Section 431.20  Definitions

"ANCRA" means the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act [325 ILCS 5].

"Case record or record" means the record maintained for a family service case, a child service case, or a payment/monitoring-only case, which may include the child abuse/neglect (CA/N) investigative file.  The term "case record" applies to records maintained by the Department or a purchase of service agency responsible for case management regardless of whether the services were provided directly by Department staff or purchased from a private provider.  The confidentiality of case record information and access to that information may differ, depending on the type of information sought.

"Case transfer" means the conveying of information from one Department region, site or field office to another; from one purchase of service agency to the Department or to another; from the Department to a purchase of service agency.  A different worker is assigned when a case is transferred and those activities necessary to transfer case management responsibility for service delivery to a family and/or child from worker to worker or Department office to Department office or Department office to purchase of service agency or purchase of service agency to purchase of service agency are completed.  Transfer includes physical delivery of the case record as necessary for service provision.

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

"Court appointed special advocate" means a person appointed by a court to protect the minor's best interests and insure the proper delivery of child welfare services.

"Disclose" and "permit access to" means to release, transfer, permit examination of, or otherwise communicate information orally, in writing, by electronic means or in any other manner.

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

"HIPAA" means the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, Public Law 104-191, which amends the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986 and includes a section on Administrative Simplification requiring the protection of confidentiality and security of health data through setting and enforcing standards that protect the confidentiality and integrity of "individually identifiable health information".

"Impound" means to seize and retain in legal custody during the pendency of an investigation and any disciplinary, civil or criminal actions that result from an investigation conducted pursuant to the authority of the DCFS-Office of the Inspector General.

"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.

"Mental health information" means records, reports or other information about the provision of mental health or developmental disability services as defined in the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act [740 ILCS 110].

"Minor" means any individual who has not reached his or her 18^th birthday.

"Person served by the Department" or "client" means any person who receives services or applies for services from the Department through its various offices. The term includes children for whom the Department is legally responsible, persons who involuntarily are investigated by the Department concerning allegations of child abuse or neglect and who may receive Department services during the course of, or subsequent to, the investigation, persons who are receiving Department services through an order of the court, and persons who voluntarily request services from the Department.

"Personal information" means any identifying information, excluding work products, that is a part of the permanent record and that describes, locates or indexes anything about an individual including, but not limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, criminal or employment records, registration or membership in an organization or activity, or admission to an institution. Personal information may be classified as mental health information, child abuse or neglect information, medical information, or other types of sensitive information and may be governed by different access, consent and disclosure requirements.

"Serious physical injury", for purposes of this Part, includes but is not limited to brain damage, skull fractures, subdural hematomas, internal injuries, wounds, third degree burns, multiple or spiral fractures, poisoning, or physical injury when evidence indicates the child has been tortured.

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

"Subject of a report" means any child reported to the child abuse/neglect State Central Register and his or her parent, personal guardian or other person responsible for the child's welfare who is named in the report.

"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.

"Work product", for the purposes of this Part, means a worker's notes that are not part of the permanent record and concern interviewing technique, strategies for working with a person served by the Department and personal observations; these notes are kept for the worker's own personal use and are not disclosed to any other person except the worker's supervisor or attorney.

(Source:  Amended at 39 Ill. Reg. 7253, effective May 7, 2015)