Illinois Compiled Statutes 705 ILCS 405 Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Section 1-3

    (705 ILCS 405/1-3) (from Ch. 37, par. 801-3)

    Sec. 1-3. Definitions. Terms used in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings ascribed to them:

    (1) "Adjudicatory hearing" means a hearing to determine whether the allegations of a petition under Section 2-13, 3-15 or 4-12 that a minor under 18 years of age is abused, neglected or dependent, or requires authoritative intervention, or addicted, respectively, are supported by a preponderance of the evidence or whether the allegations of a petition under Section 5-520 that a minor is delinquent are proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

    (2) "Adult" means a person 21 years of age or older.

    (3) "Agency" means a public or private child care facility legally authorized or licensed by this State for placement or institutional care or for both placement and institutional care.

    (4) "Association" means any organization, public or private, engaged in welfare functions which include services to or on behalf of children but does not include "agency" as herein defined.

    (4.05) Whenever a "best interest" determination is required, the following factors shall be considered in the context of the child's age and developmental needs:

        (a) the physical safety and welfare of the child,

    including food, shelter, health, and clothing;

        (b) the development of the child's identity;

        (c) the child's background and ties, including

    familial, cultural, and religious;

        (d) the child's sense of attachments, including:

            (i) 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 a sense of being valued);

            (ii) the child's sense of security;

            (iii) the child's sense of familiarity;

            (iv) continuity of affection for the child;

            (v) the least disruptive placement alternative

        for the child;

        (e) the child's wishes and long-term goals;

        (f) the child's community ties, including church,

    school, and friends;

        (g) 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;

        (h) the uniqueness of every family and child;

        (i) the risks attendant to entering and being in

    substitute care; and

        (j) the preferences of the persons available to care

    for the child.

    (4.1) "Chronic truant" shall have the definition ascribed to it in Section 26-2a of the School Code.

    (5) "Court" means the circuit court in a session or division assigned to hear proceedings under this Act.

    (6) "Dispositional hearing" means a hearing to determine whether a minor should be adjudged to be a ward of the court, and to determine what order of disposition should be made in respect to a minor adjudged to be a ward of the court.

    (7) "Emancipated minor" means any minor 16 years of age or over who has been completely or partially emancipated under the Emancipation of Minors Act or under this Act.

    (7.05) "Foster parent" includes a relative caregiver selected by the Department of Children and Family Services to provide care for the minor.

    (8) "Guardianship of the person" of a minor means the duty and authority to act in the best interests of the minor, subject to residual parental rights and responsibilities, to make important decisions in matters having a permanent effect on the life and development of the minor and to be concerned with his or her general welfare. It includes but is not necessarily limited to:

        (a) the authority to consent to marriage, to

    enlistment in the armed forces of the United States, or to a major medical, psychiatric, and surgical treatment; to represent the minor in legal actions; and to make other decisions of substantial legal significance concerning the minor;

        (b) the authority and duty of reasonable visitation,

    except to the extent that these have been limited in the best interests of the minor by court order;

        (c) the rights and responsibilities of legal custody

    except where legal custody has been vested in another person or agency; and

        (d) the power to consent to the adoption of the

    minor, but only if expressly conferred on the guardian in accordance with Section 2-29, 3-30, or 4-27.

    (9) "Legal custody" means the relationship created by an order of court in the best interests of the minor which imposes on the custodian the responsibility of physical possession of a minor and the duty to protect, train and discipline him and to provide him with food, shelter, education and ordinary medical care, except as these are limited by residual parental rights and responsibilities and the rights and responsibilities of the guardian of the person, if any.

    (9.1) "Mentally capable adult relative" means a person 21 years of age or older who is not suffering from a mental illness that prevents him or her from providing the care necessary to safeguard the physical safety and welfare of a minor who is left in that person's care by the parent or parents or other person responsible for the minor's welfare.

    (10) "Minor" means a person under the age of 21 years subject to this Act.

    (11) "Parent" means the father or mother of a child and includes any adoptive parent. It also includes a man (i) whose paternity is presumed or has been established under the law of this or another jurisdiction or (ii) who has registered with the Putative Father Registry in accordance with Section 12.1 of the Adoption Act and whose paternity has not been ruled out under the law of this or another jurisdiction. It does not include a parent whose rights in respect to the minor have been terminated in any manner provided by law. It does not include a person who has been or could be determined to be a parent under the Illinois Parentage Act of 1984, or similar parentage law in any other state, if that person has been convicted of or pled nolo contendere to a crime that resulted in the conception of the child under Section 11-1.20, 11-1.30, 11-1.40, 11-11, 12-13, 12-14, 12-14.1, subsection (a) or (b) (but not subsection (c)) of Section 11-1.50 or 12-15, or subsection (a), (b), (c), (e), or (f) (but not subsection (d)) of Section 11-1.60 or 12-16 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012, or similar statute in another jurisdiction unless upon motion of any party, other than the offender, to the juvenile court proceedings the court finds it is in the child's best interest to deem the offender a parent for purposes of the juvenile court proceedings.

    (11.1) "Permanency goal" means a goal set by the court as defined in subdivision (2) of Section 2-28.

    (11.2) "Permanency hearing" means a hearing to set the permanency goal and to review and determine (i) the appropriateness of the services contained in the plan and whether those services have been provided, (ii) whether reasonable efforts have been made by all the parties to the service plan to achieve the goal, and (iii) whether the plan and goal have been achieved.

    (12) "Petition" means the petition provided for in Section 2-13, 3-15, 4-12 or 5-520, including any supplemental petitions thereunder in Section 3-15, 4-12 or 5-520.

    (12.1) "Physically capable adult relative" means a person 21 years of age or older who does not have a severe physical disability or medical condition, or is not suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction, that prevents him or her from providing the care necessary to safeguard the physical safety and welfare of a minor who is left in that person's care by the parent or parents or other person responsible for the minor's welfare.

    (12.2) "Post Permanency Sibling Contact Agreement" has the meaning ascribed to the term in Section 7.4 of the Children and Family Services Act.

    (13) "Residual parental rights and responsibilities" means those rights and responsibilities remaining with the parent after the transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including, but not necessarily limited to, the right to reasonable visitation (which may be limited by the court in the best interests of the minor as provided in subsection (8)(b) of this Section), the right to consent to adoption, the right to determine the minor's religious affiliation, and the responsibility for his support.

    (14) "Shelter" means the temporary care of a minor in physically unrestricting facilities pending court disposition or execution of court order for placement.

    (14.1) "Sibling Contact Support Plan" has the meaning ascribed to the term in Section 7.4 of the Children and Family Services Act.

    (15) "Station adjustment" means the informal handling of an alleged offender by a juvenile police officer.

    (16) "Ward of the court" means a minor who is so adjudged under Section 2-22, 3-23, 4-20 or 5-705, after a finding of the requisite jurisdictional facts, and thus is subject to the dispositional powers of the court under this Act.

    (17) "Juvenile police officer" means a sworn police officer who has completed a Basic Recruit Training Course, has been assigned to the position of juvenile police officer by his or her chief law enforcement officer and has completed the necessary juvenile officers training as prescribed by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board, or in the case of a State police officer, juvenile officer training approved by the Director of the Department of State Police.

    (18) "Secure child care facility" means any child care facility licensed by the Department of Children and Family Services to provide secure living arrangements for children under 18 years of age who are subject to placement in facilities under the Children and Family Services Act and who are not subject to placement in facilities for whom standards are established by the Department of Corrections under Section 3-15-2 of the Unified Code of Corrections. "Secure child care facility" also means a facility that is designed and operated to ensure that all entrances and exits from the facility, a building, or a distinct part of the building are under the exclusive control of the staff of the facility, whether or not the child has the freedom of movement within the perimeter of the facility, building, or distinct part of the building.

(Source: P.A. 97-568, eff. 8-25-11; 97-1076, eff. 8-24-12; 97-1150, eff. 1-25-13; 98-249, eff. 1-1-14.)

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Last modified: February 18, 2015