New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 18 - DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES › Chapter II - Regulations of the Department of Social Services › Subchapter C - Social Services › Article 2 - Family and Children's Services › Part 421 - Standards of Practice for Adoption Services › Section 421.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
For the purpose of this Part, the following definitions
			   shall apply:
(a)
Adoptive
			 applicant
means a married couple, an adult unmarried person, an adult
			 married person living separate and apart from his or her spouse pursuant to a
			 legally recognizable separation agreement or a decree of separation, or an
			 adult married person living separate and a part from his or her spouse for a
			 period of three years or more prior to the commencement of the adoption
			 proceeding who has applied to adopt or who has received agency approval for the
			 placement of a child in his or her home for the purpose of adoption.
(b)
Adoption services
means
			 assisting a child to secure an adoptive home through: counseling with
			 biological parent or legal guardian concerning surrender of, or legal
			 termination of parental rights with regard to a child; the evaluation of
			 child's placement needs; preplacement planning; the recruitment, study and
			 evaluation of interested prospective adoptive parents; counseling for families
			 after placement; supervision of children in adoptive homes until legal
			 adoption; and counseling of adoptive families after legal adoption.
(c)
Adoptive parent
means a
			 person with whom a child has been placed for adoption or who has adopted a
			 child with agency approval.
(d)
Adoptive placement
means the child has been placed into a home
			 for the purposes of adoption and the agency and adoptive parent or the child's
			 foster parent have signed an adoption agreement and the facts of such placement
			 have been recorded in accordance with paragraph (e) of subdivision (5) of
			 section 383-c or subdivision (5) of section 384  of the Social Services Law.
(e)
Authorized agency
means
			 an organization covered by section 371.10(a) and (b) of the Social Services
			 Law.
(f)
Biological
			 parent
means a parent who has conceived or given birth to the child,
			 or from whom the child was conceived, either in or out of wedlock.
(g)
Foster parent
means any
			 person certified or approved pursuant to section 375  of the Social Services Law, and Part 443
			 of this Title with whom a child, in the care, custody or guardianship of an
			 authorized agency, is placed for temporary or long-term care.
(h)
Legal guardian
means a
			 person to whom or an agency to which the guardianship of a child has been
			 committed by surrender in accordance with the terms of a surrender instrument
			 or pursuant to a court order under section 383-c, 384 or
			 384-b  of the Social Services Law. A
legal guardian
may also be a person appointed as a guardian of
			 the person of a child pursuant to a duly executed will or deed as provided by
			 section 81  of the Domestic Relations Law.
(i)
Legally free child
means
			 a person under the age of 18 years:
(1) whose
			 custody and guardianship have been transferred to an authorized agency as a
			 result of either a surrender instrument executed pursuant to section 383-c or
			 384  of the Social Services Law or an order
			 of the Family Court or Surrogate's Court made pursuant to section 384-b  of the Social Services Law;
			 or
(2) whose care and custody have
			 been transferred to an authorized agency pursuant to article 3, 7 or 10-C of
			 the Family Court Act, section 1055  of the Family Court Act or section 384-a  of the Social Services Law and where
			 such child's parents are both deceased, or where one parent is deceased and the
			 other parent is not a person entitled to notice pursuant to sections 111 and
			 111-a  of the Domestic Relations
			 Law.