Illinois Code § 2.36

§ 2.36.

Certified relative caregiver. "Certified relative caregiver" means a person responsible for the care and supervision of a child placed in a certified relative caregiver home by the Department, other than the parent, who is a relative. As used in this definition, "relative" means a person who is: (i) related to a child by blood, marriage, tribal custom, adoption, or to a child's sibling in any of the foregoing ways, even though the person is not related to the child, when the child and the child's sibling are placed together with that person or (ii) fictive kin. For children who have been in the guardianship of the Department following the termination of their parents' parental rights, been adopted or placed in subsidized or unsubsidized guardianship, and are subsequently returned to the temporary custody or guardianship of the Department, a "relative" shall include any person who would have qualified as a relative under this Section prior to the termination of the parents' parental rights if the Department determines, and documents, or the court finds that it would be in the child's best interests to consider this person a relative, based upon the factors for determining best interests set forth in subsection (4.05) of Section 1-3 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. (Source: P.A. 103-1061, eff. 7-1-25.)