Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Children and Families › DCF 021-99 - Safety and Permanence › Chapter DCF 50 - Facilitating Public Adoptions And Adoption Assistance › Section DCF 50.02 - Definitions

Current through June 24, 2024
In this chapter:
(1)
				"Adoption" means a process provided by law to establish the legal relationship
				of parent and child between persons who do not have that relationship by birth,
				with the same mutual rights, obligations, and legal consequences that exist
				between the child and the child's biological parents.
(2) "Adoption agency" means a public or
				private adoption agency that is licensed to accept guardianship and to place
				children under its guardianship for adoption, to license and maintain foster
				homes for the purpose of placing children for adoption, or both.
(3) "Adoption assistance" means payments by
				the department to the adoptive or proposed adoptive parents of a child that are
				designed to assist in the cost of care of that child after an agreement under
				s. 48.975(4),
				Stats., has been signed and the child has been placed for adoption with the
				adoptive or proposed adoptive parents. "Adoption assistance" may include
				monthly payments by the department under s.
				48.975(3) (a),
				Stats.; medical assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act of 1935,
				as amended, as provided under s.
				48.975(3) (b),
				Stats.; or reimbursement of nonrecurring adoption expenses as provided under s.
				48.975(3) (c),
				Stats.
(4) "Adoption information
				exchange" means a department program created to facilitate the adoption of
				children who are legally free for public adoption by promoting public adoptions
				and connecting children who are legally free for public adoption and children
				who are at legal risk with qualified prospective adoptive parents.
(5) "Bureau director" means the director of
				the division's bureau of permanence and out-of-home care.
(6) "Child" means a person under 18 years of
				age.
Note:
An adoptee who is 18 years of age or over,
				  but under 21 years of age, may be eligible for adoption assistance under s. DCF
				  50.15 (3).
(7) "County
				department" means a county department of social services under s.
				46.22, Stats.; a county
				department of human services under s.
				46.23, Stats.; or, in a county
				having a population of 750,000 or more, the department.
(8) "Department" means the department of
				children and families.
(9)
				"Division" means the department's division of safety and permanence.
(10) "Division of hearings and appeals" means
				the division of hearings and appeals in the department of
				administration.
(11) "Final
				substantiated finding" means all of the following:
(a) A final determination made after January
				1, 2015, that a person has abused or neglected a child under s.
				48.981(3) (c)
				5m, Stats., and s. DCF 40.04 if the final
				determination has not been reversed or modified on appeal.
(b) A determination made before January 1,
				2015, that a person has abused or neglected a child under s.
				48.981(3) (c)
				4, Stats., if the determination has not been
				reversed or modified on appeal.