{"data":{"id":"us-mo/mo.-rev.-stat.-453.015","jurisdiction":"us-mo","citation":"Mo. Rev. Stat. § 453.015","heading":"Definitions.","body":"As used in sections 453.010 to 453.400, the following terms mean:\n(1) \"Minor\" or \"child\" , any person who has not attained the age of eighteen years or any person in the custody of the children's division who has not attained the age of twenty-one;\n(2) \"Parent\" , a birth parent or parents of a child, including the putative father of the child, as well as the husband of a birth mother at the time the child was conceived, or a parent or parents of a child by adoption. The putative father shall have no legal relationship unless he has acknowledged the child as his own by affirmatively asserting his paternity;\n(3) \"Post adoption contact agreement\" , a voluntary written agreement executed by one or both of a child's birth parents and each adoptive parent describing future contact between the parties to the agreement and the child; provided, that such agreement shall be approved by the court under subsection 4 of section 453.080;\n(4) \"Putative father\" , the alleged or presumed father of a child including a person who has filed a notice of intent to claim paternity with the putative father registry established in section 192.016 and a person who has filed a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity pursuant to section 193.087;\n(5) \"Stepparent\" , the spouse of a biological or adoptive parent. The term does not include the state if the child is a ward of the state. The term does not include a person whose parental rights have been terminated.","path":["Title XXX - DOMESTIC RELATIONS","Chapter 453 - Adoption and Foster Care"],"source_url":"https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=453.015","current_through":"2026 legislative session (floor)","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-03T22:23:28Z","sha256":"510a774f6d89170edb445014a642cd50dd5a6a1255f38be7df8fe13fa986e328","source_id":"us-mo","stale":false,"prev":"us-mo/mo.-rev.-stat.-453.014","next":"us-mo/mo.-rev.-stat.-453.020"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}