§571-2  Definitions.  When used in this
chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:



"Adult" means a person eighteen years
of age or older.



"Board" means the board of family
court judges.



"Child" or "minor" means a
person less than eighteen years of age.



"Commit" means to transfer legal
custody.



"Court" means one of the family
courts as herein established.



"Criminal history record check" means
submission of an individual's fingerprints and other identifying information to
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to the Hawaii criminal justice data
center in accordance with chapter 846.



"Detention" means the temporary care
of children who require custody in physically secure facilities:



(1)  For their immediate welfare;



(2)  For the protection of the community;



(3)  While awaiting transfer to another jurisdiction;
or



(4)  Because of violation of a family court order of
probation or protective supervision.



"Family violence" means the
occurrence of one or more of the following acts by a family or household
member, but does not include acts of self-defense:



(1)  Attempting to cause or causing physical harm to
another family or household member;



(2)  Placing a family or household member in fear of
physical harm; or



(3)  Causing a family or household member to engage
involuntarily in sexual activity by force, threat of force, or duress.



"Guardianship of a minor" means the
duty and authority to make important decisions in matters having a permanent
effect on the life and development of the minor and to be concerned about the
minor's general welfare.  It includes, but shall not necessarily be limited, in
either number or kind to:



(1)  The authority to consent to marriage, to
enlistment in the armed forces of the United States, or to major medical,
psychiatric, and surgical treatment; to represent the minor in legal actions;
to make other decisions concerning the minor of substantial legal significance;



(2)  The authority and duty of reasonable visitation,
except to the extent that the right of visitation has been limited by court
order;



(3)  The rights and responsibilities of legal custody
when guardianship is exercised by the natural or adoptive parent, except where
legal custody has been vested in another individual, agency, or institution;
and



(4)  The authority to consent to the adoption of the
minor and to make any other decision concerning the minor that the minor's
parents could make, when the rights of the minor's parents, or only living
parent, have been judicially terminated as provided for in the statutes
governing termination of parental rights to facilitate legal adoption, or when
both of the minor's legal parents are deceased.



"Informal adjustment" means the
effort by intake officers, the courts, or others to provide a child referred to
them or brought before them, and where appropriate that child's family,
opportunity and aid before and in lieu of formally processing the child under
this chapter.  The objective of this effort is to afford opportunity and aid so
that the child, and where appropriate the child's family, may realize voluntary
adjustment of behavior and obtain counseling and edification so as to better
allow the child's appropriate emergence into adult society.



"Judge" means judge of the family
court.



"Legal custody" means the relationship
created by the court's decree which imposes on the custodian the responsibility
of physical possession of the minor and the duty to protect, train, and
discipline the minor and to provide the minor with food, shelter, education,
and ordinary medical care, all subject to residual parental rights and
responsibilities and the rights and responsibilities of any legally appointed
guardian of the person.



"Meaningful contact" means parent and
child interactions, activities, and experiences, performed together, which
nurture the parent-child attachment and relationship, while contributing to the
child's development in a positive and effective manner.



"Probation" means a legal status
created by court order following adjudication in a case involving a violation
of law whereby a minor is permitted to remain in the minor's home or in a
community residential or nonresidential program subject to supervision by the
court or an agency designated by the court and subject to return to the court
for violation of probation at any time during the period of probation.



"Protective supervision" means a
legal status created by court order in proceedings not involving violations of
law but where the legal custody of the minor is subject to change, whereby the
minor is permitted to remain in the minor's home or in a community residential
or nonresidential program under the supervision of the court or an agency
designated by the court and subject to return to the court during the period of
protective supervision.



"Residual parental rights and
responsibilities" means those rights and responsibilities remaining with
the parent after the transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person,
including, but not necessarily limited to, the right to reasonable visitation,
consent to adoption or marriage, and the responsibility for support.



"Senior judge" means the judge so
designated, as provided in this chapter.



"Shelter" means the temporary care of
children in physically unrestricting facilities pending court disposition.



"Status offender" means any child
coming within the family court's jurisdiction under section 571-11(2)(B), (C),
or (D).  Such child is distinguished from (A) a law violator under section
571-11(1) who comes into the family court upon allegations such person has
committed an act which would constitute a crime if committed by an adult, and
(B) a neglected child under section 571-11(2)(A) and (9) and chapter 587.



The singular includes the plural, the plural
the singular, and the masculine the feminine, when consistent with the intent
of this chapter. [L 1965, c 232, pt of §1; Supp, §333-2; HRS §571-2; am L 1972,
c 2, pt of §33; am L 1976, c 85, §3; am L 1980, c 303, §§4(1), 5(1), (2); am L
1985, c 209, §6; gen ch 1985; am L 1986, c 297, §5; am L 1987, c 283, §57 and c
316, §1; am L 1996, c 198, §2; am L 2003, c 95, §15(1); am L 2004, c 161, §29;
am L 2005, c 22, §40 and c 244, §3]



 



Rules of Court



 



  Additional definitions, see HFCR rule 121.



 



Case Notes



 



  Where defendant, a non-custodial parent, was acting within the
defendant's court-prescribed unsupervised visitation time, defendant retained,
as a "residual parental right", within the meaning of this section,
the authority to discipline defendant's child with respect to that child's
conduct during the visitation period; thus, defendant was a "parent"
for purposes of §703-309(1).  90 H. 85, 976 P.2d 399.



  The "physical harm" encompassed in the definition
of family violence in this section would not preclude a parent's right to use
force to discipline a child as permitted by §703-309(1), and duty to discipline
a child under §577-7(a).  88 H. 200 (App.), 965 P.2d 133.