Pennsylvania Code › Title 231 - RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE › Part II - Orphans' COURT RULES › Chapter XV - ADOPTIONS › Rule 15.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
In addition to the terms and definitions provided in Rule
				  1.3, the following words and
				  phrases when used in Chapter XV shall have the following meaning:
"Adopted Child"
or
"Adopted
				  Individual"
"__ any individual for whom a decree of adoption has been
				  entered in accordance with
				  23 Pa.C.S. §
										2902
				  after a hearing, or in accordance with the laws of another country or state of
				  a similar import;
"Adoptee"
"__ an individual as defined in
				  23 Pa.C.S. §
										2102;
"Agency"
" __an entity or organization
				  providing adoption services as defined in
				  23 Pa.C.S. §
										2102 or
				  23 Pa.C.S. § 2732, as
				  applicable;
"Authorized Representative"
" __an
				  individual as defined in
				  23 Pa.C.S. §
										2911
				  trained by the Department to handle certain requests for identifying
				  information and to search for the subject of the request as necessary;
"Birth Relative"
"__an individual as
				  identified in
				  23 Pa.C.S. §
										2732;
"Child"
" __an adoptee or adopted individual
				  who is a minor, or the individual whose parent's rights are the subject of a
				  termination proceeding;
"Clerk"
" __the clerk or department as
				  defined in
				  23 Pa.C.S. §
										2102;
"Contact Agreement"
" __a voluntary written
				  agreement between a Prospective Adoptive Parent and a birth relative that is
				  executed and approved by the court in accordance with
				  23 Pa.C.S. §§
										2731
et seq.
and provides
				  for continuing post-adoption contact or communication between the adopted child
				  and the birth relative or between the adoptive parent and the birth
				  relative;
"Court"
"__the division of the Court of
				  Common Pleas conducting any proceeding under the Adoption Act;
"Department"
" __the Department of Human
				  Services of the Commonwealth;
"Intermediary"
" __any person or agency
				  arranging an adoption placement as defined in
				  23 Pa.C.S. §
										2102;
"Minor"
" __a person who has not attained 18
				  years of age;
"Presumptive Father"
" __the man married to
				  the child's mother at any time during the one-year period prior to the child's
				  birth;
"Prospective Adoptive Parents"
"
				  __individuals with whom the adoptee has been placed for the purpose of
				  adoption, or who have filed a report of intention to adopt under
				  23 Pa.C.S. §
										2531;
"Putative Father"
"__an alleged birth father
				  whose parental status has not been legally established and who is not a
				  presumptive father;
"Statement of medical, personal, or social history
				  infor-mation"
" __the information concerning an adopted individual or
				  the birth family of an adopted individual as set forth in
				  23 Pa.C.S. §§
										2102,
				  2911. The Rules in this
				  Chapter use the term "statement of medical, personal, or social history
				  information" because the Adoption Act refers to these statements in varying
				  ways.
Compare
23 Pa.C.S. §§
										2503(e),
				  2504(d), 2511(c) with
				  23 Pa.C.S. §§
										2923,
				  2934.