If the following terms are defined differently than below (General Definitions), please provide definitions for the following types of placements as defined within your state. If definitions in your state are the same, please type the word same in the space provided. (only 250 characters per answer will be accepted).
Adoption
A court action in which an adult assumes legal and other responsibilities for another, usually a minor.
Foster-Adopt
N/A
Foster Care
"Foster care for children" means the provision of substitute parental child care for those children who are in need of care for which the child's parent, guardian, or custodian is unable, neglects, or refuses to provide, and includes the provision of food, shelter, security and safety, guidance, and comfort on a twenty-four-hour basis, to one or more children under twenty-one years of age to safeguard the child's growth and development and to minimize and counteract hazards to the child's emotional health inherent in the separation from the child's family."Foster care for children" means the provision of substitute parental child care for those children who are in need of care for which the child's parent, guardian, or custodian is unable, neglects, or refuses to provide, and includes the provision of food, shelter, security and safety, guidance, and comfort on a twenty-four-hour basis, to one or more children under twenty-one years of age to safeguard the child's growth and development and to minimize and counteract hazards to the child'emotional health inherent in the separation from the child's family.>
Parent
Same
Relative
Child's grandparent, great-grandparent, sibling, half-sibling, aunt, great-aunt, uncle, great-uncle, nephew, niece or first cousin; an individual with a relationship to the child, derived through a current or former spouse of the child's parent, similar to a relationship described above; an individual recognized in the child's community as having a relationship with the child similar to a relationship described above.
Relative Foster Care-Same
Adoption
is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. Adoption results in the severing of the parental responsibilities and rights of the biological parents and the placing of those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parents. After the finalization of an adoption, there is no legal difference between biological and adopted children.
The types of adoptions permitted by each state are governed by state law:
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Private Agency - are adoptions facilitated by a private licensed agency (i.e. domestic and international).
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Independent - are adoptions facilitated by an attorney, other intermediary, or adoption facilitator as defined by state law.
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Public - are adoptions facilitated by a public state or local agency and involve children who are in the custody of a state/local government agency.
Days
means “Calendar” (not business) days.
Foster - Adopt
is an individual who has been approved as a licensed foster parent and who has made an offer of an adoption commitment if the child becomes legally free.
Foster Care (Provider)
is any person other than a natural or adoptive parent with whom a child is in the care, custody, or guardianship of the State Child Welfare Agency and placed by said division, or with its approval for temporary or long-term care but shall not include any person with whom a child is placed for the purpose of adoption. Foster home means and includes private residences that are licensed, or specialized group homes.
Foster Care Maintenance Payments
means payments to cover the cost of (and the cost of providing) food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, school supplies, a child's personal incidentals, liability insurance with respect to a child, and reasonable travel to the child's home for visitation. In the case of institutional care, such term shall include the reasonable costs of administration and operation of such institution as are necessarily required to provide the items described in the preceding sentence.
Legal Risk Adoptions
A legal risk adoption, or a legal risk placement, is one where a prospective adoptive child is placed in your home although the child is not yet legally free to be adopted.
License/certification/approval
means approval and or certification granted by the authority of a state regulatory agency.
Live Scan
is an electronic computerized technology which digitally scans fingerprints and provides immediate transmission of fingerprint records to the Department of Justice, FBI or other authorized receiving agency.
Parent
is a biological, adoptive parent or legal guardian as determined by applicable State law and is responsible for the care, custody and control of a child or upon whom there is legal duty for such care.
Relative
is a birth or adoptive brother, sister, stepparent, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, niece, nephew, as well as relatives of half blood or marriage and those denoted by the prefixes of grand and great including grand parent or great grandparent, or as defined in your state statute for the purpose of foster and or adoptive placements.
Relative-Foster Care
refers to a person who meets the definition of a relative as noted above and has been approved as a licensed foster parent.
