§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.