Section 359.2  Definitions

 

"Child-care institution" means a private child-care institution, or a public child-care institution that accommodates no more than 25 children, and is licensed or approved by the Department, meeting the standards established for the licensing. In the case of a child who has attained 18 years of age, the term shall include a supervised setting in which the individual is living independently. The term shall not include detention facilities, forestry camps, training schools, or any other facility operated primarily for the detention of children who are determined to be delinquent. (42 U.S.C.S. 672(c)(2)(a)-(c))

 

"Child only standard of need" means the assistance standard for cases in which no adult member is included, as determined by the Illinois Department of Human Services.

 

"Children for whom the Department has legal responsibility" means children for whom the Department has temporary protective custody, custody or guardianship via court order, or whose parents have signed an adoptive surrender or voluntary placement agreement with the Department.

 

"Family preservation services" means those services provided to children and families who require social services to maintain the family unit intact.

 

"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)]

 

"Foster care maintenance payments" means payments to cover the cost of (and the cost of providing) food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, school supplies, a child's personal incidentals, liability insurance with respect to a child, reasonable travel to the child's home for visitation, and reasonable travel for the child to remain in the school in which the child is enrolled at the time of placement. In the case of institutional care, such term shall include the reasonable cost of administration and operation of such institution as are necessarily required to provide the items described herein, the same is also applicable in cases where a child placed in a foster family home or child-care institution is the parent of a child who is in the same home or institution and payments. (42 U.S.C.S. 675(4)(a)-(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:

 

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]

 

"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.

 

"Overpayment" means an amount paid for a service in excess of the actual incurred expenses or rate for that service or a payment for a service that is not rendered.  This includes board payments for a child that continue after the child is no longer in the placement for which the payment is made.

 

"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.

 

"Qualified Residential Treatment Program” means a program that:

 

has a trauma-informed treatment model that is designed to address the needs, including clinical needs as appropriate, of children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders or disturbances and, with respect to a child, is able to implement the treatment identified for the child by the assessment of the child required under 42 U.S.C. 675a(c);

 

has registered or licensed nursing staff and other licensed clinical staff who:

 

provide care within the scope of their practice as defined by state law;

 

are on-site according to a trauma informed treatment model; and

 

are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week;

 

to the extent appropriate, and in accordance with the child's best interests, facilitates participation of family members in the child's treatment program;

 

facilitates outreach to the family members of the child, including siblings, documents how the outreach is made (including contact information), and maintains contact information for any known biological family and fictive kin of the child;

 

documents how family members are integrated into the treatment process for the child, including post-discharge, and how sibling connections are maintained;

 

provides discharge planning and family-based aftercare support for at least 6 months post-discharge; and

 

is licensed in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 671(a)(10) and is accredited by any of the following independent, not-for-profit organizations:

 

The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)

 

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)

 

The Council on Accreditation (COA)

 

Any other independent, not-for-profit accrediting organization approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. (42 U.S.C. 672(k)(4))

 

"Relative", for purposes of placement of a child 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)]

 

"Siblings" means children who have at least one parent in common.  Children continue to be considered siblings after parental rights are terminated or 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.

 

"Substitute care services" means those services provided to children who require placement away from their families or private guardians.  Substitute care includes foster family care, care provided in a relative home placement as defined in 89 Ill. Adm. Code 301.80 (Relative Home Placement), care provided in a group home, care provided in a maternity center or a child care facility, mental health or other institution, and care provided in an independent living arrangement.

 

"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 48 Ill. Reg. 8346, effective May 21, 2024)