§7 Glossary

Children’s Division Glossary "S"

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.

- S -

SACRAL AREA:
Lower part of the back.
SADOMASOCHISTIC ABUSE:
Flagellation or torture by or upon a person as an act of sexual stimulation or gratification.
SAFE:
A child can be considered safe when there are no threats of danger to a child within the family/home or when the caregiver’s protective capacities within the home can manage or control the threats of danger.
SAFETY INTERVENTION:
Safety intervention refers to all the actions and decisions required throughout the life of a case to assure that an unsafe child is protected, expend sufficient efforts necessary to support and facilitate a child’s caregivers taking responsibility for the child’s protection, and achieve the establishment of a safe, permanent home for the unsafe child.  Safety intervention consists of identifying and assessing threats to child safety, planning and establishing safety plans that assure child safety, managing safety plans that assure child safety and creating and implementing remedial case plans that enhance the capacity of caregivers to provide protection for their children.
SAFETY PLAN:
A written, mutually agreed upon, arrangement between the worker and the family that establishes how threats of danger to child safety will be managed.
SAFETY THRESHOLD CRITERIA:
The point at which family behaviors, conditions or situations rise to the level of directly threatening the safety of a child. The safety threshold includes only those family behaviors, conditions or situations that are judged to be out of the parent/caregiver or family’s control. Safety threshold criteria includes conditions that are 1) specific and observable; 2) out of control; 3) likely to cause severe harm to the child; and 4) likely to happen in the present or near future.
SCAPEGOATING:
Casting blame or failure on an innocent persons, i.e., a child abused as punishment for problems unrelated to him.
SCHIZOPHRENIA:
A group of psychotic disorders characterized by major disturbances in thought, emotion, and behavior - disordered thinking in which ideas are not logically related, perception and attention are faulty, bizarre disturbances in motor activity, flat or inappropriate emotions, reduced tolerance for stress of interpersonal relations, causing patient to withdraw from people and reality, often into a fantasy life of delusions and hallucinations, due to a misinterpretation of reality.
SCURVY:
Condition caused by a deficiency of Vitamin C, (ascorbic acid) and characterized by weakness, anemia, spongy gums, and other symptoms.
SEALING:
In a juvenile court practice, the closure of juvenile records to all inspection except by the minor upon petition to the court.
SEIZURES:
Uncontrollable muscular contractions, usually alternating with muscular relaxation and generally accompanied by unconsciousness. Seizures, which vary in intensity and length of occurrence, are the result of some brain irritation which has been caused by disease, inherited condition, fever, tumor, vitamin deficiency, or injury to the head. Seizures may be grand mal, petit mal, psychomotor, myoclonic, or akinetic.
SENDING STATE/AGENCY (ICPC):
One of the following who sends, brings, or causes to be sent or brought a child to another ICPC member state.
  1. A Compact member state, officer or employee thereof;
  2. A subdivision of a member state officer or employee thereof;
  3. A court of a member state; or
  4. A person, corporation, association, charitable agency institution or other entity.
SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY:
Physical injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
SEXUAL ABUSE:
(As reportable under The Child Abuse/ Neglect Law). The use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child, under the age of 18, to engage in, or having a child assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct by those responsible for the child’s care, custody, and control.
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION:
(As reportable under The Child Abuse/Neglect Law). The sexual use of a child under the age of 18 by those responsible for his/her care, custody, and control for the purpose of pornography and/or prostitution.
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT:
A person commits the crime of sexual misconduct involving a child if such person:
  1. Knowingly exposes his or her genitals to a child less than fifteen years of age under circumstances in which he or she knows that his or her conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm to the child;
  2. Knowingly exposes his or her genitals to a child less than fifteen years of age for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of any person, including the child;
  3. Knowingly coerces or induces a child less than fifteen years of age to expose the child's genitals for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of any person, including the child; or
  4. Knowingly coerces or induces a child who is known by such person to be less than fifteen years of age to expose the breasts of a female child through the Internet or other electronic means for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of any person, including the child. (Section 566.083)
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE:
A disease transmitted by sexual contact. Presence of a sexually transmitted disease in a child may indicate that the mother was infected with the disease during pregnancy, or it may be evidence of sexual abuse.
SHAKEN INFANT (BABY) SYNDROME:
Injury to an infant or child resulting from the child’s having been shaken, usually as a misguided means of discipline. The most common symptoms, which can be inflicted by seemingly harmless shakings, are bleeding and/or detached retinas and other bleeding inside the head. Repeated instances of shaking and resultant injuries may eventually cause mental and developmental disabilities. (Also see SUBDURAL HEMATOMA and ABUSIVE HEAD TRAUMA.)
SHUNT:
A tube connecting a subdural space where fluid has collected to a drainage outlet, usually a blood vessel. If a child has developed a subdural collection of fluid, unless some drainage mechanism is put in place, the fluid can reaccumulate even if the child is not traumatized again. The shunt allows the brain to grow out again to reach the inner table of the skull. As soon as this has occurred, the shunt is removed. Shunts are also inserted for hydrocephalus.
SIBLING:
Children who share at least one biological or adoptive parent.
SKELETAL SURVEY:
A series of x-rays that studies all the bones of the body.
SOCIAL STUDY:
The report prepared by a probation officer or Children’s Service Worker for the judge’s consideration at a dispositional hearing. Such reports review the minor’s behavior and family history and frequently contain material that would be inadmissible in most judicial proceedings because of hearsay, lack of verification, etc. In many states, specific statutes permit their admission into evidence. Social studies may not be received by the court until after the petition has been adjudicated and jurisdiction established.
SOFT SERVICES:
Services provided to enhance the client’s personal or interpersonal development and/or improvement, such as counseling, and education.
SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN:
Children in custody of the Division legally free or potentially legally free for adoption who meet any of the following criteria:
  1. Children over ten years old.
  2. Children of minority or ethnic groups of all ages.
  3. Children who are intellectually, emotionally, or physically handicapped.
  4. Children who appear to be normal, but whose prognosis is guarded due to incest, mental illness, or retardation of parents, use of legal or illegal drugs by parents, and/or a diagnosis of venereal disease for either parent.
  5. Children who require sibling placements.
  6. Children with other impediments to adoption such as long-term foster care, legal complications, and social and genetic negatives in the family background.
SPRAIN:
Injury to a joint without tearing ligaments and tendons.
STALKING:
Stalking is purposely and repeatedly harassing or following with the intent of harassing a child. Harassing in this context means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific child that serves no legitimate purpose, and that would cause a reasonable adult to believe the child would suffer substantial emotional distress. “Course of conduct” means a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, which shows a continuity of purpose.
STATUS OFFENDER:
"  (a) child....charged with an offense not classified as criminal, or with an offense applicable only to children; except that, the juvenile court shall not have jurisdiction over any child sixteen years of age who is alleged to have violated a state or municipal traffic ordinance or regulation, the violation of which does not constitute a felony;..." (Section 211.031(2,e), RSMo.)
STATUS OFFENSE:
The term essentially refers to non-criminal misbehavior, which would not be criminal if committed by an adult (i.e., truancy, runaway, etc.). The behavior is an offense only because of the minor’s status as a minor.
STIPULATION:
An agreement between the attorneys in a case, entered into in court, allowing a certain fact to be established in evidence without the necessity for further proof.
STUDY HOME:
A foster family home or group home facility in which children’s needs are assessed and evaluated. Stay is usually short term (30-day limit). Foster parents or staff must be skilled in making such assessments.
SUBARACHNOID BLEEDING:
Bleeding that occurs between the pia and the arachnoid (membranes of the brain). (When a spinal tap is performed, the needle is put into the subarchnoid space where the spinal fluid circulates.)
SUBDURAL HEMATOMA:
A collection of blood beneath the dura (outermost membrane covering the brain). The hematoma may result from a blow to the head or from shaking. (Also see WHIPLASH-SHAKEN INFANT SYNDROME and ABUSIVE HEAD TRAUMA)
SUBJECT:
The child (age 0-18), parent, guardian, caretaker, or alleged perpetrator mentioned in a CA/N report.
SUBJECTS OF PERMANENCY PLANNING REVIEW:
Those children placed in Children’s Division (CD) custody and placed in relative homes, foster homes, group homes, residential treatment facilities, institutional care, transitional living arrangements, or independent living.
SUBPOENA:
A legal document, usually issued by a court clerk, requiring that the person named in the subpoena appear on a stated day and time at a specified court to give testimony in a case.
SUBPOENA DUCES TECUM:
Lit., "Bring with you," a subpoena served upon the person who has custody of records, commanding that such custodian bring the specified records to court on the stated day and time.
SUBSTANCE ABUSE:
The overuse of alcohol and/or chemicals to the detriment of the person’s health and well-being.
SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (S.I.D.S.):
Commonly known as “crib death” or “cot death” is a disease which causes approximately 6,500 infant deaths annually in the United States. It cannot be predicted or prevented in light of current knowledge. It has no specific symptoms and may occur in all families regardless of social or economic status. It is not caused by abuse or neglect.
SUMMONS:
A legal document, issued by the court clerk or other court officer, notifying the named person that a lawsuit or legal cause has been filed against or involves him or her, and notifying such person of any dates set for hearings and deadlines for responding to the complaint or petition.
SUPERVISION:
Barriers exist which have or may result in the child being left unattended. Being left unattended poses a risk to the child’s safety.
SUPERVISORY SIBLING CASE REVIEW:
An evaluation of whether all viable placement options have been explored and exhausted in efforts to reunite siblings, review the impact of such separation on the child’s well-being, and determine whether FST meetings are continuing to pursue potential placement providers for the sibling group. These reviews are conducted by Circuit Managers, along with the appropriate regional staff, will be conducting supervisory sibling case reviews within 30 days of sibling separation to address sibling placement.
SUTURE:
A type of joint of fibrous tissue which allows the various bony surfaces to unite. It generally applies to the joining of various bones of the skull before the child is fully mature. These sutures become separated when there is increased pressure within the brain and its surrounding membranes. Bleeding, extra fluid within the brain, or a tumor can cause the sutures to separate. This can be seen on x-ray.