2005 Connecticut Code - Sec. 46b-120. (Formerly Sec. 51-301). Definitions.
Sec. 46b-120. (Formerly Sec. 51-301). Definitions. The terms used in this chapter
shall, in its interpretation and in the interpretation of other statutes, be defined as follows:
(1) "Child" means any person under sixteen years of age and, for purposes of delinquency
matters, "child" means any person (A) under sixteen years of age, or (B) sixteen years
of age or older who, prior to attaining sixteen years of age, has violated any federal or
state law or municipal or local ordinance, other than an ordinance regulating behavior
of a child in a family with service needs, and, subsequent to attaining sixteen years of
age, violates any order of the Superior Court or any condition of probation ordered by
the Superior Court with respect to such delinquency proceeding; (2) "youth" means any
person sixteen or seventeen years of age; (3) "youth in crisis" means any youth who,
within the last two years, (A) has without just cause run away from the parental home
or other properly authorized and lawful place of abode, (B) is beyond the control of
parents, guardian or other custodian, or (C) has four unexcused absences from school
in any one month or ten unexcused absences in any school year; (4) "abused" means
that a child or youth (A) has been inflicted with physical injury or injuries other than
by accidental means, or (B) has injuries that are at variance with the history given of
them, or (C) is in a condition that is the result of maltreatment such as, but not limited to,
malnutrition, sexual molestation or exploitation, deprivation of necessities, emotional
maltreatment or cruel punishment; (5) a child may be found "mentally deficient" who,
by reason of a deficiency of intelligence that has existed from birth or from early age,
requires, or will require, for his protection or for the protection of others, special care,
supervision and control; (6) a child may be convicted as "delinquent" who has violated
(A) any federal or state law or municipal or local ordinance, other than an ordinance
regulating behavior of a child in a family with service needs, (B) any order of the Superior
Court, or (C) conditions of probation as ordered by the court; (7) a child or youth may
be found "dependent" whose home is a suitable one for the child or youth, save for the
financial inability of parents, parent, guardian or other person maintaining such home,
to provide the specialized care the condition of the child or youth requires; (8) "family
with service needs" means a family that includes a child who (A) has without just cause
run away from the parental home or other properly authorized and lawful place of abode,
(B) is beyond the control of parent, parents, guardian or other custodian, (C) has engaged
in indecent or immoral conduct, (D) is a truant or habitual truant or who, while in school,
has been continuously and overtly defiant of school rules and regulations, or (E) is
thirteen years of age or older and has engaged in sexual intercourse with another person
and such other person is thirteen years of age or older and not more than two years older
or younger than such child; (9) a child or youth may be found "neglected" who (A) has
been abandoned, or (B) is being denied proper care and attention, physically, educationally, emotionally or morally, or (C) is being permitted to live under conditions, circumstances or associations injurious to the well-being of the child or youth, or (D) has been
abused; (10) a child or youth may be found "uncared for" who is homeless or whose home
cannot provide the specialized care that the physical, emotional or mental condition of
the child requires. For the purposes of this section, the treatment of any child by an
accredited Christian Science practitioner in lieu of treatment by a licensed practitioner
of the healing arts, shall not of itself constitute neglect or maltreatment; (11) "delinquent
act" means the violation of any federal or state law or municipal or local ordinance,
other than an ordinance regulating the behavior of a child in a family with service needs,
or the violation of any order of the Superior Court; (12) "serious juvenile offense" means
(A) the violation by a child, including attempt or conspiracy to violate sections 21a-277, 21a-278, 29-33, 29-34, 29-35, 53-21, 53-80a, 53-202b, 53-202c, 53-390 to 53-392,
inclusive, 53a-54a to 53a-57, inclusive, 53a-59 to 53a-60c, inclusive, 53a-70 to 53a-71, inclusive, 53a-72b, 53a-86, 53a-92 to 53a-94a, inclusive, 53a-95, 53a-101, 53a-102a, 53a-103a, 53a-111 to 53a-113, inclusive, subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of
section 53a-122, subdivision (3) of subsection (a) of section 53a-123, 53a-134, 53a-135, 53a-136a, 53a-166, 53a-167c, subsection (a) of section 53a-174, 53a-196a, 53a-211, 53a-212, 53a-216 or 53a-217b, or (B) running away, without just cause, from any
secure placement other than home while referred as a delinquent child to the Court
Support Services Division or committed as a delinquent child to the Commissioner of
Children and Families for a serious juvenile offense; (13) "serious juvenile offender"
means any child convicted as delinquent for commission of a serious juvenile offense;
(14) "serious juvenile repeat offender" means any child charged with the commission
of any felony if such child has previously been convicted delinquent at any age for two
violations of any provision of title 21a, 29, 53 or 53a that is designated as a felony; (15)
"alcohol-dependent child" means any child who has a psychoactive substance dependence on alcohol as that condition is defined in the most recent edition of the American
Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"; and
(16) "drug-dependent child" means any child who has a psychoactive substance dependence on drugs as that condition is defined in the most recent edition of the American
Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders". No
child shall be classified as drug dependent who is dependent (A) upon a morphine-type
substance as an incident to current medical treatment of a demonstrable physical disorder
other than drug dependence, or (B) upon amphetamine-type, ataractic, barbiturate-type,
hallucinogenic or other stimulant and depressant substances as an incident to current
medical treatment of a demonstrable physical or psychological disorder, or both, other
than drug dependence.
History: 1959 act amended definition of child and substituted circuit court for town, city, police or borough courts; 1967 act changed definition of dependent child's home from "poverty" to "financial instability" for "specialized care" and redefined child; 1969 act redefined "delinquent" child, substituted "financial inability" for "financial instability" in definition of "dependent" child, substituted educational and emotional deprivation for mental neglect in definition of "neglected" child and deleted reference to living under evil associations of home conditions and redefined "uncared for" child to delete reference to child whose home is unsuitable or who cannot support himself legally or without subjecting himself to conditions prejudicial to normal development; 1971 act redefined "child" to omit those between sixteen and eighteen years old who have been transferred from circuit court to superior court jurisdiction; P.A. 75-602 defined "youth", added reference to "neglected" youths and "uncared for" youths and redefined "uncared for" to include reference to home which cannot perform specialized care needed and to specify that treatment by Christian Science practitioner does not constitute neglect or maltreatment; P.A. 76-436 replaced reference to juvenile court with reference to superior court, effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 77-577 defined "abused" and added reference to abused child in definition of "neglected" child; P.A. 79-567 defined "family with service needs" and amended definition of "delinquent" child accordingly; P.A. 79-581 defined "serious juvenile offense" and "serious juvenile offender"; Sec. 17-53 temporarily renumbered as Sec. 51-301 and ultimately transferred to Sec. 46b-120 in 1979, see note to Sec. 17-53; P.A. 80-401 changed effective date of P.A. 79-567 from July 1, 1980 to July 1, 1981; P.A. 85-226 amended definition of "delinquent" by deleting exception for order entered in matter relating to a family with service needs; P.A. 87-373 redefined "serious juvenile offense" to include a violation of Sec. 21a-277 or 21a-278; P.A. 90-161 added definitions re "alcohol-dependent child" and "drug-dependent child"; P.A. 90-240 substituted "mentally deficient" for "defective", deleted the phrase "defect of intelligence" and substituted "truant or habitual truant", as defined, for "habitually truant"; P.A. 90-325 changed effective date of P.A. 90-240 from July 1, 1990, to July 1, 1991; P.A. 91-303 removed a cite to Sec. 10-198a for the definition of truant and habitual truant; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-1 amended definition of "serious juvenile offense" to include a violation of Sec. 53a-217b; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-3 amended definition of "serious juvenile offense" to include violations of Secs. 29-35, 53a-94a, 53a-102a, 53a-103a, 53a-212 and 53a-216; P.A. 93-91 substituted commissioner and department of children and families for commissioner and department of children and youth services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-340 amended definition of "family with service needs" to add Subdiv. (E) re a child who is thirteen years of age or older and has engaged in sexual intercourse with another person within a certain age range; P.A. 95-225 inserted Subdiv. indicators, revising Subpara. indicators accordingly for statutory consistency, added definition of "delinquent act", amended the definition of "serious juvenile offense" to include violations of Secs. 29-33, 29-34, 53-21, 53-202b and 53-202c and include running away from any secure placement other than home while "referred as a delinquent child to the Office of Alternative Sanctions", amended the definition of "serious juvenile offender" to replace "adjudicated a delinquent child" with "convicted as delinquent" and added definition of "serious juvenile repeat offender"; P.A. 97-319 redefined "abused" to include exploitation of a child or youth, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 98-256 amended the definition of "child" in Subdiv. (1) to add definition of child for purposes of delinquency matters, amended the definition of a child found "delinquent" in Subdiv. (5) to replace "found" with "convicted as" and to include a child who has violated conditions of probation ordered by the court and amended the definition of "serious juvenile offense" in Subdiv. (11) to include a violation of Sec. 53a-136a; P.A. 00-177 added new Subdiv. (3) defining "youth in crisis", renumbered Subdivs. (3) to (15), inclusive, as (4) to (16), and made changes throughout section for purposes of gender neutrality, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 02-109 redefined "youth" in Subdiv. (2) by replacing "sixteen to eighteen" with "sixteen or seventeen" years of age, redefined "youth in crisis" in Subdiv. (3) by inserting "youth" in place of a specific age range and made technical changes, effective June 7, 2002; P.A. 02-132 made technical changes throughout and replaced "Office of Alternative Sanctions" with "Court Support Services Division" in Subdiv. (12).
Annotations to former section 17-53:
Cited. 154 C. 644, 648; 158 C. 439.
"Uncared for" is not limited to "uncared for by each living biological parent", but can include being cared for by close relative with the consent of biological parent. 33 CS 100.
Annotations to present section:
Cited. 187 C. 431, 434. Cited. 189 C. 276, 282. Cited. 195 C. 303, 304. Cited. Id., 344, 349. Cited. 199 C. 693, 695, 714, 716. Cited. 204 C. 630, 631, 634-636, 638. Cited. 206 C. 323, 324. Cited. Id., 346, 347, 357. Cited. 207 C. 270, 273. Cited. Id., 725, 726, 733. Cited. 211 C. 151, 153, 154, 157, 162. Cited. Id., 289, 290. Cited. 214 C. 454, 457. Cited. 215 C. 277, 278. Cited. Id., 739, 746, 748, 749. Cited. 221 C. 903. Cited. 223 C. 492, 498, 515. Cited. 229 C. 691, 694, 699, 701. Cited. 237 C. 364, 368. Cited. 240 C. 743.
Cited. 1 CA 378, 379. Cited. 2 CA 705, 706. Cited. 3 CA 158, 159. Cited. Id., 194, 195. Cited. 9 CA 98, 109. Cited. 10 CA 428, 433-436, 438. Cited. 11 CA 507, 508. Cited. 18 CA 806. Cited. 23 CA 410, 418. Where statutory requirements are met, a mother's prenatal conduct can be basis of a finding of neglect or termination of parental rights. 25 CA 586, 588- 590, 592, 593; judgment reversed, see 223 C. 492 et seq. Cited. 29 CA 600, 612, 613. Cited. 32 CA 759, 760. Cited. 36 CA 146, 147, 149. Cited. 40 CA 216. Cited. 45 CA 606. Cited. 46 CA 545. Cited. 47 CA 64. Discussed: It is not a constitutional right, but rather a statutory right, to be considered a juvenile. 51 CA 117. Adjudication of neglect may be based on potential risk of harm. 58 CA 119.
Cited. 35 CS 241, 242. Cited. 39 CS 490, 491. Cited. 41 CS 23, 28. Cited. Id., 505, 509. Cited. 42 CS 562. Cited. 43 CS 108, 124. Cited. Id., 211, 212. Cited. Id., 367, 368, 370.
Former Subdiv. (c):
Subpara. (1) cited. 199 C. 693, 714. Cited. 210 C. 435, 436.
Former Subdiv. (ii):
Cited. 39 CS 514, 516.
Former Subdiv. (iii):
Cited. 39 CS 514, 516.
Subdiv. (1):
Cited. 240 C. 727.
Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. Connecticut may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
