                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 16.1-228)

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Abused or neglected child&#8221; means any child:

1. Whose parents or other person responsible for his care creates or inflicts,
threatens to create or inflict, or allows to be created or inflicted upon such
child a physical or mental injury by other than accidental means, or creates a
substantial risk of death, disfigurement or impairment of bodily or mental
functions, including, but not limited to, a child who is with his parent or
other person responsible for his care either (i) during the manufacture or
attempted manufacture of a Schedule I or II controlled substance, or (ii) during
the unlawful sale of such substance by that child&#8217;s parents or other
person responsible for his care, where such manufacture, or attempted
manufacture or unlawful sale would constitute a felony violation of &#xA7;
18.2-248;

2. Whose parents or other person responsible for his care neglects or refuses to
provide care necessary for his health; however, no child who in good faith is
under treatment solely by spiritual means through prayer in accordance with the
tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination shall for
that reason alone be considered to be an abused or neglected child. Further, a
decision by parents who have legal authority for the child or, in the absence of
parents with legal authority for the child, any person with legal authority for
the child who refuses a particular medical treatment for a child with a
life-threatening condition shall not be deemed a refusal to provide necessary
care if (i) such decision is made jointly by the parents or other person with
legal authority and the child; (ii) the child has reached 14 years of age and is
sufficiently mature to have an informed opinion on the subject of his medical
treatment; (iii) the parents or other person with legal authority and the child
have considered alternative treatment options; and (iv) the parents or other
person with legal authority and the child believe in good faith that such
decision is in the child&#8217;s best interest. No child whose parent or other
person responsible for his care allows the child to engage in independent
activities without adult supervision shall for that reason alone be considered
to be an abused or neglected child, provided that (a) such independent
activities are appropriate based on the child&#8217;s age, maturity, and
physical and mental abilities and (b) such lack of supervision does not
constitute conduct that is so grossly negligent as to endanger the health or
safety of the child. Such independent activities include traveling to or from
school or nearby locations by bicycle or on foot, playing outdoors, or remaining
at home for a reasonable period of time. Nothing in this subdivision shall be
construed to limit the provisions of &#xA7; 16.1-278.4;

3. Whose parents or other person responsible for his care abandons such child;

4. Whose parents or other person responsible for his care, or an intimate
partner of such parent or person, commits or allows to be committed any act of
sexual exploitation or any sexual act upon a child in violation of the law;

5. Who is without parental care or guardianship caused by the unreasonable
absence or the mental or physical incapacity of the child&#8217;s parent,
guardian, legal custodian, or other person standing in loco parentis;

6. Whose parents or other person responsible for his care creates a substantial
risk of physical or mental injury by knowingly leaving the child alone in the
same dwelling, including an apartment as defined in &#xA7; 55.1-2000, with a
person to whom the child is not related by blood or marriage and who the parent
or other person responsible for his care knows has been convicted of an offense
against a minor for which registration is required as a Tier III offender
pursuant to &#xA7; 9.1-902; or

7. Who has been identified as a victim of sex trafficking or severe forms of
trafficking as defined in the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000, 22 U.S.C. &#xA7; 7102 et seq., and in the federal Justice for Victims of
Trafficking Act of 2015, 42 U.S.C. &#xA7; 5101 et seq.
			If a civil proceeding under this chapter is based solely on the parent having
left the child at a hospital or emergency medical services agency, it shall be
an affirmative defense that such parent safely delivered the child within 30
days of the child&#8217;s birth to (i) a hospital that provides 24-hour
emergency services, (ii) an attended emergency medical services agency that
employs emergency medical services personnel, or (iii) a newborn safety device
located at and operated by such hospital or emergency medical services agency.
For purposes of terminating parental rights pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-283 and
placement for adoption, the court may find such a child is a neglected child
upon the ground of abandonment.
			&#8220;Adoptive home&#8221; means the place of residence of any natural
person in which a child resides as a member of the household and in which he has
been placed for the purposes of adoption or in which he has been legally adopted
by another member of the household.
			&#8220;Adult&#8221; means a person 18 years of age or older.
			&#8220;Ancillary crime&#8221; or &#8220;ancillary charge&#8221; means any
delinquent act committed by a juvenile as a part of the same act or transaction
as, or that constitutes a part of a common scheme or plan with, a delinquent act
that would be a felony if committed by an adult.
			&#8220;Child,&#8221; &#8220;juvenile,&#8221; or &#8220;minor&#8221; means a
person who is (i) younger than 18 years of age or (ii) for purposes of the
Fostering Futures program set forth in Article 2 (&#xA7; 63.2-917 et seq.) of
Chapter 9 of Title 63.2, younger than 21 years of age and meets the eligibility
criteria set forth in &#xA7; 63.2-919.
			&#8220;Child in need of services&#8221; means (i) a child whose behavior,
conduct, or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being
and physical safety of the child; (ii) a child who remains away from or deserts
or abandons his family or lawful custodian during one occasion and is
demonstratively at risk of coercion, exploitation, abuse, or manipulation or has
been lured from his parent or lawful custodian by means of trickery or
misrepresentation or under false pretenses; or (iii) a child under the age of 14
whose behavior, conduct, or condition presents or results in a serious threat to
the well-being and physical safety of another person; however, no child who in
good faith is under treatment solely by spiritual means through prayer in
accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious
denomination shall for that reason alone be considered to be a child in need of
services, nor shall any child who habitually remains away from or habitually
deserts or abandons his family as a result of what the court or the local child
protective services unit determines to be incidents of physical, emotional, or
sexual abuse in the home be considered a child in need of services for that
reason alone.
			However, to find that a child falls within these provisions, (a) the conduct
complained of must present a clear and substantial danger to the child&#8217;s
life or health or to the life or health of another person; (b) the child or his
family is in need of treatment, rehabilitation, or services not presently being
received; and (c) the intervention of the court is essential to provide the
treatment, rehabilitation, or services needed by the child or his family.
			&#8220;Child in need of supervision&#8221; means:

1. A child who, while subject to compulsory school attendance, is habitually and
without justification absent from school, and (i) the child has been offered an
adequate opportunity to receive the benefit of any and all educational services
and programs that are required to be provided by law and which meet the
child&#8217;s particular educational needs, (ii) the school system from which
the child is absent or other appropriate agency has made a reasonable effort to
effect the child&#8217;s regular attendance without success, and (iii) the
school system has provided documentation that it has complied with the
provisions of &#xA7; 22.1-258; or

2. A child who, without reasonable cause and without the consent of his parent,
lawful custodian or placement authority, remains away from or deserts or
abandons his family or lawful custodian on more than one occasion or escapes or
remains away without proper authority from a residential care facility in which
he has been placed by the court, and (i) such conduct presents a clear and
substantial danger to the child&#8217;s life or health, (ii) the child or his
family is in need of treatment, rehabilitation or services not presently being
received, and (iii) the intervention of the court is essential to provide the
treatment, rehabilitation or services needed by the child or his family.
			&#8220;Child welfare agency&#8221; means a child-placing agency, child-caring
institution or independent foster home as defined in &#xA7; 63.2-100.
			&#8220;The court&#8221; or the &#8220;juvenile court&#8221; or the
&#8220;juvenile and domestic relations court&#8221; means the juvenile and
domestic relations district court of each county or city.
			&#8220;Delinquent act&#8221; means (i) an act designated a crime under the
law of the Commonwealth, or an ordinance of any city, county, town, or service
district, or under federal law, (ii) a violation of &#xA7; 18.2-308.7, or (iii)
a violation of a court order as provided for in &#xA7; 16.1-292, but does not
include an act other than a violation of &#xA7; 18.2-308.7, which is otherwise
lawful, but is designated a crime only if committed by a child.
			&#8220;Delinquent child&#8221; means a child who has committed a delinquent
act or an adult who has committed a delinquent act prior to his eighteenth
birthday, except where the jurisdiction of the juvenile court has been
terminated under the provisions of &#xA7; 16.1-269.6.
			&#8220;Department&#8221; means the Department of Juvenile Justice and
&#8220;Director&#8221; means the administrative head in charge thereof or such
of his assistants and subordinates as are designated by him to discharge the
duties imposed upon him under this law.
			&#8220;Driver&#8217;s license&#8221; means any document issued under Chapter
3 (&#xA7; 46.2-300 et seq.) of Title 46.2, or the comparable law of another
jurisdiction, authorizing the operation of a motor vehicle upon the highways.
			&#8220;Family abuse&#8221; means any act involving violence, force, or threat
that results in bodily injury or places one in reasonable apprehension of death,
sexual assault, or bodily injury and that is committed by a person against such
person&#8217;s family or household member. Such act includes, but is not limited
to, any forceful detention, stalking, criminal sexual assault in violation of
Article 7 (&#xA7; 18.2-61 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 18.2, or any criminal
offense that results in bodily injury or places one in reasonable apprehension
of death, sexual assault, or bodily injury.
			&#8220;Family or household member&#8221; means (i) the person&#8217;s spouse,
whether or not such spouse resides in the same home with the person; (ii) the
person&#8217;s former spouse, whether or not such person resides in the same
home with the person; (iii) the person&#8217;s parents, stepparents, children,
stepchildren, brothers, sisters, half-brothers, half-sisters, grandparents, and
grandchildren, regardless of whether such persons reside in the same home with
the person; (iv) the person&#8217;s mother-in-law, father-in-law, sons-in-law,
daughters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law who reside in the same
home with the person; (v) any individual who has a child in common with the
person, whether or not the person and that individual have been married or have
resided together at any time; (vi) any individual who cohabits or who, within
the previous 12 months, cohabited with the person, and any children of either of
them then residing in the same home with the person; or (vii) an individual who
is a legal custodian of a juvenile.
			&#8220;Fictive kin&#8221; means persons who are not related to a child by
blood or adoption but have an established relationship with the child or his
family.
			&#8220;Foster care services&#8221; means the provision of a full range of
casework, treatment and community services for a planned period of time to a
child who is abused or neglected as defined in &#xA7; 63.2-100 or in need of
services as defined in this section and his family when the child (i) has been
identified as needing services to prevent or eliminate the need for foster care
placement, (ii) has been placed through an agreement between the local board of
social services or a public agency designated by the community policy and
management team and the parents or guardians where legal custody remains with
the parents or guardians, (iii) has been committed or entrusted to a local board
of social services or child welfare agency, (iv) has been placed under the
supervisory responsibility of the local board pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-293, or
(v) is living with a relative participating in the Federal-Funded Kinship
Guardianship Assistance program set forth in &#xA7; 63.2-1305 and developed
consistent with 42 U.S.C. &#xA7; 673 or the State-Funded Kinship Guardianship
Assistance program set forth in &#xA7; 63.2-1306.
			&#8220;Independent living arrangement&#8221; means placement of (i) a child
at least 16 years of age who is in the custody of a local board or licensed
child-placing agency by the local board or licensed child-placing agency or (ii)
a child at least 16 years of age or a person between the ages of 18 and 21 who
was committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice immediately prior to
placement by the Department of Juvenile Justice, in a living arrangement in
which such child or person does not have daily substitute parental supervision.
			&#8220;Independent living services&#8221; means services and activities
provided to a child in foster care 14 years of age or older and who has been
committed or entrusted to a local board of social services, child welfare
agency, or private child-placing agency. &#8220;Independent living
services&#8221; may also mean services and activities provided to a person who
(i) was in foster care on his eighteenth birthday and has not yet reached the
age of 21 years; (ii) is between the ages of 18 and 21 and who, immediately
prior to his commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice, was in the
custody of a local board of social services; or (iii) is a child at least 16
years of age or a person between the ages of 18 and 21 who was committed to the
Department of Juvenile Justice immediately prior to placement in an independent
living arrangement. &#8220;Independent living services&#8221; includes
counseling, education, housing, employment, and money management skills
development and access to essential documents and other appropriate services to
help children or persons prepare for self-sufficiency.
			&#8220;Intake officer&#8221; means a juvenile probation officer appointed as
such pursuant to the authority of this chapter.
			&#8220;Jail&#8221; or &#8220;other facility designed for the detention of
adults&#8221; means a local or regional correctional facility as defined in
&#xA7; 53.1-1, except those facilities utilized on a temporary basis as a court
holding cell for a child incident to a court hearing or as a temporary lock-up
room or ward incident to the transfer of a child to a juvenile facility.
			&#8220;The judge&#8221; means the judge or the substitute judge of the
juvenile and domestic relations district court of each county or city.
			&#8220;This law&#8221; or &#8220;the law&#8221; means the Juvenile and
Domestic Relations District Court Law embraced in this chapter.
			&#8220;Legal custody&#8221; means (i) a legal status created by court order
which vests in a custodian the right to have physical custody of the child, to
determine and redetermine where and with whom he shall live, the right and duty
to protect, train and discipline him and to provide him with food, shelter,
education and ordinary medical care, all subject to any residual parental rights
and responsibilities or (ii) the legal status created by court order of joint
custody as defined in &#xA7; 20-107.2.
			&#8220;Permanent foster care placement&#8221; means the place of residence in
which a child resides and in which he has been placed pursuant to the provisions
of &#xA7;&#xA7; 63.2-900 and 63.2-908 with the expectation and agreement between
the placing agency and the place of permanent foster care that the child shall
remain in the placement until he reaches the age of majority unless modified by
court order or unless removed pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-251 or 63.2-1517. A
permanent foster care placement may be a place of residence of any natural
person or persons deemed appropriate to meet a child&#8217;s needs on a
long-term basis.
			&#8220;Qualified individual&#8221; means a trained professional or licensed
clinician who is not an employee of the local board of social services or
licensed child-placing agency that placed the child in a qualified residential
treatment program and is not affiliated with any placement setting in which
children are placed by such local board of social services or licensed
child-placing agency.
			&#8220;Qualified residential treatment program&#8221; means a program that
(i) provides 24-hour residential placement services for children in foster care;
(ii) has adopted a trauma-informed treatment model that meets the clinical and
other needs of children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders,
including any clinical or other needs identified through assessments conducted
pursuant to clause (viii) of this definition; (iii) employs registered or
licensed nursing and other clinical staff who provide care, on site and within
the scope of their practice, and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a
week; (iv) conducts outreach with the child&#8217;s family members, including
efforts to maintain connections between the child and his siblings and other
family; documents and maintains records of such outreach efforts; and maintains
contact information for any known biological family and fictive kin of the
child; (v) whenever appropriate and in the best interest of the child,
facilitates participation by family members in the child&#8217;s treatment
program before and after discharge and documents the manner in which such
participation is facilitated; (vi) provides discharge planning and family-based
aftercare support for at least six months after discharge; (vii) is licensed in
accordance with 42 U.S.C. &#xA7; 671(a)(10) and accredited by an organization
approved by the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services; and (viii)
requires that any child placed in the program receive an assessment within 30
days of such placement by a qualified individual that (a) assesses the strengths
and needs of the child using an age-appropriate, evidence-based, validated, and
functional assessment tool approved by the Commissioner of Social Services; (b)
identifies whether the needs of the child can be met through placement with a
family member or in a foster home or, if not, in a placement setting authorized
by 42 U.S.C. &#xA7; 672(k)(2), including a qualified residential treatment
program, that would provide the most effective and appropriate level of care for
the child in the least restrictive environment and be consistent with the
short-term and long-term goals established for the child in his foster care or
permanency plan; (c) establishes a list of short-term and long-term mental and
behavioral health goals for the child; and (d) is documented in a written report
to be filed with the court prior to any hearing on the child&#8217;s placement
pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-281, 16.1-282, 16.1-282.1, or 16.1-282.2.
			&#8220;Residual parental rights and responsibilities&#8221; means all rights
and responsibilities remaining with the parent after the transfer of legal
custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to the right of
visitation, consent to adoption, the right to determine religious affiliation
and the responsibility for support.
			&#8220;Secure facility&#8221; or &#8220;detention home&#8221; means a local,
regional or state public or private locked residential facility that has
construction fixtures designed to prevent escape and to restrict the movement
and activities of children held in lawful custody.
			&#8220;Shelter care&#8221; means the temporary care of children in physically
unrestricting facilities.
			&#8220;State Board&#8221; means the State Board of Juvenile Justice.
			&#8220;Status offender&#8221; means a child who commits an act prohibited by
law which would not be criminal if committed by an adult.
			&#8220;Status offense&#8221; means an act prohibited by law which would not
be an offense if committed by an adult.
			&#8220;Violent juvenile felony&#8221; means any of the delinquent acts
enumerated in subsection B or C of &#xA7; 16.1-269.1 when committed by a
juvenile 14 years of age or older.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 16.1-141; 1956, c. 555; 1972, c. 708; 1973, c. 546; 1974,
cc. 44, 45; 1977, c. 559; 1978, c. 605; 1979, c. 15; 1981, c. 491; 1984, c. 631;
1985, c. 260; 1986, cc. 281, 308; 1987, c. 632; 1988, c. 794; 1990, cc. 704,
769, 842; 1991, c. 534; 1992, cc. 742, 830, 886; 1993, cc. 435, 467, 494; 1994,
cc. 859, 865, 949; 1996, cc. 755, 914; 1999, cc. 453, 665, 697, 721; 2002, cc.
810, 818; 2003, cc. 538, 547, 835; 2004, cc. 245, 753; 2006, c. 868; 2008, cc.
475, 483; 2011, cc. 445, 480; 2015, cc. 502, 503; 2016, c. 631; 2017, c. 623;
2018, c. 497; 2019, cc. 282, 688; 2020, cc. 95, 732, 829, 1227, 1246, 1285,
1286; 2021 Sp. Sess. I, cc. 254, 310, 550, 551; 2022, cc. 80, 81, 366, 414, 415;
2023, c. 568; 2024, c. 273; 2025, c. 31.