Terms Used In New York Laws > Social Services > Article 6 > Title 4 - Preventive Services For Children and Their Families

• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Child: means a person actually or apparently under the age of eighteen years;
  
  2. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Custody: means custody in pursuance of or in compliance with expressed provisions of law;
  
  12. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
• Home: includes a family boarding home or a family free home. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Juvenile delinquent: means a person as defined in section 301. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• preventive services: shall mean supportive and rehabilitative services provided, in accordance with the provisions of this title and regulations of the department, to children and their families for the purpose of: averting an impairment or disruption of a family which will or could result in the placement of a child in foster care; enabling a child who has been placed in foster care to return to his family at an earlier time than would otherwise be possible; or reducing the likelihood that a child who has been discharged from foster care would return to such care. See N.Y. Social Services Law 409
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.