NH Rev Stat § 170-B:2 (2021)
2021 New Hampshire Revised Statutes|Title XII - Public Safety and Welfare|Title 170-B - Adoption|Section 170-B:2 - Definitions.

    170-B:2 Definitions. –||As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:||I. "Adult" means an individual who is not a minor.||II. "Agency" means any person licensed by existing law to place minors for adoption.||III. "Birth father" means a person or persons other than a legal father who has been named, pursuant to RSA 170-B:6, as the father of the child, or who is the subject of a pending paternity action, or who has filed an unrevoked notice of intent to claim paternity of the child pursuant to RSA 170-B:6.||IV. "Birth mother" means a woman who gestates an embryo conceived by natural or artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, or preembryo transfer, or becomes a parent pursuant to RSA 168-B:12.||V. "Child" means a son or daughter, whether by birth or by adoption.||VI. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department of health and human services.||VII. "Court" means probate court.||VIII. "Department" means the department of health and human services.||IX. "Guardian" means a person so appointed by the probate court.||X. "Legal father" means:||(a) The person designated as the father pursuant to RSA 5-C:24 on that child's birth certificate; or||(b) The person designated as the father pursuant to court order resulting from a paternity action;||(c) The person designated as the father upon legitimation pursuant to RSA 457:42; or||(d) The person that was determined by the court to be married to the birth mother at the time of either conception or birth or any time between conception and birth.||XI. "Minor" or "minor child" means any individual under the age of 18.||XII. "Parent" means mother, birth father, legal father, or adoptive parent, but such term shall not include a parent as to whom the parent-child relationship has been terminated by judicial decree or voluntarily surrender.||XIII. "Person" means an individual, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity.||XIV. "Prospective adoptive parent" means the petitioner named on an adoption petition filed in the court.||XV. "Related child" means a child within the second degree of kinship either by blood or affinity. Relatives within the second degree includes step-parents, sisters, brothers, grandparents, aunts, or uncles.||XVI. "Sibling" means one of 2 or more persons having a common parent.||XVII. "Surrender" means the release of all parental rights, including but not limited to care, custody, and control of the child, by a parent, legal guardian, or agency.||XVIII. "Voluntarily mediated agreement" means an agreement made through a court-approved mediation program between the department, birth parents, and prospective adoptive parents in contemplation of post-adoption sharing of information and/or contact regarding the adoption of a child who is either under the legal custody or guardianship of the department.|||Source. 2004, 255:1. 2005, 246:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2006; 268:5, eff. Jan. 1, 2006. 2020, 26:8, eff. Jan. 1, 2021.|