Section 309.20  Definitions

 

"Adoption assistance" or "adoption subsidy" means financial assistance and other services from the Department which are provided to the adoptive parents after the finalization of an adoption of a child with special needs as defined in Section 309.180.

 

"Adoption dissolution" means a circumstance in which the child is removed from an adoptive placement after the adoption is finalized.

 

"Adoption placement" means a living arrangement with a family that is directed toward establishing that family as the child's new legal parents.

 

"Adoption triad" means the adoptive family, the adoptee (child being adopted) and the biological family.

 

"Adult" means a person who has attained the age of 18.

 

"Agency" means a public child welfare agency or a licensed child welfare agency.

 

"Attachment" means the lasting psychological tie between two people who have significance for each other that endures through space and time and serves to join them emotionally.

 

"Best interests", as defined in the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 [705 ILCS 405], means consideration of the following factors, in the context of the child's age and developmental needs:

 

the physical safety and welfare of the child, including food, shelter, health, and clothing;

 

the development of the child's identity;

 

the child's background and ties, including familial, cultural, and religious;

 

the child's sense of attachments, including:

 

where the child actually feels love, attachment, and a sense of being valued (as opposed to where adults believe the child should feel such love, attachment, and sense of being valued);

 

the child's sense of security;

 

the child's sense of familiarity;

 

continuity of affection for the child;

 

the least disruptive placement alternative for the child;

 

the child's wishes and long-term goals;

 

the child's community ties, including church, school, and friends;

 

the child's need for permanence, which includes the child's need for stability and continuity of relationships with parent figures and with siblings and other relatives;

 

the uniqueness of every family and child;

 

the risks attendant to entering and being in substitute care; and

 

the preferences of the persons available to care for the child. [705 ILCS 405/1-3]

 

"Birth grandparent", for the purposes of the Adoption Registry, means the biological parent of:

 

a non-surrendered person who is a deceased birth mother; or

 

a non-surrendered person who is a deceased birth father [750 ILCS 50/18.06].

 

"Birth relative", for the purposes of the Adoption Registry, means a birth mother, birth father, birth grandparent, birth sibling, birth aunt, or birth uncle [750 ILCS 50/18.06].

 

"Certification training" means training directed toward preparing a family to adopt a child for whom the Department of Children and Family Services is legally responsible and may consist of the following different types of training:

 

six hours of standardized training for foster care conversion adoptions; that means that a foster parent or relative caregiver is adopting a child who has been in his or her care; or

 

six hours of standardized training and an additional individualized training plan specific to the child's needs for adoptive parents who have not had the child in their care prior to the adoptive placement; or

 

training specified by private child welfare agencies who meet the standards of the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children.

 

"Children for whom the Department of Children and Family Services is legally responsible" means children for whom the Department has temporary protective custody, custody or guardianship via court order, or children whose parents have signed an adoptive surrender or voluntary placement agreement with the Department.

 

"Confidential intermediary" is an individual appointed by the court for the purpose of exchanging medical information with one or more mutually consenting biological relatives, obtaining identifying information about one or more mutually consenting biological relatives, or arranging contact with one or more mutually consenting biological relatives. Additionally, in cases in which an adopted or surrendered person is deceased, an adult child of the adopted or surrendered person or his or her adoptive parents or surviving spouse may file a petition under Section 18.3a of the Adoption Act [750 ILCS 50/18.3a] and in cases in which the birth parent is deceased, an adult birth sibling of the adopted or surrendered person or of the deceased birth parent may file a petition under Section 18.3a for the purpose of exchanging medical information with one or more mutually consenting biological relatives of the adopted or surrendered person, obtaining identifying information about one or more mutually consenting biological relatives of the adopted or surrendered person, or arranging contact with one or more mutually consenting biological relatives of the adopted or surrendered person. [750 ILCS 50/18.3a]  The duties and responsibilities of a confidential intermediary are set out in Section 18.3a(i) of the Adoption Act.

 

"Consent to adoption by a specified person" is a voluntary act by the parents to relinquish all parental rights of a child to a person or persons specified by the parents in the specific consent document.  Consent to adoption by a specified person is further described in Section 309.70 (Freeing Children for Adoption).

 

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

 

"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, 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)]

 

"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.

 

"Internal legal screening" means an internal review required by the Department prior to referring a case for termination of parental rights for the purpose of freeing a child for adoption.  Depending on local practice, a representative of the State's Attorney's Office may participate in the screening.  The purpose of the screening is to determine whether sufficient grounds for termination of parental rights exist and whether adoption is in the best interest of the child.  Legal screening is further described in Section 309.80 (Termination of Parental Rights).

 

"Legal risk placement" means the placement with a family of a child, not yet legally free for adoption, made in the best interests of the child with the intent that the family will become an adoptive resource for the child should the child become legally free for adoption.

 

"Parental unfitness" means a finding by the court that a person is unfit to parent a child, without regard to the likelihood that the child will be placed for adoption.  The grounds of unfitness are described in Section 1(D) of the Adoption Act [750 ILCS 50/1(D)].

 

"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.

 

"Persons approved for adoption" means persons who have been licensed as a foster family home in accordance with 89 Ill. Adm. Code 402 (Licensing Standards for Foster Family Homes) or relative caregivers with whom children have been placed in accordance with 89 Ill. Adm. Code 301 (Placement and Visitation Services) and who also meet the certification requirements of Section 309.110(c).

 

"Placement disruption" means a circumstance in which the child is removed from an adoptive placement before the adoption is finalized.

 

"Post-adoption services" are services meant to assist and support the family in maintaining itself in a healthy and nurturing environment and in preserving the adoption.  Post-adoption services may include, but are not limited to, social, psychological, psychiatric, health, educational and adoption preservation services.  Financial services are available to families and adoptees following the legal consummation of the adoption, when they are eligible for adoption assistance.  Post-adoption services also address the needs of adult adoptees and their biological families to seek information and contact, when desired.

 

"Post-placement and post-adoption support services" means  support services for youth in care or adoptive children and families that include, but are not limited to, counseling for emotional, behavioral or developmental needs.

 

"Putative father" means a male, regardless of age, who may be a child's father, but who was not married to the child's mother on or before the date that the child was or is to be born and for whom paternity of the child has not been established in a court proceeding.

 

"Registrant" or "Registered Party”, for the purposes of the Adoption Registry, means a birth parent, birth grandparent, birth sibling, birth aunt, birth uncle, adopted or surrendered person 21 years of age or over, adoptive parent or legal guardian of an adopted or surrendered person under the age of 21, or adoptive parent, surviving spouse, or adult child of a deceased adopted or surrendered person who has filed an Illinois Adoption Registry Application or Registration Identification Form with the Registry [750 ILCS 50/18.06].

 

"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)]

 

"Secondary placement" means a placement, including but not limited to the placement of a child for whom the Department is legally responsible that occurs after placement disruption or adoption dissolution.  Secondary placement does not mean secondary placement arising due to the death of the adoptive parent of the child. [750 ILCS 50/1(BB)]

 

"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, have a positive relationship and share at least one parent in common.

 

"Surrender for adoption" is a voluntary act by the parents to relinquish all parental rights of a child to an agency for the purpose of placing the child for adoption.

 

"Termination of parental rights" is a legal action of the court or a voluntary action by the parents that relieves the birth parents of a child of all parental responsibility for the child and deprives them of all legal rights with respect to the child.

 

"Unregulated placement" means the secondary placement of a child that occurs without the oversight of the courts, the Department, or a licensed child welfare agency [750 ILCS 50/1(DD)].

 

"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.).

 

(Source:  Amended at 43 Ill. Reg. 12076, effective October 10, 2019)