Wisconsin Administrative Code
Department of Children and Families
DCF 021-99 - Safety and Permanence
Chapter DCF 50 - Facilitating Public Adoptions And Adoption Assistance
Section DCF 50.02 - Definitions
Current through February 26, 2024
In this chapter:
(1) "Adoption" means a process provided by law to establish the legal relationship of parent and child between persons who do not have that relationship by birth, with the same mutual rights, obligations, and legal consequences that exist between the child and the child's biological parents.
(2) "Adoption agency" means a public or private adoption agency that is licensed to accept guardianship and to place children under its guardianship for adoption, to license and maintain foster homes for the purpose of placing children for adoption, or both.
(3) "Adoption assistance" means payments by the department to the adoptive or proposed adoptive parents of a child that are designed to assist in the cost of care of that child after an agreement under s. 48.975(4), Stats., has been signed and the child has been placed for adoption with the adoptive or proposed adoptive parents. "Adoption assistance" may include monthly payments by the department under s. 48.975(3) (a), Stats.; medical assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act of 1935, as amended, as provided under s. 48.975(3) (b), Stats.; or reimbursement of nonrecurring adoption expenses as provided under s. 48.975(3) (c), Stats.
(4) "Adoption information exchange" means a department program created to facilitate the adoption of children who are legally free for public adoption by promoting public adoptions and connecting children who are legally free for public adoption and children who are at legal risk with qualified prospective adoptive parents.
(5) "Bureau director" means the director of the division's bureau of permanence and out-of-home care.
(6) "Child" means a person under 18 years of age.
Note: An adoptee who is 18 years of age or over, but under 21 years of age, may be eligible for adoption assistance under s. DCF 50.15 (3).
(7) "County department" means a county department of social services under s. 46.22, Stats.; a county department of human services under s. 46.23, Stats.; or, in a county having a population of 750,000 or more, the department.
(8) "Department" means the department of children and families.
(9) "Division" means the department's division of safety and permanence.
(10) "Division of hearings and appeals" means the division of hearings and appeals in the department of administration.
(11) "Final substantiated finding" means all of the following:
(12) "Foster home" means a facility operated by a person licensed under s. 48.62(1), Stats.
(13) "Home study" means an investigation to determine whether the prospective adoptive parents' home is suitable for placement of a child for the purpose of a public adoption.
(14) "Indian child" has the meaning given in s. 48.02(8g), Stats.
(15) "Legal risk" means the status of a child who has a permanency plan that includes adoption when the parental rights of one or both of the child's parents have not been not been terminated under the laws of a state or tribe or when a court order terminating parental rights is being appealed.
(16) "Legally free for public adoption" means the status of a child when the legal rights of the child's parents have been severed through death or a termination of parental rights under ss. 48.40 to 48.437, Stats., the laws of another state, or the laws of a tribe in this state, and the court has transferred guardianship and custody of the child to a public adoption agency pending adoptive placement.
(17) "Nurse practitioner" has the same meaning as "advanced practice nurse" under s. N 8.02 (1).
(18) "Out-of-home care" means care in a foster home, a group home under s. 48.625, Stats., or a residential care center for children and youth under s. 48.60, Stats.
(19) "Permanency plan" means a plan required under s. 48.38(2), Stats., that is designed to ensure that a child is safely reunified with the child's family whenever appropriate, or that the child quickly attains a safe placement or home providing long-term stability.
(20) "Photolisting" means publication of photos and descriptions of children who are or may be available for public adoption to assist prospective adoptive parents identify a child to adopt.
(21) "Physician" has the same meaning as in s. 448.01(5), Stats.
(22) "Physician assistant" has the same meaning as in s. 448.971(2), Stats.
(23) "Private adoption agency" means a child welfare agency with the powers and duties of an adoption agency under ss. 48.60 and 48.61(5) and (7), Stats., or a comparable agency authorized under the laws of another state.
(24) "Proposed adoptive parents" means an individual or married couple that an adoption agency has identified as the prospective adoptive parents for a specific child.
(25) "Prospective adoptive parents" means an individual or married couple that is going through the process to become adoptive parents.
(26) "Public adoption" means the adoption of a child under the guardianship of the department, a county department, or a tribal child welfare department in this state if the adoption is under the laws of this state.
(27) "Public adoption agency" means the department, a county department, or a tribal child welfare department in this state.
(28) "Relative" has the same meaning as in s. 48.02(15), Stats.
(29) "Supplemental payment" means the portion of a monthly adoption assistance payment that is based on a child's identified needs.
