Terms Used In New York Laws > Social Services > Article 6 > Title 9 - Subsidies For the Adoption of Children

• 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.
• 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.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Authorized agency: means
  
  (a) Any agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization which is incorporated or organized under the laws of this state with corporate power or empowered by law to care for, to place out or to board out children, which actually has its place of business or plant in this state and which is approved, visited, inspected and supervised by the office of children and family services or which shall submit and consent to the approval, visitation, inspection and supervision of such office as to any and all acts in relation to the welfare of children performed or to be performed under this title; provided, however, that on and after June first, two thousand seven, such term shall not include any for-profit corporation or other for-profit entity or organization for the purposes of the operation, management, supervision or ownership of agency boarding homes, group homes, homes including family boarding homes of family free homes, or institutions which are located within this state;
  
  (b) Any court or any social services official of this state authorized by law to place out or to board out children or any Indian tribe that has entered into an agreement with the department pursuant to section thirty-nine of this chapter;
  
  (c) Any agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization which is not incorporated or organized under the laws of this state, placing out a child for adoption whose admission to the United States as an eligible orphan with non-quota immigrant status pursuant to the federal immigration and nationality act is sought for the purpose of adoption in the State of New York or who has been brought into the United States with such status and for such purpose, provided, however, that such agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization is licensed or otherwise authorized by another state to place out children for adoption, that such agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization is approved by the department to place out such children with non-quota immigrant status for adoption in the State of New York, and provided further, that such agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization complies with the regulations of the department pertaining to such placements. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
• Board rate: shall mean an amount equal to the monthly payment which has been or would have been made by a social services official, in accordance with section three hundred ninety-eight-a and other provisions of this chapter, for the care and maintenance of the child, if such child had been boarded out in a foster family boarding home. See N.Y. Social Services Law 451
• Child: shall mean a person under the age of twenty-one years whose guardianship and custody have been committed to a social services official or a voluntary authorized agency, or whose guardianship and custody have been committed to a certified or approved foster parent pursuant to a court order prior to such person's eighteenth birthday, except as provided in paragraph (g) of subdivision three of section three hundred eighty-four-b of this article and section six hundred thirty-one of the family court act. See N.Y. Social Services Law 451
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Custody: means custody in pursuance of or in compliance with expressed provisions of law;
  
  12. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Foster parent: shall mean any person with whom a child, in the care, custody or guardianship of an authorized agency, is placed for temporary or long-term care, and "foster child" shall mean any person, in the care, custody or guardianship of an authorized agency, who is placed for temporary or long-term care. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
• 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.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Handicapped child: shall mean a child who possesses a specific physical, mental or emotional condition or disability of such severity or kind which, in accordance with regulations of the department, would constitute a significant obstacle to the child's adoption. See N.Y. Social Services Law 451
• Hard to place child: shall mean a child, other than a handicapped child, (a) who has not been placed for adoption within six months from the date his guardianship and custody were committed to the social services official or a voluntary authorized agency, or (b) who has not been placed for adoption within six months from the date a previous adoption placement terminated and the child was returned to the care of the social services official or a voluntary authorized agency, or (c) who possesses or presents any personal or familial attribute, condition, problem or characteristic which, in accordance with regulations of the department, would be an obstacle to the child's adoption, notwithstanding the child has been in the guardianship and custody of the social services official or a voluntary authorized agency for less than six months. See N.Y. Social Services Law 451
• Home: includes a family boarding home or a family free home. See N.Y. Social Services Law 371
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• 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.
• 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.
• Persons: shall include a single person eligible to adopt a child as well as a couple eligible therefor. See N.Y. Social Services Law 451
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Social services official: shall mean a county commissioner of social services, a city commissioner of social services, or an Indian tribe with which the department has entered into an agreement to provide adoption services in accordance with subdivision two of section thirty-nine of this chapter. See N.Y. Social Services Law 451
• Voluntary authorized agency: shall mean an authorized agency as defined in paragraphs (a) and (c) of subdivision ten of section three hundred seventy-one of this article. See N.Y. Social Services Law 451
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.