Guam § 13101 - Definitions.

§ 13101. Definitions.

For purposes of this Chapter:

(a) “Abandonment” means the desertion or willful forsaking of a minor by the person responsible

for the child’s welfare under circumstances in which a reasonable person would continue to provide

care or custody;

(b) “Abused or neglected child” means a child whose physical or mental health or welfare is

harmed or threatened with harm by the acts or omissions of the person(s) responsible for the child’s

welfare;

(c) “Authorized agency” means a department or other public or private agency, or a person,

organization, corporation, or benevolent society or association which is licensed or approved by such

department or agency or the court to receive children for control, care, maintenance or placement;

(d) “Child” means a person under the age of 18 years;

(e) “Child protective agency” means the Guam Police Department, the Office of Special

Investigation, Naval Investigative Service, the Attorney General’s Office, or the Department of Public

Health and Social Services and its authorized representatives, including but not limited to Child

Protective Services;

(f) “Child protective proceeding” means any action, hearing or other civil proceeding before the

court under this Chapter;

(g) “Child Protective Services” means the agency established by § 13301 of this Chapter under

the Department of Public Health and Social Services;

(h) “Clear and convincing evidence” means that measure of degree of proof which will produce

in the mind of the trier of fact a firm belief or conviction as to the truth of the allegations sought to be

established;

(i) “Criminal history record check” means an examination of an individual’s criminal history

record through fingerprint analysis or name inquiry into territorial, state and national criminal history

record files, including but not limited to the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Guam

Police Department, the Prosecution Division of the Attorney General’s Office, and the Child Protective

Services; provided, that the information obtained shall be used exclusively for purposes under this

Chapter and shall be subject to applicable federal and local laws and regulations;

(j) “Department” means the Department of Public Health and Social Services and its authorized

representatives, including but not limited to the Child Protective Services;

(k) “Disposition hearing” means a hearing held pursuant to § 13320 of this Chapter;

(l) “Expunge” means to strike out or obliterate entirely so that the expunged information may not

be stored, identified or later recovered by any means: mechanical, electronic or otherwise;

(m) “Fact-finding hearing” means an adjudicatory hearing held pursuant to § 13318 of this

Chapter to determine the truth of the allegations contained in the petition filed under this Chapter;

(n) “Family” means each legal parent, the grandparents, each parent’s spouse, each sibling or

person related by consanguinity up to the second degree or by marriage, each person residing in the

same dwelling unit, and any other person or legal entity which is a child’s legal or physical custodian

or guardian, or who is otherwise responsible for the child’s care;

COL 2025-12-23

(o) “Family Court” means the court established pursuant to § 5101, Title 19 Guam Code

Annotated;

(p) “Family home” means the home of the child’s parents or legal custodian where there is the

provision of care for the child’s physical and psychological health and welfare;

(q) “Foster care” means when a child is placed, pursuant to an order of the court, in a residence

which has been designated as suitable by an authorized agency or the court for the appropriate care of

a child;

(r) “Foster custody” means the legal status created by an order of the court after the court has

determined that the child’s family is not presently willing and able to provide the child with a safe

family home;

(s) “Guardian ad litem” means a person appointed by the court pursuant to § 13308 of this Chapter

whose role is to protect and promote the needs and interests of the child or ward;

(t) “Harm to a child’s physical health or welfare” occurs in a case where there exists evidence of

injury, including but not limited to:

(1) Any case where the child exhibits evidence of:

(A) skin bruising or any other internal bleeding,

(B) any injury to skin causing bleeding,

(C) burn or burns,

(D) poisoning,

(E) fracture of any bone,

(F) subdural hematoma

(G) soft tissue swelling,

(H) extreme pain,

(I) death or

(J) disfigurement or impairment of any bodily organ, and such injury is inflicted by

other than accidental means, by excessive corporal punishment or where the history given

concerning such condition or death is at variance with the degree or type of such condition

or death; or

(2) Any case where the child has been the victim of a sexual offense as defined in the

Criminal and Correctional Code; or

(3) Any case where there exists injury to the psychological capacity of a child such as failure

to thrive, extreme mental distress, or gross emotional or verbal degradation as is evidenced by an

observable and substantial impairment in the child’s ability to function within a normal range of

performance with due regard to the child’s culture; or

(4) Any case where the physical health of the child is adversely affected because the person

responsible for the child’s welfare has not regularly provided the child, in a timely manner, with

adequate food, clothing, shelter, psychological care, physical care, health care or supervision,

when financially able to do so or if offered financial assistance or health care or other reasonable

means to do so. “Adequate health care” includes any medical or non-medical health care

permitted or authorized under Guam laws; provided, however, that a person responsible for the

COL 2025-12-23

child’s welfare who, while legitimately practicing his or her religious beliefs, does not specify

medical treatment for a child should not for that reason alone be considered as harming or

threatening harm to the child; or

(5) Any case where the child is provided with a controlled substance as defined by the

Criminal and Correctional Code. However, this paragraph shall not apply to a child’s family who

provides such drugs to the child pursuant to the direction or prescription of a practitioner as

defined in § 67.12(t) of the Criminal and Correctional Code of Guam; or

(6) Any case where the child is abandoned.

(u) “Indicated report” means a report made pursuant to this Article if an investigation by a child

protective agency results in a determination by Child Protective Services that substantial evidence of

the alleged abuse exists based on available medical evidence and the investigation or an admission of

the acts of harm or threatened harm by the person responsible for the child’s welfare;

(v) “Licensing agency” means any department or agency that licenses child care facilities;

(w) “Long-term foster custody” means the legal status created by order of the court after the court

has determined by clear and convincing evidence that it is in the best interests of the child to order an

appropriate long-term plan concerning the child;

(x) “Party” means an authorized agency, the child, the child’s family member or members who

are required to be summoned pursuant to § 13306 of this Chapter, any other member of the child’s

family, or any other person who is alleged in the petition filed under this Chapter or who is

subsequently determined at any child protective proceeding to be encouraging, causing or contributing

to the acts or condition which bring the child within this Chapter;

(y) “Permanency plan” is a specific written plan prepared by Child Protective Services which sets

forth the goal of the child’s permanent placement as being either adoption, permanent foster custody

with subsequent adoption or guardianship, or permanent foster custody until majority.

(z) “Permanency plan hearing” means a hearing held pursuant to § 13324 of this Chapter.

(aa) “Person responsible for the child’s welfare” includes the child’s parent, guardian, foster

parent, an employee of a public or private residential home or an institution or authorized agency

responsible for the child’s welfare;

(bb) “PINS” means a person in need of services who has been harmed as defined in this § 13101.

(cc) “Police officer” means a person employed by the government of Guam to enforce the laws

and ordinances for preserving the peace, safety, and good order of the community;

(dd) “Preliminary hearing” means a hearing held pursuant to § 13317 of this Chapter;

(ee) “Preponderance of evidence” means evidence which as a whole shows that the fact sought

to be proved is more probable than not;

(ff) “Progress hearing” means any hearing held pursuant to § 13322 of this Chapter;

(gg) “Protective custody” means the legal status of a child whose physical custody is retained by

a police officer, Child Protective Services social worker or physician pursuant to § 13302 of this

Chapter in order to protect such child from harm or threatened imminent harm;

(hh) “Reasonable cause to believe” means evidence which would cause a reasonable person to

believe;

COL 2025-12-23

(ii) “Service plan” means a specific written plan prepared by Child Protective Services and

presented to members of the child’s family which indicates the specific services or treatment with

which the parties will be provided, the specific actions the parties must take, the specific

responsibilities that the parties must assume, and the specific consequences that may be reasonably

anticipated to result from the parties’ success or failure in complying with the plan;

(jj) “Subject of the report” means any child reported to the central register of child abuse and the

person(s) responsible for the child’s welfare named in the report;

(kk) “Substantiated report” means a report made pursuant to this Chapter if there has been any

judicial adjudication based on a finding that a child who is a subject of the report is an abused or

neglected child;

(ll) “Suspected report” means any report that is not indicated, substantiated or unsubstantiated;

(mm) “Temporary foster custody” means a legal status created under this Chapter pursuant to an

order of the court whereby the Department assumes the duties and rights of a foster custodian over a

child;

(nn) “Threatened harm” means any reasonably foreseeable, substantial risk of harm to a child

with due consideration being given to the age of the child;

(oo) “Unsubstantiated report” means any report made pursuant to this Chapter if an investigation

by a child protective agency results in a determination by Child Protective Services that substantial

evidence of the alleged abuse does not exist.

2025 NOTE: Reference to “territorial” in subsection (t)(4) replaced with “Guam” pursuant to 1 GCA § 420.

ARTICLE 2

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT REPORTING ACT