Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect Kentucky

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Abandonment

Categories of Maltreatment Not Defined in Statute

DEFINITIONS

Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 600.020 (West, WESTLAW through 2/1/03)

'Abused or neglected child' means a child whose health or welfare is harmed or threatened with harm when his parent, guardian, or other person exercising custodial control or supervision of the child:

Inflicts or allows to be inflicted upon the child physical or emotional injury as defined below by other than accidental means;

Creates or allows to be created a risk of physical or emotional injury to the child by other than accidental means;

Engages in a pattern of conduct that renders the parent incapable of caring for the immediate and ongoing needs of the child, including but not limited to, parental incapacity due to alcohol and other drug abuse;

Continuously or repeatedly fails or refuses to provide essential parental care and protection for the child, considering the age of the child;
Commits or allows to be committed an act of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or prostitution upon the child;

Creates or allows to be created a risk that an act or sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or prostitution will be committed upon the child;
Abandons or exploits the child;

Does not provide the child with adequate care, supervision, food, clothing, shelter, and education or medical care necessary for the child's well-being; or

Fails to make sufficient progress toward identified goals as set forth in the court-approved case plan to allow for the safe return of the child to the parent that results in the child remaining committed to the Cabinet and remaining in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months.

'Child' means any person who has not reached his 18th birthday, unless otherwise provided.

'Dependent child' means any child, other than an abused or neglected child, who is under improper care, custody, control, or guardianship that is not due to an intentional act of the parent, guardian, or person exercising custodial control or supervision of the child.

'Emotional injury' means an injury to the mental or psychological capacity or emotional stability of a child as evidenced by a substantial and observable impairment in the child's ability to function within a normal range of performance and behavior with due regard to his age, development, culture, and environment as testified to by a qualified mental health professional.

'Parent' means the biological or adoptive mother or father of a child.

'Person exercising custodial control and supervision' means a person or agency that has assumed the role and responsibility of a parent or guardian for the child, but that does not necessarily have legal custody of the child.

'Physical injury' means substantial physical pain or any impairment of physical condition.

'Serious physical injury' means physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious and prolonged disfigurement, prolonged impairment of health, or prolonged loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.

'Sexual abuse' includes, but is not necessarily limited to, any contacts or interactions in which the parent, guardian, or other person having custodial care or supervision of the child or responsibility for his welfare, uses or allows, permits, or encourages the use of the child for the purposes of sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or another person.

'Sexual exploitation' includes, but is not limited to, a situation in which a parent, guardian, or other person having control or supervision of a child or responsibility for his welfare, allows, permits, or encourages the child to engage in an act which constitutes prostitution under Kentucky law; or a parent, guardian or other person allows, permits, or encourages the child to engage in an act of obscene or pornographic photographing, filming, or depicting of a child.

EXCEPTION

Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 600.020(1)(h) (West, WESTLAW through 2/1/03)

A parent or other person exercising custodial control or supervision of the child legitimately practicing the person's religious beliefs shall not be considered a negligent parent solely because of failure to provide specified medical treatment for a child for that reason alone. This exception shall not preclude a court from ordering necessary medical services for a child.