WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors, no matter their sex or gender.

Legal Information: Illinois

Statutes: Illinois

View all
Updated: 
January 23, 2024

5/600. Definitions

(a) “Abuse” has the meaning ascribed to that term in Section 103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986.1

(b) “Allocation judgment” means a judgment allocating parental responsibilities.

(c) “Caretaking functions” means tasks that involve interaction with a child or that direct, arrange, and supervise the interaction with and care of a child provided by others, or for obtaining the resources allowing for the provision of these functions. The term includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(1) satisfying a child’s nutritional needs; managing a child’s bedtime and wake-up routines; caring for a child when the child is sick or injured; being attentive to a child’s personal hygiene needs, including washing, grooming, and dressing; playing with a child and ensuring the child attends scheduled extracurricular activities; protecting a child’s physical safety; and providing transportation for a child;

(2) directing a child’s various developmental needs, including the acquisition of motor and language skills, toilet training, self-confidence, and maturation;

(3) providing discipline, giving instruction in manners, assigning and supervising chores, and performing other tasks that attend to a child’s needs for behavioral control and self-restraint;

(4) ensuring the child attends school, including remedial and special services appropriate to the child’s needs and interests, communicating with teachers and counselors, and supervising homework;

(5) helping a child develop and maintain appropriate interpersonal relationships with peers, siblings, and other family members;

(6) ensuring the child attends medical appointments and is available for medical follow-up and meeting the medical needs of the child in the home;

(7) providing moral and ethical guidance for a child; and

(8) arranging alternative care for a child by a family member, babysitter, or other child care provider or facility, including investigating such alternatives, communicating with providers, and supervising such care.

(d) “Parental responsibilities” means both parenting time and significant decision-making responsibilities with respect to a child.

(e) “Parenting time” means the time during which a parent is responsible for exercising caretaking functions and non-significant decision-making responsibilities with respect to the child.

(f) “Parenting plan” means a written agreement that allocates significant decision-making responsibilities, parenting time, or both.

(g) “Relocation” means:

(1) a change of residence from the child’s current primary residence located in the county of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, or Will to a new residence within this State that is more than 25 miles from the child’s current residence, as measured by an Internet mapping service;

(2) a change of residence from the child’s current primary residence located in a county not listed in paragraph (1) to a new residence within this State that is more than 50 miles from the child’s current primary residence, as measured by an Internet mapping service; or

(3) a change of residence from the child’s current primary residence to a residence outside the borders of this State that is more than 25 miles from the current primary residence, as measured by an Internet mapping service.

(h) “Religious upbringing” means the choice of religion or denomination of a religion, religious schooling, religious training, or participation in religious customs or practices.

(i) “Restriction of parenting time” means any limitation or condition placed on parenting time, including supervision.

(j) “Right of first refusal” has the meaning provided in subsection (b) of Section 602.3 of this Act.

(k) “Significant decision-making” means deciding issues of long-term importance in the life of a child.

(l) “Step-parent” means a person married to a child’s parent, including a person married to the child’s parent immediately prior to the parent’s death.

(m) “Supervision” means the presence of a third party during a parent’s exercise of parenting time.