Florida Administrative Code › 65 - DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES › 65C - Family Safety and Preservation Program › Chapter 65C-16 - ADOPTIONS › Section 65C-16.001 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) "Abuse Hotline" means the Department's
				single statewide toll-free telephone number established for the purpose of
				receiving reports of child abuse, abandonment or neglect.
(2) "Florida Adoption Exchange" means the
				Department of Children and Families statewide website where a child or sibling
				group available for adoption without an identified family will appear for
				recruitment of an adoptive family.
(3) "Adopted from the Department" means a
				child permanently committed to the custody of the Department for the purpose of
				adoption and has been adopted by parents who have an approved adoption home
				study by the Department.
(4)
				"Adoptive Home Application" means a Department-approved application that
				captures information needed to complete a general or child specific adoption
				home study.
(5) "Adoption Home
				Study" or "Preliminary Home Study" means a written evaluation of the adoptive
				parents' capacity for adoptive parenthood. The study assesses the applicants'
				home and living environment, their marriage, if any, family and social history,
				relationships, and criminal history, if any.
(6) "Adoption Information Center" means
				Florida's Adoption Information and Referral Service, a statewide service for
				pregnant women considering placement of a child for adoption, adopted adults
				and birth parents and relatives seeking reunions and prospective adoptive
				parents interested in adopting a child.
(7) "Adoption Reunion Registry" means a
				voluntary computer database which acts as a repository for current names,
				addresses and telephone numbers of parties to any Florida adoption.
(8) "Adoption Applicant Review Committee"
				means a committee that provides consultation and assistance to an adoption
				counselor when the counselor and supervisor are recommending denial of an
				adoption home study, or adoption case situations which present challenging
				issues, such as when multiple families apply to adopt the same child.
(9) "Adoptive Placement" means the act of
				physically moving a child into the physical custody of the prospective adoptive
				parents and the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement to Adopt by the
				preadoptive parents.
(10) "At-Risk
				Placement" means a placement of a minor in the home of an approved adoptive
				parent prior to the termination of the minors' parents' parental
				rights.
(11) "Difficult-to-place"
				for a child has the same meaning as provided in Section
				 409.166(2),
				F.S. A difficult-to-place child must meet the requirements of the Social
				Security Act Sec. 473, 42
				U.S.C. 673, where conditions or
				characteristics make it harder to place a child for adoption without providing
				adoption assistance.
(12)
				"Disruption" means the termination of an adoption placement prior to legal
				finalization.
(13) "Dissolution"
				means the return of a child to out-of-home care and the subsequent termination
				of the parental rights of the adoptive parents.
(14) "Extension of Maintenance Adoption
				Subsidy" means benefits provided to a family for a child who meets the
				eligibility criteria established in Section
				 409.166(4),
				F.S.
(15) "Interstate Compact on
				the Placement of Children" means an agreement among states, enacted into law in
				all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, which governs
				the interstate movement of children. It establishes procedures for the
				interstate adoptive or out of home placement of children, including
				post-placement supervision.
(16)
				"Match Staffing" means a staffing that is convened to match a child available
				for adoption without an identified adoptive family with prospective adoptive
				families with non-child-specific approved adoption home studies.
(17) "Significant Emotional Tie" means a
				substantial attachment between a child and his or her caretaker that is
				critical to a child's present and future well-being. The assessment of this
				attachment must include such factors as the length of time the child has known
				the caretaker and the attachment that exists in the relationship. This term is
				also used in the evaluation of a child's eligiblity for adoption subsidy when
				the question of eligibility rests solely on his or her adoption by the current
				caregiver.
Rulemaking Authority
					 63.233,
					 409.166(8),
					 409.167(6) FS.
					 Law Implemented 63.092,
					 63.165,
					 409.166,
					 409.167
					 FS.
New 4-28-92, Amended 4-19-94, Formerly 10M-8.0013, Amended
					 12-4-97, 8-19-03, 11-30-08, 7-7-16, 12-16-18, 8-15-21,
					 7-20-23.