Children's Division Glossary "M"

Section 7 is the glossary and reference chapters.  The terms in this glossary are legal, medical, psychological, and practice terms commonly used by Children’s Division (CD).  However, some of the definitions may not reflect the meaning that the general public uses.

Select a letter from the row below or scroll down to browse the index. Then select a topic from the index list.

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MALICE:  The intentional commission of a wrongful act without legal justification with the intent of inflicting injury or harm, or under circumstances such that a person acting should reasonably have known that injury or harm would result.

MALNUTRITION:  Failure to receive adequate nourishment.  Often exhibited in a neglected child, malnutrition may be caused by inadequate diet (either lack of food or insufficient amounts of needed vitamins, etc.) or by a disease or other abnormal condition affecting the body’s ability to properly process foods taken in.

MARASMUS:  A wasting away of fat and muscle, associated with inadequate or inadequately assimilated foods.

MASTER FOSTER PARENT:  An experienced Children’s Division foster parent, having received specialized instruction in the how-to’s of foster parent training, who co-leads a foster parent training session, and who receives hourly remuneration for such services.

MEDIAL:  Toward the middle or mid-line.

MEDICAL HISTORY (applies only to requests for release of non-identifying information):  Includes only information available to the Division at the time the biological parent consented to the adoption of the child or parental rights were terminated; or, information which has been added to the record by the biological parents at a later date and which the biological parent has indicated, in writing, that the information can be shared, should the adopted adult make a request for this information.  Medical information which is restricted by the provider at the time of any provider report regarding that information is not included unless the child was in Division’s custody at the time.

MEDICAL NEGLECT:  The denial or deprivation by those responsible for the care, custody, and control of the child, of medical or surgical treatment or intervention which is necessary to remedy or ameliorate a medical condition which is life threatening or causes injury.  Medical neglect includes not only serious, but mild and moderate medical neglect as well.

MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE:  A medical professional’s failure to exercise reasonable medical judgment.

MENTAL RETARDATION:  Mental retardation means unusually slow or impaired learning ability, plus impairment in adaptive functioning (life skills, social skills), and beginning before the age of 18, usually evident long before.

METABOLISM:  The sum of all physical and chemical processes which maintains the life of an organism.

METAPHYSIS:  Wider part of a long bone between the end and the shaft.  It contains the growth zone of the bone.

MINOR:  Any person under the age of 18.

MINIMUM LEVEL OF FUNCTIONING:  The lowest degree of functioning which is considered acceptable.

MISDEMEANOR:  A crime is a misdemeanor if it is so designated or if persons convicted thereof may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of which the maximum is one year or less.

MISSING CHILD OR MISSING JUVENILE:  Any person who is under the age of 17 years, whose temporary or permanent residence is in the state of Missouri or who is believed to be within the state of Missouri, whose location has not been determined, and who has been reported as missing to a law enforcement agency.

MISSING CHILD REPORT:  A report prepared on a standard form supplied by the Missouri State Highway Patrol for the use by private citizens and law enforcement agencies to report missing children or missing juvenile information to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

MISSING PERSON:  A person who is missing and meets one of the following characteristics:

1. Is physically or mentally disabled to the degree that the person is dependent upon an agency or another individual;
2. Was or is in the company of another person under circumstances indicating that the missing person's safety may be in danger;
3. Is missing under circumstances indicating that the disappearance was not voluntary;
4. Is a child or juvenile runaway from the residence of a parent or legal guardian.

MONGOLIAN SPOTS:  A type of birthmark that can appear anywhere on a child’s body, most frequently on the lower back or buttocks.  These dark pigmented areas usually fade by age five, and are seen most often in African-American, Hispanic, Oriental, and Native American babies.

MOTION:  An application to a court for a ruling, order, etc.

MOVING PARTY:  The party who initiates a law suit or other judicial proceeding.  In juvenile court, this is usually the juvenile officer or prosecuting attorney who files the petition.

MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME BY PROXY:  A form of child abuse in which a disorder of the child is fabricated by a parent.  Reported cases involve children ages infancy to eight years.  The perpetrator, usually the child’s mother, will fabricate histories, inflict physical findings, alter laboratory specimens and induce disorders to give the appearance that the child is ill.

MUNICIPAL ORDINANCE:  An ordinance duly adopted by any city, town, village or county of this state.

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