Section 20-1-15 - DefinitionsAs used in this article, the term:
(1) "Child" means any individual under 18 years of age.(2) "Fictive kin" means an individual who is known to a child as a relative but is not in fact related by blood or marriage to such child and with whom such child has resided or had significant contact.(3) "Kinship caregiver" means a grandparent, great-grandparent, aunt, uncle, great aunt, great uncle, cousin, sibling, or fictive kin who has assumed responsibility for raising a child in an informal, noncustodial, or guardianship capacity upon the parents or legal custodians of such child: (A) Losing or abdicating the ability to care for such child; or(B) Being unable to ensure that the child will attend school for reasons, including, but not limited to: (i) A parent or legal custodian being unable to provide care due to the death of a parent or legal custodian;(ii) A serious illness or terminal illness of a parent or legal custodian;(iii) The physical or mental condition of the parents or legal custodians such that proper care and supervision of the child cannot be provided;(iv) The incarceration of a parent or legal custodian;(v) The inability to locate the parents or legal custodians;(vi) The loss or uninhabitability of the child's home as the result of a natural disaster; or(vii) A period of active military duty of the parents or legal custodians exceeding 24 months.(4) "Legal custodian" means a person who has been awarded permanent custody of a child by court order.(5) "Parent" means the legal father or the legal mother of a child.(6) "Reasonable efforts" means actions that a reasonable individual would find sufficient to determine whether one conclusion is more likely than the other.Amended by 2019 Ga. Laws 321,§ 20, eff. 5/12/2019.Added by 2017 Ga. Laws 35,§ 2, eff. 7/1/2017.