Missouri Revised Statutes Title XII. Public Health and Welfare § 211.021. Definitions

(1)“Adult” means a person eighteen years of age or older;

(2)“Child” means any person under eighteen years of age;

(3)“Juvenile court” means the juvenile division or divisions of the circuit court of the county, or judges while hearing juvenile cases assigned to them;

(4)“Legal custody” means the right to the care, custody and control of a child and the duty to provide food, clothing, shelter, ordinary medical care, education, treatment and discipline of a child. Legal custody may be taken from a parent only by court action and if the legal custody is taken from a parent without termination of parental rights, the parent's duty to provide support continues even though the person having legal custody may provide the necessities of daily living;

(5)“Parent” means either a natural parent or a parent by adoption and if the child is illegitimate, “parent” means the mother;

(6)“Shelter care” means the temporary care of juveniles in physically unrestricting facilities pending final court disposition. These facilities may include: