§5106g. Definitions

For purposes of this subchapter-

(1) the term "board" means the Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect established under section 5102 of this title;

(2) the term "Center" means the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect established under section 5101 of this title;

(3) the term "child" means a person who has not attained the lesser of-

(A) the age of 18; or

(B) except in the case of sexual abuse, the age specified by the child protection law of the State in which the child resides;

(4) the term "child abuse and neglect" means the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploitation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child by a person who is responsible for the child's welfare, under circumstances which indicate that the child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened thereby, as determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary;

(5) the term "person who is responsible for the child's welfare" includes-

(A) any employee of a residential facility; and

(B) any staff person providing out-of-home care;

(6) the term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Health and Human Services;

(7) the term "sexual abuse" includes-

(A) the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct; or

(B) the rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children;

(8) the term "State" means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands;

(9) the term "task force" means the Inter-Agency Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect established under section 5103 of this title; and

(10) the term "withholding of medically indicated treatment" means the failure to respond to the infant's life-threatening conditions by providing treatment (including appropriate nutrition, hydration, and medication) which, in the treating physician's or physicians' reasonable medical judgment, will be most likely to be effective in ameliorating or correcting all such conditions, except that the term does not include the failure to provide treatment (other than appropriate nutrition, hydration, or medication) to an infant when, in the treating physician's or physicians' reasonable medical judgment-

(A) the infant is chronically and irreversibly comatose;

(B) the provision of such treatment would-

(i) merely prolong dying;

(ii) not be effective in ameliorating or correcting all of the infant's life-threatening conditions; or

(iii) otherwise be futile in terms of the survival of the infant; or

(C) the provision of such treatment would be virtually futile in terms of the survival of the infant and the treatment itself under such circumstances would be inhumane.

(Pub. L. 93–247, title I, §113, formerly §14, as added Pub. L. 100–294, title I, §101, Apr. 25, 1988, 102 Stat. 116 ; renumbered title I, §113, and amended Pub. L. 101–126, §3(a)(1), (2), (b)(7), Oct. 25, 1989, 103 Stat. 764 , 765.)

Amendments

1989-Pub. L. 101–126, §3(b)(7)(A), made technical amendment to reference to this subchapter to reflect the insertion of title designations in the original act.

Pars. (1), (2), (9). Pub. L. 101–126, §3(b)(7)(B)–(D), made technical amendments to references to sections 5101, 5102, and 5103 of this title to reflect renumbering of corresponding sections of original act.

Termination of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

For termination of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, see note set out preceding section 1681 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.