Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 15A > Chapter 3 > Subchapter 7 - Dispositional Hearing; Decree of Adoption

• Adoptee: means a person who is adopted or is to be adopted. See
• 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.
• Agency: means the Department or a child-placing public or private entity that is licensed in this State to place minors for adoption. See
• Agency of Education: means the Secretary and staff necessary to carry out the functions of the Agency. See
• 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
• approved education program: includes an "approved teen parent education program. See
• Approved independent school: means an independent school that is approved under section 166 of this title. See
• Approved independent school: means an independent school physically located in Vermont and approved by the State Board of Education under section 166 of this title. See
• Bullying: means any overt act or combination of acts, including an act conducted by electronic means, directed against a student by another student or group of students and that:

• Child: means a minor or an adult son or daughter, by birth or adoption. See
• Coach: means a person who instructs or trains students on a school athletic team. See
• Collision sport: means football, hockey, lacrosse, or wrestling. See
• Contact sport: means a sport, other than football, hockey, lacrosse, or wrestling, defined as a contact sport by the American Academy of Pediatrics. See
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department for Children and Families. See
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• 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.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Food programs: means provision of food to persons under programs meeting standards for assistance under the National School Lunch Act, 42 U. See
• 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.
• Guardian: means a person, other than a parent, appointed by a court to act as a parent for another individual and specifically authorized by the Court to place the individual for adoption. See
• Hazing: means any act committed by a person, whether individually or in concert with others, against a student in connection with pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in any organization that is affiliated with an educational institution; and that is intended to have the effect of, or should reasonably be expected to have the effect of, humiliating, intimidating, or demeaning the student or endangering the mental or physical health of a student. See
• Health care provider: means an athletic trainer, or other health care provider, licensed pursuant to Title 26, who has within the preceding five years been specifically trained in the evaluation and management of concussions and other head injuries. See
• Independent school: means a school other than a public school, which provides a program of elementary or secondary education, or both. See
• 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.
• Minor: means a person who has not attained 18 years of age. See
• Month: shall mean a calendar month and "year" shall mean a calendar year and be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See
• Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
• 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.
• Parent: means a person who is legally recognized as a mother or father or whose consent to the adoption of a minor is required under subdivision 2-401(a)(1)-(4) or (6) of this title. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a minor. See
• postsecondary CTE: means an educational program or course of study that awards postsecondary credit and is designed to provide students with career and technical knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will prepare them for further education, enhance their employment options, or lead to an industry-recognized credential. See
• Probate: Proving a will
• Public school: means an elementary school or secondary school operated by a school district. See
• Receiving district: means a school district, inside or outside of this State, receiving tuition on behalf of a student to whom it provides career technical education. See
• Records: means all documents, exhibits and data pertaining to an adoption, whether collected prior to or after the decree of adoption. See
• Relative: means a grandparent, great-grandparent, sibling, first cousin, aunt, uncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, niece, or nephew of a person, whether related to the person by the whole or the half blood, affinity, or adoption. See
• Relinquishment: means the voluntary surrender to an agency by a minor's parent or guardian, for purposes of the minor's adoption, of the rights of the parent or guardian with respect to the minor, including legal and physical custody of the minor. See
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• School athletic team: means an interscholastic athletic team or club sponsored by a public or approved independent school for elementary or secondary students. See
• School board: means the board of school directors elected to manage the schools of a school district, the prudential committee of an incorporated school district, the supervisory union board of directors, and the supervisors of unorganized towns and gores. See
• School board: means the governing body of a school district responsible for the administration of a public school. See
• School district: means town school districts, union school districts, interstate school districts, city school districts, unified union districts, and incorporated school districts, each of which is governed by a publicly elected board. See
• School year: means the year beginning July 1 and ending the next June 30. See
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Education. See
• Service region: means , for each regional CTE center, a region surrounding it designated by rule of the State Board under section 1531 of this title. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See
• State Board: means the State Board of Education established by chapter 3 of this title. See
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stepparent: means a person who is the spouse or surviving spouse of a parent of a child but who is not a parent of the child. See
• Superintendent: means the chief executive officer of a supervisory union and each school board within it. See
• Supervisory district: means a supervisory union that consists of only one school district, which may be a unified union district. See
• Supervisory union: means an administrative, planning, and educational service unit created by the State Board under section 261 of this title, that consists of two or more school districts; if the context clearly allows, the term also means a supervisory district. See
• Teen parent education program: means a program designed to provide educational and other services to pregnant pupils or parenting pupils, or both. See
• Universal meals supplement: means the reimbursement amount paid by the State for the cost of a paid breakfast or lunch under the federal school breakfast and federal school lunch programs. See
• Youth athlete: means an elementary or secondary student who is a member of a school athletic team. See