Missouri Code § 211.021

Definitions.
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As 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.

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