260C.007 Definitions.
Subdivision 1. Scope. As used in this chapter, the terms defined in this section have the same meanings given to them.
Subd. 2. Agency. "Agency" means the local social services agency or a licensed child-placing agency.
Subd. 3. Child. "Child" means an individual under 18 years of age.
Subd. 4. Child in need of protection or services. "Child in need of protection or services" means a child who is in need of protection or services because the child:
(1) is abandoned or without parent, guardian, or custodian;
(2)(i) has been a victim of physical or sexual abuse, (ii) resides with or has resided with a victim of domestic child abuse as defined in subdivision 25, (iii) resides with or would reside with a perpetrator of domestic child abuse or child abuse as defined in subdivision 25, or (iv) is a victim of emotional maltreatment as defined in subdivision 8;
(3) is without necessary food, clothing, shelter, education, or other required care for the child's physical or mental health or morals because the child's parent, guardian, or custodian is unable or unwilling to provide that care;
(4) is without the special care made necessary by a physical, mental, or emotional condition because the child's parent, guardian, or custodian is unable or unwilling to provide that care, including a child in voluntary placement according to release of the parent under section 260C.212, subdivision 9;
(5) is medically neglected, which includes, but is not limited to, the withholding of medically indicated treatment from a disabled infant with a life-threatening condition. The term "withholding of medically indicated treatment" means the failure to respond to the infant's life-threatening conditions by providing treatment, including appropriate nutrition, hydration, and medication which, in the treating physician's or physicians' reasonable medical judgment, will be most likely to be effective in ameliorating or correcting all conditions, except that the term does not include the failure to provide treatment other than appropriate nutrition, hydration, or medication to an infant when, in the treating physician's or physicians' reasonable medical judgment:
(i) the infant is chronically and irreversibly comatose;
(ii) the provision of the treatment would merely prolong dying, not be effective in ameliorating or correcting all of the infant's life-threatening conditions, or otherwise be futile in terms of the survival of the infant; or
(iii) the provision of the treatment would be virtually futile in terms of the survival of the infant and the treatment itself under the circumstances would be inhumane;
(6) is one whose parent, guardian, or other custodian for good cause desires to be relieved of the child's care and custody, including a child in placement according to voluntary release by the parent under section 260C.212, subdivision 8;
(7) has been placed for adoption or care in violation of law;
(8) is without proper parental care because of the emotional, mental, or physical disability, or state of immaturity of the child's parent, guardian, or other custodian;
(9) is one whose behavior, condition, or environment is such as to be injurious or dangerous to the child or others. An injurious or dangerous environment may include, but is not limited to, the exposure of a child to criminal activity in the child's home;
(10) is experiencing growth delays, which may be referred to as failure to thrive, that have been diagnosed by a physician and are due to parental neglect;
(11) has engaged in prostitution as defined in section 609.321, subdivision 9;
(12) has committed a delinquent act or a juvenile petty offense before becoming ten years old;
(13) is a runaway;
(14) is a habitual truant;
(15) has been found incompetent to proceed or has been found not guilty by reason of mental illness or mental deficiency in connection with a delinquency proceeding, a certification under section 260B.125, an extended jurisdiction juvenile prosecution, or a proceeding involving a juvenile petty offense; or
(16) has been found by the court to have committed domestic abuse perpetrated by a minor under Laws 1997, chapter 239, article 10, sections 2 to 26, has been ordered excluded from the child's parent's home by an order for protection/minor respondent, and the parent or guardian is either unwilling or unable to provide an alternative safe living arrangement for the child.
Subd. 5. Child-placing agency. "Child-placing agency" means anyone licensed under sections 245A.01 to 245A.16 and 252.28, subdivision 2.
Subd. 6. Court. "Court" means juvenile court unless otherwise specified in this section.
Subd. 7. Delinquent child. "Delinquent child" means a child:
(1) who has violated any state or local law, except as provided in section 260B.225, subdivision 1, and except for juvenile offenders as described in subdivisions 19 and 20; or
(2) who has violated a federal law or a law of another state and whose case has been referred to the juvenile court if the violation would be an act of delinquency if committed in this state or a crime or offense if committed by an adult.
Subd. 8. Emotional maltreatment. "Emotional maltreatment" means the consistent, deliberate infliction of mental harm on a child by a person responsible for the child's care, that has an observable, sustained, and adverse effect on the child's physical, mental, or emotional development. "Emotional maltreatment" does not include reasonable training or discipline administered by the person responsible for the child's care or the reasonable exercise of authority by that person.
Subd. 9. Foster care. "Foster care" means the 24 hour a day care of a child in any facility which for gain or otherwise regularly provides one or more children, when unaccompanied by their parents, with a substitute for the care, food, lodging, training, education, supervision or treatment they need but which for any reason cannot be furnished by their parents or legal guardians in their homes.
Subd. 10. Legal custody. "Legal custody" means the right to the care, custody, and control of a child who has been taken from a parent by the court in accordance with the provisions of section 260C.201 or 260C.317. The expenses of legal custody are paid in accordance with the provisions of section 260C.331.
Subd. 11. Minor. "Minor" means an individual under 18 years of age.
Subd. 12. Parent. "Parent" means the birth or adoptive parent of a minor. For an Indian child, parent includes any Indian person who has adopted a child by tribal law or custom, as provided in section 260.755, subdivision 14.
Subd. 13. Person. "Person" includes any individual, association, corporation, partnership, and the state or any of its political subdivisions, departments, or agencies.
Subd. 14. Relative. "Relative" means a parent, stepparent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, or aunt of the minor. This relationship may be by blood or marriage. For an Indian child, relative includes members of the extended family as defined by the law or custom of the Indian child's tribe or, in the absence of laws or custom, nieces, nephews, or first or second cousins, as provided in the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, United States Code, title 25, section 1903. For purposes of child in need of protection or services proceedings, termination of parental rights proceedings, and permanency proceedings under section 260C.201, subdivision 11, relative means a person related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption, or an individual who is an important friend with whom the child has resided or had significant contact.
Subd. 15. Custodian. "Custodian" means any person who is under a legal obligation to provide care and support for a minor or who is in fact providing care and support for a minor. This subdivision does not impose upon persons who are not otherwise legally responsible for providing a child with necessary food, clothing, shelter, education, or medical care a duty to provide that care. For an Indian child, custodian means any Indian person who has legal custody of an Indian child under tribal law or custom or under state law or to whom temporary physical care, custody, and control has been transferred by the parent of the child, as provided in section 260.755, subdivision 10.
Subd. 16. Secure detention facility. "Secure detention facility" means a physically restricting facility, including but not limited to a jail, a hospital, a state institution, a residential treatment center, or a detention home used for the temporary care of a child pending court action.
Subd. 17. Shelter care facility. "Shelter care facility" means a physically unrestricting facility, such as but not limited to, a hospital, a group home or a licensed facility for foster care, used for the temporary care of a child pending court action.
Subd. 18. Neglected and in foster care. "Neglected and in foster care" means a child
(a) Who has been placed in foster care by court order; and
(b) Whose parents' circumstances, condition, or conduct are such that the child cannot be returned to them; and
(c) Whose parents, despite the availability of needed rehabilitative services, have failed to make reasonable efforts to adjust their circumstances, condition or conduct, or have willfully failed to meet reasonable expectations with regard to visiting the child or providing financial support for the child.
Subd. 19. Habitual truant. "Habitual truant" means a child under the age of 16 years who is absent from attendance at school without lawful excuse for seven school days if the child is in elementary school or for one or more class periods on seven school days if the child is in middle school, junior high school, or high school, or a child who is 16 or 17 years of age who is absent from attendance at school without lawful excuse for one or more class periods on seven school days and who has not lawfully withdrawn from school under section 120A.22, subdivision 6.
Subd. 20. Runaway. "Runaway" means an unmarried child under the age of 18 years who is absent from the home of a parent or other lawful placement without the consent of the parent, guardian, or lawful custodian.
Subd. 21. Domestic child abuse. "Domestic child abuse" means:
(1) any physical injury to a minor family or household member inflicted by an adult family or household member other than by accidental means; or
(2) subjection of a minor family or household member by an adult family or household member to any act which constitutes a violation of sections 609.321 to 609.324, 609.342, 609.343, 609.344, 609.345, or 617.246.
Subd. 22. Family or household members. "Family or household members" means spouses, former spouses, parents and children, persons related by blood, and persons who are presently residing together or who have resided together in the past, and persons who have a child in common regardless of whether they have been married or have lived together at any time.
Subd. 23. Indian. "Indian," consistent with section 260.755, subdivision 7, means a person who is a member of an Indian tribe or who is an Alaskan native and a member of a regional corporation as defined in section 7 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, United States Code, title 43, section 1606.
Subd. 24. Indian child. "Indian child," consistent with section 260.755, subdivision 8, means an unmarried person who is under age 18 and is:
(1) a member of an Indian tribe; or
(2) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe.
Subd. 25. Child abuse. "Child abuse" means an act that involves a minor victim and that constitutes a violation of section 609.221, 609.222, 609.223, 609.224, 609.2242, 609.322, 609.323, 609.324, 609.342, 609.343, 609.344, 609.345, 609.377, 609.378, or 617.246.
Subd. 26. Egregious harm. "Egregious harm" means the infliction of bodily harm to a child or neglect of a child which demonstrates a grossly inadequate ability to provide minimally adequate parental care. The egregious harm need not have occurred in the state or in the county where a termination of parental rights action is otherwise properly venued. Egregious harm includes, but is not limited to:
(1) conduct towards a child that constitutes a violation of sections 609.185 to 609.21, 609.222, subdivision 2, 609.223, or any other similar law of any other state;
(2) the infliction of "substantial bodily harm" to a child, as defined in section 609.02, subdivision 7a;
(3) conduct towards a child that constitutes felony malicious punishment of a child under section 609.377;
(4) conduct towards a child that constitutes felony unreasonable restraint of a child under section 609.255, subdivision 3;
(5) conduct towards a child that constitutes felony neglect or endangerment of a child under section 609.378;
(6) conduct towards a child that constitutes assault under section 609.221, 609.222, or 609.223;
(7) conduct towards a child that constitutes solicitation, inducement, or promotion of, or receiving profit derived from prostitution under section 609.322;
(8) conduct towards a child that constitutes murder or voluntary manslaughter as defined by United States Code, title 18, section 1111(a) or 1112(a);
(9) conduct towards a child that constitutes aiding or abetting, attempting, conspiring, or soliciting to commit a murder or voluntary manslaughter that constitutes a violation of United States Code, title 18, section 1111(a) or 1112(a); or
(10) conduct toward a child that constitutes criminal sexual conduct under sections 609.342 to 609.345.
HIST: 1999 c 139 art 3 s 2; art 4 s 2; 1999 c 245 art 8 s 43-45
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes