2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 32A - Children's Code › Article 28 - Indian Family Protection › Section 32A-28-2 - Definitions.

As used in the Indian Family Protection Act:
A. "active efforts" means efforts that are affirmative, active, thorough and timely and that represent a higher standard of conduct than reasonable efforts;
B. "adoptive placement" means a permanent placement of an Indian child for adoption, including an action resulting in a final decree of adoption;
C. "child custody proceeding" means an action for foster care placement, termination of parental rights, permanent guardianship or adoptive placement or an action pursuant to Section 32A-3A-8 NMSA 1978 or the Family in Need of Court-Ordered Services Act [Chapter 32A, Article 3B NMSA 1978] and includes investigations and other preliminary activities preceding the formal initiation of an action, but does not include:
(1) delinquency proceedings; and
(2) custodial proceedings or kinship guardianships pursuant to Chapter 40 NMSA 1978;
D. "cultural compact" means an agreement that documents how an Indian child placed in an adoptive or guardianship home will continue to actively participate in the child's cultural learning and activities and that is entered into among:
(1) the adoptive parents or guardians of the Indian child, which parents or guardians are not members of the Indian child's tribe; and
(2) the Indian child's tribe;
E. "discussion with an Indian tribe" means documented good faith efforts to actively communicate and work with an Indian tribe;
F. "extended family member" means a person who is defined to be an extended family member by law or custom of an Indian child's tribe or, in the absence of such law or custom, means a person who is eighteen years of age or older and who is an Indian child's grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, brother-in-law or sister-in-law, niece or nephew, first or second cousin, stepparent or godparent;
G. "fictive kin" means a person:
(1) who is not a relative or an extended family member of an Indian child and who has a significant, family-like relationship with the child or the child's family, which relationship existed prior to the child's entry into foster care;
(2) who meets the definition of "fictive kin" as established by an Indian child's tribe's law, custom or tradition; or
(3) chosen by an Indian child who is fourteen years of age or older, regardless of when the relationship between the person and the Indian child was established, when it is in the best interest of the child to identify that person as fictive kin; and
H. "foster care placement" means:
(1) an action pursuant to the Abuse and Neglect Act [Chapter 32A, Article 4 NMSA 1978] removing an Indian child from the child's parent, guardian or Indian custodian for temporary placement in a foster home or institution or the home of a guardian where the parent or Indian custodian cannot have the child returned upon demand, but in which parental rights have not been terminated; or
(2) the temporary placement of an Indian child in foster care pursuant to a voluntary agreement entered into between a parent, guardian or Indian custodian and the department pursuant to the Voluntary Placement and Family Services Act.
History:
Laws 2022, ch. 41, § 2; 2023, ch. 90, § 21.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2023 amendment,
effective July 1, 2023, in Subsection H, Paragraph H(2), after "pursuant to the", added "Voluntary Placement and".
Severability.
— Laws 2022, ch. 41, § 72 provided that if any provision of the Indian Family Protection Act, related provisions in other sections of New Mexico law or the application of such laws to any person or circumstances is held invalid for any reason in a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity does not affect other provisions of the Indian Family Protection Act and related laws.