The terms used in these rules shall have the following meanings:
(1)"Adjudicated father" means an individual determined by a court, or pursuant to a Recognition of Parentage under Minnesota Statutes § 257.75, subd. 3, to be the biological father of the child.(2)"Adoption case records" means all records regarding a particular adoption matter filed with or generated by the court including orders, notices, the register of actions, the index, the calendar, and the official transcript. See also "records" defined in subdivision (30).(3) "Adult adoption" means the adoption of a person at least 18 years of age.(4)"Adoption matter" means any proceeding for adoption of a child or an adult in the juvenile courts of Minnesota, including a stepparent adoption, relative adoption, direct placement adoption, intercountry adoption, adoption resulting from a juvenile protection matter, proceeding under Minnesota Statutes § 260C.601-637, and any other type of adoption proceeding under Minnesota Statutes Chapter 259. Progress toward adoption hearings, as defined in Minn. Stat. § 260C.607, are juvenile protection matters and fall under the scope of the Rules of Juvenile Protection Procedure.(5) "Adoption placement agreement" has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes § 260C.603, subd. 3.(6) "Adoptive placement" has the meaning given under Minnesota Statutes § 260C.603, subd. 5.(7)"Affidavit" is as defined in Rule 15 of the General Rules of Practice for the District Courts.(8)"Agency," as defined in Minnesota Statutes § 259.21, subd. 6, and as referenced in Minnesota Statutes § 245A.02 to § 245A.16 and § 260C.007, subd. 2, means an organization or department of government designated or authorized by law to place children for adoption or any person, group of persons, organization, association, or society licensed or certified by the commissioner of human services to place children for adoption, including a Minnesota federally recognized tribe.(9)"Birth relative," for purposes of entering into a communication or contact agreement pursuant to Rule 34.01, subd. 2, means a parent, stepparent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, or aunt of a child. This relationship may be by blood, adoption, or marriage. "Birth relative" of an Indian child includes members of the extended family as defined by the law or custom of the Indian child's tribe or, in the absence of laws or custom, also includes any person age eighteen (18) or older who is the Indian child's niece, nephew, first or second cousin, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law as provided in the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. § 1903(2).(10)"Child" means a person under the age of 18 years.(11)"Child placing agency" means a private agency making or supervising an adoptive placement.(12)"Commissioner" means the commissioner of human services of the State of Minnesota or any employee of the Department of Human Services to whom the commissioner has delegated authority regarding children under the commissioner's guardianship.(13)"Contested adoption" means an adoption matter where:(a) there are two or more adoption petitions regarding the same child;(b) a party has filed a written challenge to the adoption; or(c) a legal custodian or legal guardian who is not a parent has withheld consent.(14)"Contested adoptive placement" applies to children under the guardianship of the commissioner of human services and means that portion of procedures under Rule 42.11 of the Rules of Juvenile Protection Procedure and Minnesota Statutes § 260C.607, subd. 6, which provides for motion and hearing to contest the adoptive placement of a child under guardianship of the commissioner of human services.(15)"Direct placement adoption" means the placement of a child by a biological parent or legal guardian, other than an agency, under the procedure for adoption authorized by Minnesota Statutes § 259.47.(16)"Electronic means" is as defined in Rule 14.01 of the General Rules of Practice for the District Courts.(17)"Father." See "adjudicated father" and "putative father" as defined in this Rule.(18)"Indian child," as defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. § 1903(1)(4), and modified by Minnesota Statutes § 260.755, subd. 8, means any unmarried person who is under age eighteen (18) and is either (1) a member of an Indian tribe or (2) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe.(19)"Indian custodian," as defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. § 1903(1)(6), and Minnesota Statutes § 260.755, subd. 10, means an Indian person who has legal custody of an Indian child pursuant to tribal law or custom or under State law, or to whom temporary physical care, custody, and control has been transferred by the parent of such child.(20)"Indian tribe," as defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. § 1903(1)(8), and Minnesota Statutes § 260.755, subd. 12, means an Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of Indians recognized as eligible for the services provided to Indians by the Secretary of the Interior because of their status as Indians, including any band under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 43 U.S.C. § 1602(c).(21)"Individual related to child," as defined under Minnesota Statutes § 245A.02, subd. 13, means a spouse, a parent, a biological or adopted child or stepchild, a stepparent, a stepbrother, a stepsister, a niece, a nephew, an adoptive parent, a grandparent, a sibling, an aunt, an uncle, or a legal guardian. Distinguish "relative" under Rule 2.01(31).(22)"Legal custodian" means a person, including a legal guardian, who by court order or statute has sole or joint legal custody of the child.(23)"Legal guardian" means a person who is the court-appointed legal guardian of the child pursuant to Minnesota Statutes § 260C.325, subds. 1 and 3, or Minnesota Statutes Chapter 525 or an equivalent law in another jurisdiction.(24)"Local social services agency" means the agency in the county of the petitioner's residence.(25)"Parent" means the biological or adoptive parent of a child, including an adjudicated father. Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes § 260.755, subd. 14, "parent" also means the biological parent of an Indian child, or any Indian person who has lawfully adopted an Indian child, including a person who has adopted a child by tribal law or custom. "Parent" does not mean an unmarried father whose paternity has not been acknowledged or established.(26)"Petitioner" means a person, with a spouse, if any, petitioning for the adoption of any person pursuant to Minnesota Statutes § 259.20-.89. "Petitioner" also means the responsible social services agency petitioning for the adopting parent to adopt a child under state guardianship pursuant to Minnesota Statutes § 260C.623.(27)"Placement" means the transfer of physical custody of a child from a biological parent, legal guardian, or agency with placement authority to a prospective adoptive home.(28)"Placement activities" means any of the following: (a) placement of a child;(b) arranging or providing short-term foster care pending an adoptive placement;(c) facilitating placement by maintaining a list, in any form, of biological parents or prospective adoptive parents;(d) completing or updating a child's social and medical history as required under Minnesota Statutes § 259.41 and § 260C.611;(e) conducting an adoption study;(f) witnessing consents to an adoption; or(g) engaging in any activity listed in clauses (1) to (6) for purposes of fulfilling any requirements of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, Minnesota Statutes § 260.851.(29)"Putative father" means a man, including a male who is less than eighteen (18) years of age, who may be a child's father, but who:(a) is not married to the child's mother on or before the date that the child was or is to be born; and(b) has not established paternity of the child according to Minnesota Statutes § 257.57 in a court proceeding before the filing of an adoption petition regarding the child; or(c) has not signed a recognition of parentage under Minnesota Statutes § 257.75, which has not been revoked or vacated.(30)"Records" is as defined in Rule 3 of the Rules of Public Access to Records of the Judicial Branch. See also "adoption case records" defined in subdivision (2).(31)"Relative" means a person related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption, or an individual who is an important friend with whom the child has resided or had significant contact. For an Indian child, relative includes members of the extended family as defined by the law or custom of the Indian child's tribe or, in the absence of laws or custom, any person age eighteen (18) or older who is the Indian child's grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, niece, nephew, first or second cousin, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, or step-parent as provided in the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, 25 U.S.C. § 1903(2). Distinguish "individual related to child" under Rule 2.01(21).(32)"Responsible social services agency" means the county agency acting as agent of the commissioner of human services hen the commissioner is legal guardian of the child.(33)"Working day" refers solely to revocation of consents and means Monday through Friday, excluding any holiday as defined under Minnesota Statutes § 645.44, subd. 5.(34)"Intercountry adoption" means adoption of a child by a Minnesota resident under the laws of a foreign country or the adoption under the laws of Minnesota of a child born in another country.Amended effective 7/1/2015; amended effective 1/1/2024.