Illinois Statutes Chapter 325. Children § 7/15. Definitions

§ 15. Definitions. As used in this Act:

“Bias-free” means to review a case file without the following identifying demographic information on the parent and child: gender, race, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status, which prevents a reader from inserting bias, implicit or explicit, into critical decisions such as removing a child from the child's family.

“BIPOC” means people who are members of the groups described in subparagraphs (a) through (e) of paragraph (A) of subsection (1) of Section 2 of the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities Act.

“Child” means any person under 18 years of age.

“Child welfare court personnel” means lawyers, judges, public defenders, and guardians ad litem.

“Department” means the Department of Children and Family Services.

“Evaluation design” means identifying an overall strategy for analyzing the effectiveness of a program to include outlining a distinct approach to formulating key outputs and outcomes, selecting an appropriate research method, and evaluating the outcomes of a program.

“Immediate and urgent necessity”, in accordance with Section 5 of the Abused and Neglected Child reporting Act, means (i) that there is a reason to believe that the child cannot be cared for at home or in the custody of the person responsible for the child's welfare without endangering the child's health or safety and (ii) that there is no time to apply for a court order under the Juvenile Court Act of 1987 for temporary custody of the child.

“Lived experience” means a representation of the experiences of a person involved in the child welfare system, the knowledge and understanding that the person gains from these experiences, and the ability to understand the policies or guidelines of the Department.

“Program” or “pilot program” means the Bias-Free Child Removal Pilot Program.

“Review Team” means the Bias-Free Case Review Team.