|
Department. |
"Blatant disregard" means an incident where the real, |
significant, and imminent risk of harm would be so obvious to a |
reasonable parent or caretaker that it is unlikely that a |
reasonable parent or caretaker would have exposed the child to |
the danger without exercising precautionary measures to |
protect the child from harm. With respect to a person working |
at an agency in his or her professional capacity with a child |
or adult resident, "blatant disregard" includes a failure by |
the person to perform job responsibilities intended to protect |
the child's or adult resident's health, physical well-being, or |
welfare, and, when viewed in light of the surrounding |
circumstances, evidence exists that would cause a reasonable |
person to believe that the child was neglected. With respect to |
an agency, "blatant disregard" includes a failure to implement |
practices that ensure the health, physical well-being, or |
welfare of the children and adult residents residing in the |
facility. |
"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. |
"Department" means Department of Children and Family |
Services. |
"Local law enforcement agency" means the police of a city, |
town,
village or other incorporated area or the sheriff of an |
unincorporated
area or any sworn officer of the Illinois |
|
Department of State Police. |
"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: |
(a) inflicts, causes to be inflicted, or allows to be
|
inflicted upon
such child physical injury, by other than |
accidental means, which causes
death, disfigurement, |
impairment of physical or
emotional health, or loss or |
impairment of any bodily function; |
(b) creates a substantial risk of physical 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; |
(c) commits or allows to be committed any sex offense |
against
such child,
as such sex offenses are defined in the |
Criminal Code of 2012 or in the Wrongs to Children Act,
and |
extending those definitions of sex offenses to include |
children under
18 years of age; |
(d) commits or allows to be committed an act or acts of
|
torture upon
such child; |
(e) inflicts excessive corporal punishment or, in the |
case of a person working for an agency who is prohibited |
from using corporal punishment, inflicts corporal |
punishment upon a child or adult resident with whom the |
|
person is working in his or her professional capacity; |
(f) commits or allows to be committed
the offense of
|
female
genital mutilation, as defined in Section 12-34 of |
the Criminal Code of
2012, against the child; |
(g) causes to be sold, transferred, distributed, or |
given to
such child
under 18 years of age, a controlled |
substance as defined in Section 102 of the
Illinois |
Controlled Substances Act in violation of Article IV of the |
Illinois
Controlled Substances Act or in violation of the |
Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act, |
except for controlled substances that are prescribed
in |
accordance with Article III of the Illinois Controlled |
Substances Act and
are dispensed to such child in a manner |
that substantially complies with the
prescription; or |
(h) commits or allows to be committed the offense of |
involuntary servitude, involuntary sexual servitude of a |
minor, or trafficking in persons as defined in Section 10-9 |
of the Criminal Code of 2012 against the child. |
A child shall not be considered abused for the sole reason |
that the child
has been relinquished in accordance with the |
Abandoned Newborn Infant
Protection Act. |
"Neglected child" means any child who is not receiving the |
proper or
necessary nourishment or medically indicated |
treatment including food or care
not provided solely on the |
basis of the 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 the proper or
necessary support or medical or other |
remedial care recognized under State law
as necessary for a |
child's well-being, or other care necessary for his or her
|
well-being, including adequate food, clothing and shelter; or |
who is subjected to an environment which is injurious insofar |
as (i) the child's environment creates a likelihood of harm to |
the child's health, physical well-being, or welfare and (ii) |
the likely harm to the child is the result of a blatant |
disregard of parent, caretaker, or agency responsibilities; 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 has been provided with interim crisis intervention |
services under
Section 3-5 of
the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 |
and whose parent, guardian, or custodian refuses to
permit
the |
child to return home and no other living arrangement agreeable
|
to the parent, guardian, or custodian can be made, and the |
parent, guardian, or custodian has not made any other |
appropriate living arrangement for the child; or who is a |
newborn infant whose blood, urine,
or meconium
contains any |
amount of a 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 for the sole reason
that the |
child has been relinquished in accordance with the Abandoned |
Newborn
Infant Protection Act. 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 as provided under |
Section 4 of this Act. 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, as amended. |
"Child Protective Service Unit" means certain specialized |
State employees of
the Department assigned by the Director to |
perform the duties and
responsibilities as provided under |
Section 7.2 of this Act. |
"Near fatality" means an act that, as certified by a |
physician, places the child in serious or critical condition, |
including acts of great bodily harm inflicted upon children |
under 13 years of age, and as otherwise defined by Department |
rule. |
"Great bodily harm" includes bodily injury which creates a |
high probability of death, or which causes serious permanent |
disfigurement, or which causes a permanent or protracted loss |
|
or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ, or |
other serious bodily harm. |
"Person responsible for the child's welfare" means the |
child's parent;
guardian; foster parent; relative caregiver; |
any person responsible for the
child's welfare in a public or |
private residential agency or institution; any
person |
responsible for the child's welfare within a 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, including any person that is the |
custodian of a child under 18 years of age who commits or |
allows to be committed, against the child, the offense of |
involuntary servitude, involuntary sexual servitude of a |
minor, or trafficking in persons for forced labor or services, |
as provided in Section 10-9 of the Criminal Code of 2012, 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, members of the clergy, and volunteers or
support |
personnel in any setting
where children may be subject to abuse |
or neglect. |
"Temporary protective custody" means custody within a |
hospital or
other medical facility or a place previously |
designated for such custody
by the Department, subject to |
review by the Court, including a licensed
foster home, group |
home, or other institution; but such place shall not
be a jail |
|
or other place for the detention of criminal or juvenile |
offenders. |
"An unfounded report" means any report made under this Act |
for which
it is determined after an investigation that no |
credible evidence of
abuse or neglect exists. |
"An indicated report" means a report made under this Act if |
an
investigation determines that credible evidence of the |
alleged
abuse or neglect exists. |
"An undetermined report" means any report made under this |
Act in
which it was not possible to initiate or complete an |
investigation on
the basis of information provided to the |
Department. |
"Subject of report" means any child reported to the central |
register
of child abuse and neglect established under Section |
7.7 of this Act as an alleged victim of child abuse or neglect |
and
the parent or guardian of the alleged victim or other |
person responsible for the alleged victim's welfare who is |
named in the report or added to the report as an alleged |
perpetrator of child abuse or neglect. |
"Perpetrator" means a person who, as a result of |
investigation, has
been determined by the Department to have |
caused child abuse or neglect. |
"Member of the clergy" means a clergyman or practitioner of |
any religious
denomination accredited by the religious body to |
which he or she belongs. |
(Source: P.A. 99-350, eff. 6-1-16 .) |
|
(325 ILCS 5/11.9 new) |
Sec. 11.9. Child Death Investigation Task Force; |
establishment. |
(a) The Department of Children and Family Services shall, |
from funds appropriated by the General Assembly to the |
Department for this purpose, or from funds that may otherwise |
be provided for this purpose from other public or private |
sources, establish a Child Death Investigation Task Force to |
operate in the Southern Region of the State and in other |
regions at the discretion of the Director of the Department. |
The Child Death Investigation Task Force shall develop and |
implement a plan for the investigation of sudden, unexpected, |
or unexplained child fatalities or near fatalities of children |
under 18 years of age occurring within that region, as may be |
further defined in Department rule and procedure. The plan must |
include provisions for local or State law enforcement agencies, |
the Department, hospitals, and coroners to promptly notify the |
Task Force of a sudden, unexpected, or unexplained child |
fatality or near fatality of a child, and for the Task Force to |
review and investigate the notification. The investigation |
shall include coordination among members of a |
multidisciplinary team, including local or State law |
enforcement agencies, the Department, hospitals, coroners, the |
appropriate State's Attorney's Office, and the appropriate |
children's advocacy center. The plan must also include |
|
provisions for training members of each multidisciplinary team |
on the various components of the investigation of fatalities or |
near fatalities of children. The Task Force shall maintain case |
tracking and related case information for activations. |
Information shall be shared and reviewed by the Task Force's |
Board of Directors. The plan must be submitted in writing and |
approved by the Board of Directors. |
(b) The Child Death Investigation Task Force shall be |
governed by a Board of Directors composed of, but not limited |
to, an approved representative from each of the following |
agencies or groups: the Department of Children and Family |
Services, the Southern Illinois Police Chiefs' Association, |
the Illinois Coroners and Medical Examiners Association, the |
Illinois State's Attorneys Association, the Illinois Sheriffs' |
Association, the Illinois State Police, the Child Advocacy |
Centers of Illinois, and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training |
Standards Board. The Board of Directors shall have the |
authority to organize itself and adopt bylaws and to appoint, |
assign, and elect members and leaders, and shall determine the |
voting rights of its members. The Board of Directors shall |
determine all major policies and establish all necessary |
principles and procedures of the Task Force. The Board of |
Directors shall meet 4 times a year or as called for in the |
bylaws of the organization. |
(c) The State shall indemnify and hold harmless members of |
the Child Death Investigation Task Force and the Board of |