The following words and terms, when used in this Subchapter, shall have the following meaning, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

     "Adoptee" means a person who is adopted or is to be adopted.

     "Adoption" means a way of providing security for and meeting the developmental needs of a child by legally transferring ongoing parental responsibilities for that child from the parent(s) or legal guardian to the adoptive parent(s), and, in the process, creating a new kinship network that links the birth family and the adoptive family through the child.

     "Adoption Assistance" means assistance provided to the adoptive family based on the needs of the child that may include a monthly payment, medical card, or both, and reimbursement of attorney's fees related to the finalization of the adoption.

     "Adoption Assistance Agreement" means a binding, contractual agreement between an adoptive parent(s) and Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) that specifies:

• (A) the duration of the agreement;
• (B) the nature and amount of any payment, service, and assistance to be provided;
• (C) the agreement shall remain in effect regardless of the state in which the adoptive parent(s) resides;
• (D) the interests of the child are protected in cases where the adoptive parent(s) and the child move to another state; and
• (E) the requirements of the adoptive parent(s) to continue to receive the assistance.

     "Adoption Assistance Agreement, Agreement Only" means an agreement where:

• (A) the adoptive parent(s) chooses to defer the receipt of a medical card, monthly monetary payment, or both and elect to maintain the option to receive a medical card, money payment, or both at some point in the future; or
• (B) the child is not immediately eligible for adoption assistance benefits but is at risk of developing a special need that would make them eligible for adoption assistance after finalization of the adoption.

     "Adoption disruption" means the interruption of an adoption after placement of the child and before legal finalization of the adoption.

     "Adoption Party" means an event held to introduce children in the custody of OKDHS with a goal of adoption to prospective adoptive families in order to facilitate an adoptive placement.

     "Adoption specialist" means an OKDHS Child Welfare (CW) worker whose primary responsibilities include:

• (A) identification of children in OKDHS custody in need of adoption planning in consultation with OKDHS CW staff;
• (B) recruitment and adoptive home development;
• (C) full disclosure of all known history of the child to a prospective adoptive family;
• (D) trial adoptive placement;
• (E) post placement planning and supervision; and
• (F) legal consummation of adoptive placements.

     "Adoption transition specialist" means an OKDHS CW worker whose primary responsibilities include:

• (A) identification of children in OKDHS custody in need of adoption planning in consultation with OKDHS CW staff;
• (B) assessment and preparation of children for adoption;
• (C) adoptive planning and recruitment for children;
• (D) sibling visitation and reunification efforts; and
• (E) transition of children into adoptive homes.

     "Agency Decline" means a decision made by OKDHS not to proceed with placement of a child in an authorized adoptive home.

     "Alleged father" means a man who alleges himself to be, or is alleged to be, the genetic father or a possible genetic father of a child, but whose paternity has not been determined.  The term does not include a presumed father.  [10 O.S. § 7700-102]

     "Approved adoptive family" means an adoptive family who has completed the required assessment process per OAC 340:75-15-88.

     "Attachment" means a psychologically rooted tie between two persons that permits them to have affectual significance for each other.

     "Authorized adoptive placement" means permission from OKDHS Children and Family Services Division to proceed with an offer of a child to an approved adoptive family.

     "BIS" means Bridge in-service training.  This training is provided to resource families regarding the requirements to be a Bridge Family.

     "Blind showing" means an OKDHS sponsored arrangement for a prospective adoptive parent(s) to view a child without meeting or being introduced to the child as a prospective parent(s).

     "Bridge family or resource family"  means a family who may be asked to:

• (A) provide temporary care, love, and nurturance to the child and serve as a mentor actively helping the parent improve their ability to safely care for their children while staying connected and assisting in the transition to reunification, legal guardianship, or adoption to another family; and/or
• (B) serve as the legal guardian for the child while maintaining a child's connection to kin, culture, and community; and/or
• (C) adopt the child while maintaining a child's connection to kin, culture, and community.

     "Child Profile" means the child's biological family background, social, educational, and medical history of a child prepared when the child's permanency plan becomes adoption. This profile is provided to adoptive families after an authorization is completed and prior to placement of the child in the adoptive home for purposes of full disclosure.  • 1

     "Child with special needs" means a child who may be difficult to place for adoption due to a serious physical or mental disability, emotional disturbance, high risk to develop a physical or mental disability, age, sibling relationship, racial or cultural factors, or a combination of these conditions, per Public Law 96-272.

     "Concurrent planning" means the provision of reunification services to a child in OKDHS custody and the child's parent(s) or legal guardian while simultaneously developing an alternative plan, in case reunification efforts fail or are no longer feasible.

     "Culture" means shared values, norms, traditions, customs, arts, history, folklore, and institutions of persons who share historical or geographical proximity.  Culture is not synonymous with race or ethnicity.

     "Decline" means a family's decision, for whatever reason, to not pursue placement of a child for whom they have been authorized.

     "Directive" means a form signed by the Director of OKDHS or designee authorizing an OKDHS employee to sign consent to the adoption of a child who is in OKDHS custody.

     "Disclosure" means a process in which OKDHS provides medical, psychological, educational, and social history, including the child profile, to a Bridge adoptive family authorized for a specific child.

     "Dissolution of adoption" means the act of ending an adoption by a court order terminating the legal relationship between the child and the adoptive parent(s).  This term applies only after finalization of the adoption.

     "Finalized adoption" means the legal consummation of an adoption.

     "Indian Child Welfare Act" means legislation that mandates minimum standards for the removal and placement of Indian children from their families and tribes per Section 1901 of Title 25 of the United States Code and Section 40 et seq. of Title 10 of the Oklahoma Statutes.

     "Integrated Assessment" means an assessment, of a family interested in becoming a Bridge resource family for OKDHS, that is completed by OKDHS staff or by a contractor of OKDHS. The assessment consists of an evaluation of the family's ability to foster and adopt, and includes, but is not limited to:

• (A) consideration of criminal and CW history;
• (B) the safety and physical ability of the home to integrate a new family member;
• (C) the number and ages of children in the home;
• (D) references;
• (E) military history; and
• (F) household income.

     "Interlocutory decree" means a temporary court order, after the filing of the adoption petition, that gives the petitioner temporary care and custody of the child until the final decree of adoption is entered.

     "Licensed child-placing agency" means a private agency that is licensed by OKDHS.  A licensed child-placing agency is authorized to approve families for adoptive placement, and to place children who are legally available for adoption.

     "Life Book" means a compilation of photographs, documents, mementos, illustrations, and narrative accounts of important events in a child's and family's life.  The child's Life Book is compiled with or for a child who is in OKDHS custody in an effort to prepare a child for placement.  The adoptive family's Life Book is completed by the family as a part of the assessment process.

     "Master adoptive parent" means an experienced adoptive parent who serves as a support person to adoptive families.

     "Media recruitment" means the use of newspaper, radio, television, Internet, or other communication resources to provide general information about adoption or specific information about a child available for adoption.

     "Notice of Plan for Adoption" means written notification to the alleged or presumed father of a child born out of wedlock that the birth mother is considering adoptive placement for the child.  Notice of Plan for Adoption may be given by OKDHS, licensed child-placing agency, or an attorney representing prospective adoptive parent(s) of the child, either before or after the child's birth.

     "Presumed father" means a man who, by operation of law under Section 7700‑204 of Title 10 of the Oklahoma Statutes, is recognized as the father of a child until that status is rebutted or confirmed in a judicial proceeding.  A man is presumed the father of a child if:

• (A) he and the mother of the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage;
• (B) he and the mother of the child were married to each other and the child is born within 300 days after the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, dissolution of marriage or after decree of separation;
• (C) before the birth of the child, he and the mother of the child married each other in apparent compliance with law, even if the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid, and the child is born during the invalid marriage or within three hundred (300) days after its termination by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, a decree of separation, or dissolution of marriage;
• (D) after the birth of the child, he and the mother of the child married each other in apparent compliance with law, whether the marriage is or could be declared invalid, and he voluntarily asserted his paternity of the child; and:
  • (i) the assertion is in a record with the State Department of Health, Division of Vital Records or OKDHS;
  • (ii) he agreed to be and is named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate; or
  • (iii) he promised in a record to support the child as his own; or
• (E) for the first two years of the child's life, he resided in the same household with the child and openly held out the child as his own.

     "Pre-Resource" means a family who has inquired about adoption, submitted an application to adopt, or both, but has not had an integrated assessment completed.

     "Search" means the process of locating an adult birth relative of a child with whom contact has been lost through adoption or termination of parental rights.

     "Statewide Adoption Staffing" means a monthly meeting between permanency planning and adoption staff from across the state in order to share information about children available for adoption.

     "Swift adoption services" means processes completed by contracted agencies or OKDHS staff to gather history regarding a child in OKDHS custody, including the child's biological family background, medical, educational, and social history for purposes of full disclosure to a prospective adoptive family.

     "Termination of parental rights" means a judicial proceeding that frees a child from all custody and control by a parent(s).

     "Trial Adoption (TA)" means the time between when a child is placed into an adoptive placement until the adoption is legally finalized.