Section 336.20  Definitions

"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 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 1961, as amended, 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; or

inflicts excessive corporal punishment, or

commits or allows to be committed the offense of female genital mutilation, as defined in Section 12-34 of the Criminal Code of 1961, against the child. [325 ILCS 5/3]

"Administrative hearing" in the context of this Part means a formal review of a decision made by a Department child protection investigator.

"Administrative Law Judge" means a licensed attorney who is appointed by the Director of the Department and is responsible for conducting the administrative hearing, including pre-hearings, and issuing a recommended decision.  

"Amend" as used in this Part means changing an allegation contained in an indicated report of child abuse or neglect or changing identifying information regarding the subjects of an indicated child abuse or neglect report.

"Appeal process" means the prehearing conference and formal administrative hearing.

"Appellant" means the person who requests a review or administrative hearing or in whose behalf a review and administrative hearing is requested.

"Authorized representative" means a person, including an attorney, authorized in writing by a party to assist in the appeals process.  If the party is unable to reduce such authorization to writing, the Department, on request, shall assist the party in doing so.

"Chief Administrative Law Judge" means the person who is responsible for the supervision of the Administrative Law Judges and the coordination of the administrative hearing appeal process.

"Child care worker" means any person who works 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" 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 5/31]

"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.

"Date of action" means the date on which any Department action becomes effective.

"Day", for purposes of computation of time, means calendar day.

"Department" means the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

"Department's representative" means the person who is responsible for presenting the Department's case.

"Discovery," for purposes of this Part, means the rights of any party to request and have access to, in advance of the pre-hearing, any documents and list of witnesses in the possession of any other party.

"Expedited appeal" means an appeal that may be requested only by a child care worker who is the subject of a Department determination of indicated child abuse and/or neglect. Expedited appeals require that the Director issue a final administrative decision within 35 days after the date of receipt by the Department's Administrative Hearings Unit of a written request for an expedited appeal. The 35 day time period excludes any time attributable to an appellant's request for a continuance or to any continuance or date set by the agreement of the parties. The appellant must specifically request an expedited appeal in writing at the time of the initial request for appeal filed with the Unit. Any request for an appeal that is received by the Unit that does not expressly request an expedited appeal will automatically be treated as a regular appeal.

"Expunge", as used in this Part, means removing identifying information regarding the subjects of an indicated child abuse or neglect report from the computer file of the State Central Register and from paper records kept by the Department.

"Final administrative decision" means the Department's final decision, order or determination on an appealed issue rendered by the Director in a particular case, which affects the legal rights, duties or privileges of participants and which may be further appealed to the circuit court under the Administrative Review Law.

"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.

"Individual legally acting on a person's behalf" means an individual who has been appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction to act on behalf of a person when the person is incompetent, incapacitated, or otherwise determined unable to represent himself or herself.

"Neglected child" means any child who is not receiving the proper or necessary nourishment or medically indicated treatment including food or care denied 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 proper or necessary support or medical or other remedial care recognized under State law as necessary for a child's well‑being (including where 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 abandoned by his or her parents or other person responsible for the child's welfare without a proper plan of care; or who is a newborn infant whose blood, urine or meconium contains any amount of controlled substance as defined in subsection (f) of Section 102 of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act 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 the 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 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.  Where 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 such parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare depends upon spiritual means alone for treatment or cure, such child is subject to the requirements of this Act for the reporting of, investigation of, and provision of protective services with respect to such child and his 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 such 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. [325 ILCS 5/3]

"Parents" means the child’s legal parents whose rights have not been terminated.

"Parties" means the Department and those persons who have appealed the final decisions made by the Department.  No person may join in an appeal unless that person would have standing to appeal the decisions himself or herself.

"Perpetrator" means a person who, as a result of investigation, has been determined by the Department to have caused child abuse or neglect. [325 ILCS 5/3]

"Person responsible for the child's welfare" means the child's parent, guardian, foster parent, 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, 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, and volunteers or support personnel in any setting where children may be subject to abuse or neglect.  [325 ILCS 5/3]

"Preponderance of the evidence" means the greater weight of the evidence which renders a fact more likely than not.

"Regular appeal" means an appeal that may be requested by a child care worker or any other person for whom the Department has determined that an allegation of child abuse and/or neglect is indicated. Regular appeals require that the Director issue a final administrative decision within 90 days after receipt by the Department's Administrative Hearings Unit of a written request for the appeal. The 90 day time period excludes any time attributable to an appellant's request for a continuance or to any continuance or date set by the agreement of the parties.  Any written request for an appeal that is received by the Unit that does not expressly request an expedited appeal will automatically be treated as a regular appeal.

"Request for an appeal" means the written request by an appellant for an administrative hearing to determine whether the record of the report should be amended, expunged, or removed on the grounds that it is inaccurate or being maintained in a manner inconsistent with the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.  If the appellant is unable to request an appeal in writing, the Agency shall help the appellant put the request in writing.

"State Central Register" means the specialized Department unit that receives and transmits reports of alleged child abuse and neglect.

"Stipulation" means an agreement by the parties that certain facts are true and can be introduced into evidence without further proof.

"Subject of report" means any child reported to the State Central Register, and his or her parent, personal guardian, or other person responsible for the child's welfare, who is also named in the report. [325 ILCS 5/3]

"Timely written notice" means a notice which complies with the requirements of Section 336.80(b) of this part.

"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.  [325 ILCS 5/3]

"Unknown perpetrator" means a person who may have caused specific abuse or neglect, but has not been identified or made known to the authorities.

(Source:  Amended by peremptory rulemaking at 29 Ill. Reg. 21091, effective December 8, 2005)