KRS 199.011: Definitions for chapter.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Adoption worker" means an employee of the cabinet so designated by the

secretary for health and family services, a social worker employed by a county or

city who has been approved by the cabinet to handle, under its supervision,

adoption placement services to children, or a social worker employed by or under

contract to a child-placing adoption agency;

(2) "Adult adopted person" means any adopted person who is twenty -one (21) years of

age or older;

(3) "Cabinet" means the Cabinet for Health and Family Services;

(4) "Child" means any person who has not reached his or her eighteenth birthday;

(5) "Child-caring facility" means any institution or group home, including institutions

and group homes that are publicly operated, providing residential care on a twenty -

four (24) hour basis to children, not related by blood, adoption, or marriage to the

person maintaining the facility, other than an institution or group home certified by

an appropriate agency as operated primarily for educational or medical purposes, or

a residential program operated or contracted by the Department of Juvenile Justice

that maintains accreditation, or obtains accreditation within two (2) years of

opening from a nationally recognized accrediting organization;

(6) "Child-placing agency" means any agency licensed by the cabinet, which

supervises the placement of children in foster family homes or child -caring

facilities, or which places children for adoption;

(7) "Department" means the Department for Community Based Services;

(8) (a) "Disability" means:

1. A physical or mental impairment, whether congenital or acquired, that

substantially limits one (1) or more of the major life activities of an

individual and is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or

laboratory diagnostic techniques;

2. A record of having such an impairment; or

3. Being regarded as having such an impairment.

(b) An individual who is currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs or the

abuse of alcohol, drugs, or other substances is not an individual with a

"disability" for purposes of this chapter;

(9) "Family rehabilitation home" means a child -caring facility for appropriate families

and comprising not more than twelve (12) children and two (2) staff persons;

(10) "Fictive kin" means an individual who is not related by birth, adopti on, or marriage

to a child, but who has an emotionally significant relationship with the child, or an

emotionally significant relationship with a biological parent, siblings, or half -

siblings of the child in the case of a child from birth to twelve (12) mo nths of age,

prior to placement;

(11) "Foster family home" means a private home in which children are placed for foster

family care under supervision of the cabinet or of a licensed child-placing agency;

(12) "Group home" means a homelike facility, excludi ng Department of Juvenile

Justice-operated or -contracted facilities, for not more than eight (8) foster children,

not adjacent to or part of an institutional campus, operated by a sponsoring agency

for children who may participate in community activities and use community

resources;

(13) "Institution" means a child -caring facility providing care or maintenance for nine

(9) or more children;

(14) "Placement services" means those social services customarily provided by a

licensed child-placing or a public ag ency, which are necessary for the arrangement

and placement of children in foster family homes, child -placing facilities, or

adoptive homes. Placement services are provided through a licensed child -placing

or a public agency for children who cannot be care d for by their biological parents

and who need and can benefit from new and permanent family ties established

through legal adoption. Licensed child -placing agencies and public agencies have a

responsibility to act in the best interests of children, biological parents, and adoptive

parents by providing social services to all the parties involved in an adoption;

(15) "Rap back system" means a system that enables an authorized entity to receive

ongoing status notifications of any criminal history from the Dep artment of

Kentucky State Police or the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported on an

individual whose fingerprints are registered in the system, upon approval and

implementation of the system;

(16) "Reasonable and prudent parent standard" has the same me aning as in 42 U.S.C.

sec. 675(10);

(17) "Secretary" means the secretary for health and family services; and

(18) "Voluntary and informed consent" means that at the time of the execution of the

consent, the consenting person was fully informed of the legal effect of the consent,

that the consenting person was not given or promised anything of value except

those expenses allowable under KRS 199.590(6), that the consenting person was

not coerced in any way to execute the consent, and that the consent was volu ntarily

and knowingly given. If at the time of the execution of the consent the consenting

person was represented by independent legal counsel, there shall be a presumption

that the consent was voluntary and informed. The consent shall be in writing,

signed and sworn to by the consenting person, and include the following:

(a) Date, time, and place of the execution of the consent;

(b) Name of the child, if any, to be adopted, and the date and place of the child's

birth;

(c) Consenting person's relationship to the child;

(d) Identity of the proposed adoptive parents or a statement that the consenting

person does not desire to know the identification of the proposed adoptive

parents;

(e) 1. A statement that the consenting person understands that the consent wil l

be final and irrevocable under this paragraph unless withdrawn under

this paragraph.

2. If placement approval by the secretary is required, the voluntary and

informed consent shall become final and irrevocable seventy -two (72)

hours after the execution o f the voluntary and informed consent. This

consent may be withdrawn only by written notification sent to the

proposed adoptive parent or the attorney for the proposed adoptive

parent on or before the expiration of the seventy -two (72) hours by

certified or registered mail and also by first-class mail.

3. If placement approval by the secretary is not required, the voluntary and

informed consent shall become final and irrevocable seventy -two (72)

hours after the execution of the voluntary and informed consent . This

consent may be withdrawn only by written notification sent to the

proposed adoptive parent or the attorney for the proposed adoptive

parent on or before the expiration of the seventy -two (72) hours by

certified or registered mail and also by first-class mail;

(f) Disposition of the child if the adoption is not adjudged;

(g) A statement that the consenting person has received a completed and signed

copy of the consent at the time of the execution of the consent;

(h) Name and address of the person who prepared the consent, name and address

of the person who reviewed and explained the consent to the consenting

person, and a verified statement from the consenting person that the consent

has been reviewed with and fully explained to the consenting person; and

(i) Total amount of the consenting person's legal fees, if any, for any purpose

related to the execution of the consent and the source of payment of the legal

fees.