1998 Minnesota Statutes

     260.015 Definitions. 

    Subdivision 1.  As used in sections 260.011 to 260.301, the 
 terms defined in this section have the same meanings given to 
 them. 

    Subd. 1a.    Agency.  "Agency" means the local social 
 service agency or a licensed child-placing agency. 

    Subd. 2.  "Child" means an individual under 18 years of age 
 and includes any minor alleged to have been delinquent or a 
 juvenile traffic offender prior to having become 18 years of age.

    Subd. 2a.    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 24, (iii) resides with or would 
 reside with a perpetrator of domestic child abuse or child abuse 
 as defined in subdivision 28, or (iv) is a victim of emotional 
 maltreatment as defined in subdivision 5a; 

    (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; 

    (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; 

    (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 an 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 260.125, an extended jurisdiction 
 juvenile prosecution, or a proceeding involving a juvenile petty 
 offense; 

    (16) is one whose custodial parent's parental rights to 
 another child have been involuntarily terminated within the past 
 five years; or 

    (17) 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. 3.  "Child-placing agency" means anyone licensed 
 under sections 245A.01 to 245A.16 and 252.28, subdivision 2. 

    Subd. 4.  "Court" means juvenile court unless otherwise 
 specified in this section. 

    Subd. 5.    Delinquent child.  (a) Except as otherwise 
 provided in paragraph (b), "delinquent child" means a child: 

    (1) who has violated any state or local law, except as 
 provided in section 260.193, subdivision 1, and except for 
 juvenile offenders as described in subdivisions 19 to 23; 

    (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; 

    (3) who has escaped from confinement to a state juvenile 
 correctional facility after being committed to the custody of 
 the commissioner of corrections; or 

    (4) who has escaped from confinement to a local juvenile 
 correctional facility after being committed to the facility by 
 the court. 

    (b) The term delinquent child does not include a child 
 alleged to have committed murder in the first degree after 
 becoming 16 years of age, but the term delinquent child does 
 include a child alleged to have committed attempted murder in 
 the first degree. 

    Subd. 5a.    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. 6. Repealed, 1988 c 673 s 40 

    Subd. 7.  "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. 8.  "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 
 260.185, 260.191, or 260.241.  The expenses of legal custody are 
 paid in accordance with the provisions of section 260.251. 

    Subd. 9.  "Minor" means an individual under 18 years of age.

    Subd. 10. Repealed, 1988 c 673 s 40 

    Subd. 11.    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 257.351, subdivision 11. 

    Subd. 12.  "Person" includes any individual, association, 
 corporation, partnership, and the state or any of its political 
 subdivisions, departments, or agencies. 

    Subd. 13.    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 dispositions, relative has the meaning given in section 
 260.181, subdivision 3. 

    Subd. 14.    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 257.351, subdivision 
 8.  

    Subd. 15. Repealed, 1982 c 469 s 10 

    Subd. 16.  "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" 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" 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.    Juvenile petty offender; juvenile petty 
 offense.  (a) "Juvenile petty offense" includes a juvenile 
 alcohol offense, a juvenile controlled substance offense, a 
 violation of section 609.685, or a violation of a local 
 ordinance, which by its terms prohibits conduct by a child under 
 the age of 18 years which would be lawful conduct if committed 
 by an adult.  

    (b) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (c), 
 "juvenile petty offense" also includes an offense that would be 
 a misdemeanor if committed by an adult.  

    (c) "Juvenile petty offense" does not include any of the 
 following: 

    (1) a misdemeanor-level violation of section 588.20, 
 609.224, 609.2242, 609.324, 609.563, 609.576, 609.66, 609.746, 
 609.79, or 617.23; 

    (2) a major traffic offense or an adult court traffic 
 offense, as described in section 260.193; 

    (3) a misdemeanor-level offense committed by a child whom 
 the juvenile court previously has found to have committed a 
 misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, or felony offense; or 

    (4) a misdemeanor-level offense committed by a child whom 
 the juvenile court has found to have committed a 
 misdemeanor-level juvenile petty offense on two or more prior 
 occasions, unless the county attorney designates the child on 
 the petition as a juvenile petty offender notwithstanding this 
 prior record.  As used in this clause, "misdemeanor-level 
 juvenile petty offense" includes a misdemeanor-level offense 
 that would have been a juvenile petty offense if it had been 
 committed on or after July 1, 1995.  

    (d) A child who commits a juvenile petty offense is a 
 "juvenile petty offender." 

    Subd. 22.    Juvenile alcohol offense.  "Juvenile 
 alcohol offense" means a violation by a child of any provision 
 of section 340A.503 or an equivalent local ordinance.  

    Subd. 23.    Juvenile controlled substance offense.  
 "Juvenile controlled substance offense" means a violation by a 
 child of section 152.027, subdivision 4, with respect to a small 
 amount of marijuana or an equivalent local ordinance. 

    Subd. 24.    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. 25.    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. 26.    Indian.  "Indian," consistent with section 
 257.351, subdivision 5, 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. 27.    Indian child.  "Indian child," consistent 
 with section 257.351, subdivision 6, 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. 28.    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, 
 609.324, 609.342, 609.343, 609.344, 609.345, 609.377, 609.378, 
 or 617.246. 

    Subd. 29.    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 toward a child that constitutes murder or 
 voluntary manslaughter as defined by United States Code, title 
 18, section 1111(a) or 1112(a); or 

    (9) conduct toward 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). 

    HIST: 1959 c 685 s 2; 1961 c 576 s 1; 1963 c 516 s 1; 1969 c 
 503 s 1,2; 1971 c 25 s 48; 1973 c 725 s 50; 1974 c 469 s 1; 1976 
 c 318 s 5-7; 1977 c 330 s 2; 1978 c 602 s 3; 1981 c 290 s 4; 
 1982 c 469 s 1,2; 1982 c 544 s 1-6; 1984 c 573 s 1,2; 1985 c 283 
 s 1; 1985 c 305 art 12 s 1; 1986 c 351 s 2; 1986 c 435 s 2; 1986 
 c 444; 1Sp1986 c 3 art 1 s 67; 1987 c 384 art 2 s 65; 1988 c 514 
 s 5; 1988 c 673 s 3-6; 1988 c 718 art 7 s 55; 1989 c 113 s 1; 
 1989 c 208 s 1; 1989 c 209 art 2 s 1; 1989 c 235 s 2-7; 1989 c 
 285 s 5,6; 1990 c 499 s 1; 1990 c 542 s 11; 1991 c 199 art 2 s 
 1; 1991 c 265 art 7 s 33; 1991 c 279 s 8; 1992 c 464 art 2 s 1; 
 1993 c 33 s 1,2; 1994 c 465 art 1 s 62; art 3 s 15; 1994 c 576 s 
 9; 1994 c 631 s 31; 1995 c 226 art 3 s 15; 1995 c 259 art 3 s 3; 
 1996 c 408 art 6 s 1; 1996 c 416 s 14; 1996 c 421 s 5; 1997 c 
 239 art 6 s 14,15; art 11 s 1; 1998 c 254 art 1 s 71; 1998 c 367 
 art 2 s 1,32; art 10 s 4,5; 1998 c 397 art 11 s 3; 1998 c 398 
 art 5 s 28; 1998 c 406 art 1 s 25,26,37; 1998 c 407 art 9 s 
 24,25