Section 385.20  Definitions

 

"Access to children" means an employee's job duties requires that the employee be present in a licensed child care facility during the hours that children are present in the child care facility.  In addition, any person who is permitted to be alone outside the visual and auditory supervision of child care facility staff with children present in a licensed child care facility is considered to have access to children.

 

"Adult" means any person who is 18 years of age or older.

 

"Authorization for background check" means a complete, signed form prescribed by the Department which authorizes a background check as defined in this Part.  An authorization for a background check may be used for the initial and all subsequent background checks required to determine compliance with the requirements of this Part.

 

"Background check" means a partial or comprehensive criminal background clearance, or a child welfare agency/congregate care background clearance for all eligible individuals living or working in a licensed child care facility or non-licensed service provider.

 

"Background check clearance" means no disqualifying offenses were identified during the background check.

 

"Child" means any person under 18 years of age. For purposes of admission to and residence in child care institutions, group homes, and maternity centers, the term also means any person under 21 years of age who is referred by a parent or guardian, including an agency having legal responsibility for the person pursuant to the Juvenile Court Act or the Juvenile Court Act of 1987.  [225 ILCS 10.201]

 

"Child Care Act" means the Illinois Child Care Act of 1969 [225 ILCS 10].

 

"Child care facility" means any person, group of persons, agency, association, organization, corporation, institution, center, or group, whether established for gain or otherwise, who or which receives or arranges for care or placement of one or more children, unrelated to the operator of the facility, apart from the parents, with or without the transfer of the right of custody, in any facility as defined in the Child Care Act, established and maintained for the care of children.  "Child care facility" includes a relative who is licensed as a foster family home under Section 4 of the Child Care Act.  [225 ILCS 10/2.05] A child care facility includes the following facilities defined in the Child Care Act of 1969: child care institution, maternity center, child welfare agency, day care center, group home, foster family home, host home, day care home, group day care home, secure child care facility, or youth emergency shelter.

 

"Child Welfare Contributing Agency" or "Contributing Agency" means a public or private entity, that by contract or agreement with the Department, provides placement or child welfare case management (or any combination of these) to children and families.

 

"Congregate care facility" means a child care facility that holds a license issued by the Department for one of the following:  Youth Emergency Shelter, Youth Transitional Housing Program, Child Care Institution, Maternity Center, Group Home, or Secure Child Care Facility.

 

"Conviction" means a judgment of conviction or sentence entered upon a plea of guilty or upon a verdict or finding of guilty of an offense, rendered by a legally constituted jury or by a court of competent jurisdiction authorized to try the case without a jury. If judgment is withheld, the plea, verdict, or finding of guilty is not a conviction under Illinois law unless and until judgment is entered. [720 ILCS 5/2-5]

 

"Denial of application for license" means the refusal to grant a license or permit to a person, group of persons, agency, association, or organization that applied for a license to operate a child care facility.

 

"Department" or "DCFS" means the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.  [225 ILCS 10/2.02]

 

"Director" means the Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

 

"Employee" as used in this Part, means any staff person employed by a child care facility, including any paid or unpaid volunteer, unlicensed contractual employee, substitute, or assistant and other support staff who have access to children.

 

"Governing body" means the board of directors of a corporation; otherwise, the term means the owners or other persons, agency, association, or organization legally responsible for the operation of the child care facility.

 

"Host home" means an emergency foster family home under the direction and regular supervision of a licensed child welfare agency, contracted to provide short-term crisis intervention services to youth served under the Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services program, under the direction of DHS.  The youth shall not be under the custody or guardianship of DCFS pursuant to the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. [225 ILCS 10/2.17(g)]

 

"Illinois Sex Offender Registry" means the registry maintained by the Illinois State Police under the Sex Offender Registration Act [730 ILCS 150].   The registry is operated and maintained by the Illinois State Police.

 

"Initial background check" means for day care homes, group day care homes, and day care centers only, the following components of a background check have been conducted and a satisfactory result received:

 

A clearance from either the FBI fingerprint check; or

 

A fingerprint clearance from the state criminal repository in the state where an individual currently resides (for residents of Illinois this is the Illinois State Police (ISP)).

 

"License" means a document issued by the Department that authorizes child care facilities to operate in accordance with applicable standards and the provisions of the Child Care Act.

 

"License applicant" means, for purposes of background checks, the operator or person with direct responsibility for daily operation of the facility to be licensed.  [225 ILCS 10/4.4]

 

"Licensing entity" means the Department or a contributing agency recommending the license or processing the employment application.

 

"Licensing representative" means a person authorized by the Department under the Child Care Act to examine facilities for licensure.

 

"Member of the household" means a person of any age whose legal residence is at a licensed foster family home, host home, day care home or group day care home, or any adult who stays in the home on a regular or part-time basis, including paramours.

 

"Minor traffic violation" means a traffic violation under the laws of the State of Illinois or any municipal authority therein or another state or municipal authority that is punishable solely as a petty offense.

 

"Multi-function agency" means an agency, association, or other organization that operates a child care facility or child welfare agency, in addition to other services not subject to licensure under the Child Care Act of 1969.  A child care facility or child welfare agency may consist of distinct units, divisions, or departments of a multi-function agency.  In a multi‑function agency, the persons with direct authority for the operations of the child care facility and those who have access to children, as defined in this Section, are subject to the background check requirements of this Part.

 

"National crime information databases means the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and its incorporated criminal history databases, including the Interstate Identification Index.

 

"National Sex Offender Public Website" means the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW), a U.S. government website that links public state, territorial, and tribal sex offender registries in one national search site.

 

"National Sex Offender Registry" means an electronic national registry of sex offenders, operated and maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Crime Information Center, established under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.).

 

"Non-licensed service provider" means an individual or entity that contracts with the Department to provide child welfare services that enable the Department to perform its duties under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act [325 ILCS 5], the Child Care Act of 1969, and the Children and Family Services Act [20 ILCS 505]. [225 ILCS 10/2.28] It also includes a person who provides child care in their home to a child for whom the Department is legally responsible on a weekly basis or several times per week; cares for no more than three children under the age of 12; or receives only children from a single household for less than 24 hours per day.  The three children include the family's own children or adopted children and any other persons under the age of 12, whether related or unrelated to the service provider.  (See 89 Ill. Adm. Code 377)

 

"Operator" means any person responsible for the day-to-day management of the child care facility.

 

"Parental involvement" means parental assistance with a child care program such as participation in field trips, parties, attendance on special days for special events, or parental support and cooperation in the classroom.

 

"Pre-hire offer of employment" means an offer of prospective employment to an individual by a child welfare agency or congregate care facility. The prospective employee must receive a complete child welfare agency/congregate care background check clearance prior to being eligible for an employment start date.  Prospective employees shall not begin work while awaiting a background check clearance.

 

"Presumption of unsuitability" means a licensee, applicant for licensure, a member of the applicant's or licensee's household, or a prospective employee or volunteer has been:

 

indicated as a perpetrator of neglect and/or abuse that resulted in a 20- or 50-year retention; or

 

indicated as a perpetrator on two separate child protection investigations, each with 5-year retentions.

 

"Probationary day care employee" means a prospective employee or volunteer of a day care facility who:

 

Has been hired on a probationary basis; and

 

Has met the initial background check requirements as defined in this Part; and

 

Is awaiting complete results of a comprehensive criminal background check. 

 

Probationary day care employees or volunteers may not be left alone with children and must always be supervised by an individual who has received a complete comprehensive criminal background check clearance within the past five years.

 

"Resource personnel" means physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, speech therapists, physical and occupational therapists, educators, and other technical and professional persons whose expertise is utilized in providing specialized services to children.  Resource personnel who are not employed by a day care facility are not required to complete a comprehensive background check through the Department as they shall not be left alone with children.

 

"Replacement or supplemental staff" means any paid or unpaid individual who is used to perform essential staff duties as evidenced by being counted in the staff-child ratio or being allowed to be alone with children in a licensed child care facility outside the visual or auditory supervision of child care facility staff.

 

"State Central Register" means a central register of all cases of suspected child abuse or neglect reported and maintained by the Department under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act [325 ILCS 5/7].

 

"Supervising agency" means a licensed child welfare agency, a license-exempt agency, or the Department.

 

(Source:  Amended at 50 Ill. Reg. 6445, effective April 24, 2026)