10-7102.

§10-7102.


    A.  1.  It is the policy of this state to provide for the
protection of children who have been abused or neglected and who may
be further threatened by the conduct of persons responsible for the
care and protection of such children.
    2.  It is the policy of this state that in responding to a report
of child abuse or neglect, in any necessary removal of a child from
the home, in placements of a child required pursuant to the Oklahoma
Child Abuse Reporting and Prevention Act and in any administrative or
judicial proceeding held pursuant to the provisions of the Oklahoma
Child Abuse Reporting and Prevention Act, the best interests of the
child shall be of paramount consideration.
    B.  As used in the Oklahoma Child Abuse Reporting and Prevention
Act:
    1.  "Abuse" means harm or threatened harm to a child's health or
safety by a person responsible for the child's health or safety
including sexual abuse and sexual exploitation;
    2.  "Harm or threatened harm to a child's health or safety"
includes, but is not limited to:
         a.   nonaccidental physical or mental injury,
         b.   sexual abuse,
         c.   sexual exploitation,
         d.   neglect, or
         e.   failure or omission to provide protection from harm or
              threatened harm;
    3.  "Neglect" means failure or omission to provide:
         a.   adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and
              supervision, or
         b.   special care made necessary by the physical or mental
              condition of the child;
    4.  "Child" means any person under the age of eighteen (18) years
except any person convicted of a crime specified in Section 7306-1.1
of this title or any person who has been certified as an adult
pursuant to Section 7303-4.3 of this title and convicted of a felony;
    5.  "Person responsible for a child's health or safety" includes
a parent; a legal guardian; custodian; a foster parent; a person
eighteen (18) years of age or older with whom the child's parent
cohabitates or any other adult residing in the home of the child; an
agent or employee of a public or private residential home,
institution, facility or day treatment program as defined in Section
175.20 of this title; or an owner, operator, or employee of a child
care facility as defined by Section 402 of this title;
    6.  "Sexual abuse" includes but is not limited to rape, incest
and lewd or indecent acts or proposals, as defined by law, by a
person responsible for the child's health or safety;
    7.  "Sexual exploitation" includes, but is not limited to,
allowing, permitting, or encouraging a child to engage in
prostitution, as defined by law, by a person responsible for the
child's health or safety or allowing, permitting, encouraging, or
engaging in the lewd, obscene, or pornographic photographing,
filming, or depicting of a child in those acts as defined by the
state law, by a person responsible for the child's health or safety;
    8.  "Multidisciplinary personnel" means any team established
pursuant to Section 7110 of this title of three or more persons who
are trained in the prevention, identification, investigation,
prosecution and treatment of child physical and sexual abuse or
neglect cases and who are qualified to facilitate a broad range of
interventions and services related to child abuse or neglect;
    9.  "Assessment" means a systematic process utilized by the
Department of Human Services to respond to reports of alleged child
abuse or neglect which, according to priority guidelines established
by the Department, do not constitute a serious and immediate threat
to the child's health or safety.  The assessment includes, but is not
limited to, the following elements:  an evaluation of the child's
safety, a determination of the factors of the alleged abuse or
neglect, and a determination regarding the family's need for
prevention and intervention-related services;
    10.  "Investigation" means an approach utilized by the Department
to respond to reports of alleged child abuse or neglect which,
according to priority guidelines established by the Department,
constitute a serious and immediate threat to the child's health or
safety.  An investigation includes, but is not limited to, the
following elements:  an evaluation of the child's safety, a
determination whether or not child abuse or neglect occurred, and a
determination regarding the family's need for prevention and
intervention-related services;
    11.  "Services not needed determination" means a report in which
a child protective services worker, after initiating an investigation
or assessment, determines that there is no identified risk of abuse
or neglect;
    12.  "Services recommended determination" means a report which is
determined to be unfounded or for which there is insufficient
evidence to fully determine whether child abuse or neglect has
occurred, but one in which the Department determines that the child
and the child's family could benefit from receiving prevention and
intervention-related services;
    13.  "Confirmed report - services recommended" means a report
which is determined by a child protective services worker, based upon
some credible evidence, to constitute child abuse or neglect which is
of such a nature that the Department recommends prevention and
intervention-related services for the parents or persons responsible
for the care of the child or children, but for which initial court
intervention is not required;
    14.  "Confirmed report - court intervention" means a report which
is determined by a child protective services worker, based upon some
credible evidence, to constitute child abuse or neglect which is of
such a nature that the Department finds that the child's health or
safety is threatened;
    15.  "Child protective services worker" means a person employed
by the Department of Human Services with sufficient experience or
training as determined by the Department in child abuse prevention
and identification;
    16.  "Department" means the Department of Human Services;
    17.  "Commission" means the Commission for Human Services; and
    18.  "Prevention and intervention-related services" means
community-based programs that serve children and families on a
voluntary and time-limited basis to help reduce the likelihood or
incidence of child abuse and neglect.