be in the child's best
				interests to consider this person a relative.
[20 ILCS
				505/7(b) ]
"Responsible"
				means trustworthy performance of expected duties that serves the best interests
				of the children in care as evidenced by established child welfare standards,
				State and federal law, and the rules of the Department.
"SACWIS"
				means the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System operated by the
				Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
"Sibling
				contact" 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.
"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 immediately prior to the adoption or guardianship. Step-siblings may be
				considered "siblings" when the children enter into substitute care together and
				have a positive relationship.
"Specialized care" or "specialized
				foster care services" means care provided to
a child in the custody or
				guardianship of the Department who requires such services due to emotional,
				behavioral, developmental or medical needs, or any combination thereof, or any
				other needs
that
require special intervention services, the
				primary goal being to maintain the child in foster care or in a permanency
				setting.
[20 ILCS
				505/5.30(a) ] Specialized foster care
				services are further described in 89 Ill. Adm. Code
				301.90 (Foster Family Home
				Care).
"Supervising agency", for the purpose of this Part, means a
				licensed child welfare agency, a license-exempt agency, or the Department of
				Children and Family Services.
"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.).