Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 42 > Chapter 2 - Adoption of Child

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Adoptee: means an adopted person or a person who is the subject of adoption proceedings that are intended to result in the adoptee becoming the legal child of another person. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Adoption: means the act of creating the legal relationship between parent and child when it does not exist genetically. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Adoptive parent: means an adult who has become the mother or father of a child through the legal process of adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affidavit: means a sworn written declaration made before an officer authorized to administer oaths or an unsworn written declaration made under penalty of perjury as provided in 1-6-105. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Agency: means a child placement agency licensed by the state of Montana pursuant to Title 52, chapter 8, that is expressly empowered to place children preliminary to a possible adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Birth parent: means the woman who gave birth to the child or the father of genetic origin of the child. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Child: includes an unborn child. See Montana Code 42-2-201
• Child: means any person under 18 years of age. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Confidential intermediary: means a person certified by the department and under contract with or employed by a nonprofit entity with expertise in adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Court: means a court of record in a competent jurisdiction and in Montana means a district court or a tribal court. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the department of public health and human services, provided for in 2-15-2201. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Direct parental placement adoption: means an adoption in which the parent of the child places the child with a prospective adoptive parent personally known and selected by the parent independent of an agency. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• 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.
• Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Minority party: means the party with the second most members in a house of the legislature, subject to subsection (2). See Montana Code 1-1-208
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means the birth or adoptive mother or the birth, adoptive, or legal father whose parental rights have not been terminated. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Preplacement evaluation: means the home study process conducted by the department or a licensed child-placing agency that:

  (a)assists a prospective adoptive parent or family to assess its own readiness to adopt; and

  (b)assesses whether the prospective adoptive parent or family and home meet applicable standards. See Montana Code 42-1-103

• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Putative father: means an individual who may be a child's birth father but who:

  (i)is not married to the child's mother on or before the date that the child is born; or

  (ii)has not established paternity of the child prior to the filing of a petition for termination of parental rights to the child for purposes of adoption. See Montana Code 42-2-201

• Records: means all documents, exhibits, and data pertaining to an adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Registry: means the putative father registry established under 42-2-202. See Montana Code 42-2-201
• Relinquishment: means the informed and voluntary release in writing of all parental rights with respect to a child by a parent to an agency or individual. See Montana Code 42-1-103
• Sex: means the organization of the body parts and gametes for reproduction in human beings and other organisms. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Willfully: when applied to the intent with which an act is done or omitted, means a purpose or willingness to commit the act or make the omission referred to. See Montana Code 1-1-204