Section 453.015 - DefinitionsAs used in sections 453.010 to 453.400, the following terms mean:
(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;(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;(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;(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;(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.Amended by 2018 Mo. Laws, SB 819,s A, eff. 8/28/2018.Amended by 2014 Mo. Laws, HRB 1299,s A, eff. 8/28/2014.L. 1982 H.B. 1171, et al., A.L. 1985 H.B. 366, et al., A.L. 1997 H.B. 343, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1918