Section 211.021 - DefinitionsAs used in this chapter, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(1)"Adult" means a person eighteen years of age or older;(2)"Child" means any person under eighteen years of age;(3)"Juvenile court" means the juvenile division or divisions of the circuit court of the county, or judges while hearing juvenile cases assigned to them;(4)"Legal custody" means the right to the care, custody and control of a child and the duty to provide food, clothing, shelter, ordinary medical care, education, treatment and discipline of a child. Legal custody may be taken from a parent only by court action and if the legal custody is taken from a parent without termination of parental rights, the parent's duty to provide support continues even though the person having legal custody may provide the necessities of daily living;(5)"Parent" means either a natural parent or a parent by adoption and if the child is illegitimate, "parent" means the mother;(6)"Shelter care" means the temporary care of juveniles in physically unrestricting facilities pending final court disposition. These facilities may include: (a)"Foster home", the private home of foster parents providing twenty-four-hour care to one to three children unrelated to the foster parents by blood, marriage or adoption;(b)"Group foster home", the private home of foster parents providing twenty-four-hour care to no more than six children unrelated to the foster parents by blood, marriage or adoption;(c)"Group home", a child care facility which approximates a family setting, provides access to community activities and resources, and provides care to no more than twelve children.Amended by 2018 Mo. Laws, SB 800,s A, eff. 1/1/2021.Amended by 2018 Mo. Laws, SB 793,s A, eff. 1/1/2021.L. 1957 p. 642 § 211.020, A.L. 1978 H.B. 1634, A.L. 1982 S.B. 497, A.L. 2008H.B. 1550