9.04.010 Definitions

As used in this Act, unless the context otherwise required:

(a) "Adoptee" means a person of any age who has been legally adopted.

(b) "Adoption" means the judicial act of creating the legal relationship of parent and child where it did not exist previously.

(c) "Adoptive parent" means an adult who has become the mother or father of a child through the legal process of adoption.

(d) "Adult" means a person 18 or more years of age.

(e) "Agency" means any entity authorized pursuant to the laws of any jurisdiction within the United States to place children preliminary to adoption, and has the approval of the Tribal Council to act on the reservation.

(f) "Birth parent" means the mother or father of genetic origin of a child, but does not include a putative father of a child.

(g) "Child" means a son or daughter by birth or by adoption.

(h) "Court" means the Tribal Court.

(i) "De facto parent" means a person, other than a parent, who has exercised physical care, custody, or control of a child for at least eighteen months, has developed a parental relationship with the child based upon significant emotional and psychological ties between them, and wishes to assume the status of de facto parent.

(j) "Family assessment" means a comprehensive study of prospective adoptive parents, or in the case of a single parent adoption, or a prospective adoptive parent by an agency for the purpose of determining whether the prospective adoptive parent can provide a suitable adoptive home for a specific child with special needs or a category of children having certain special needs.

(k) Genetic and social history" means a comprehensive report, when obtainable, on the birth parents, which shall contain the following information:

(1) Medical history,

(2) Health status,

(3) Cause of and age at death,

(4) Height, weight, eye and hair color,

(5) Ethnic origins; and

(6) where appropriate, levels of educational and professional achievement.

(l) "Guardian Ad Litem" means an attorney or other person appointed by the Court to represent the interest of a child.

(m) "Health history" means a comprehensive report of the child's current health status and medical history, including neo-natal, psychological, physiological, and medical care history.

(n) "Minor" means a person under eighteen years of age who has not been emancipated according to the laws of this State.

(o) "Parent" means the birth of adoptive mother or the birth or adoptive father whose parental rights have not been terminated.

(p) "Parent-child relationship" means the biological, emotional, and psychological ties, along with the rights, powers privileges, immunities, duties, and obligations existing between parent and child as defined by Tribal and/or State Law.

(q) "Putative father" means any man not deemed or adjudicated under the laws of a jurisdiction of the United States to be the father of genetic origins of a child and who claims or is alleged to be the father of genetic origin of such child.

(r) Social Service Board means Bureau of Indian Affairs Social Services or any equivalent Tribal Agency so designated by the Tribal Council.