N.M. Stat. § 32A-1-4

Current through 2024, ch. 69

Section 32A-1-4 - Definitions

As used in the Children's Code:

A. "active efforts" means efforts that are affirmative, active, thorough and timely and that represent a higher standard of conduct than reasonable efforts;

B. "adult" means a person who is eighteen years of age or older;

C. "child" means a person who is less than eighteen years old;

D. "council" means the substitute care advisory council established pursuant to Section 32A-8-4 NMSA 1978;

E. "court", when used without further qualification, means the children's court division of the district court and includes the judge, special master or commissioner appointed pursuant to the provisions of the Children's Code or supreme court rule;

F. "court-appointed special advocate" means a person appointed pursuant to the provisions of the Children's Court Rules [Rule Set 10 NMRA] to assist the court in determining the best interests of the child by investigating the case and submitting a report to the court;

G. "custodian" means an adult with whom the child lives who is not a parent or guardian of the child;

H. "department" means the children, youth and families department, unless otherwise specified;

I. "disproportionate minority contact" means the involvement of a racial or ethnic group with the criminal or juvenile justice system at a proportion either higher or lower than that group's proportion in the general population;

J. "federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978" means the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, as that act may be amended or its sections renumbered;

K. "foster parent" means a person, including a relative of the child, licensed or certified by the department or a child placement agency to provide care for children in the custody of the department or agency;

L. "guardian" means a person appointed as a guardian by a court or Indian tribal authority;

M. "guardian ad litem" means an attorney appointed by the children's court to represent and protect the best interests of the child in a case; provided that no party or employee or representative of a party to the case shall be appointed to serve as a guardian ad litem;

N. "Indian" means, whether an adult or child, a person who is:

(1) a member of an Indian tribe; or

(2) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe;

O. "Indian child" means an Indian person, or a person whom there is reason to know is an Indian person, under eighteen years of age, who is neither:

(1) married; or

(2) emancipated;

P. "Indian child's tribe" means:

(1) the Indian tribe in which an Indian child is a member or eligible for membership; or

(2) in the case of an Indian child who is a member or eligible for membership in more than one tribe, the Indian tribe with which the Indian child has more significant contacts;

Q. "Indian custodian" means an Indian who, pursuant to tribal law or custom or pursuant to state law:

(1) is an adult with legal custody of an Indian child; or

(2) has been transferred temporary physical care, custody and control by the parent of the Indian child;

R. "Indian tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe, pueblo or other band, organized group or community of Indians recognized as eligible for the services provided to Indians by the secretary because of their status as Indians, including an Alaska native village as defined in 43 U.S.C. Section 1602(c) or a regional corporation as defined in 43 U.S.C. Section 1606. For the purposes of notification to and communication with a tribe as required in the Indian Family Protection Act, "Indian tribe" also includes those tribal officials and staff who are responsible for child welfare and social services matters;

S. "judge", when used without further qualification, means the judge of the court;

T. "legal custody" means a legal status created by order of the court or other court of competent jurisdiction or by operation of statute that vests in a person, department or agency the right to determine where and with whom a child shall live; the right and duty to protect, train and discipline the child and to provide the child with food, shelter, personal care, education and ordinary and emergency medical care; the right to consent to major medical, psychiatric, psychological and surgical treatment and to the administration of legally prescribed psychotropic medications pursuant to the Children's Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Act [32A-6A-1 to 32A-6A-30 NMSA 1978]; and the right to consent to the child's enlistment in the armed forces of the United States;

U. "member" or "membership" means a determination made by an Indian tribe that a person is a member of or eligible for membership in that Indian tribe;

V. "parent" or "parents" means a biological or adoptive parent if the biological or adoptive parent has a constitutionally protected liberty interest in the care and custody of the child or a person who has lawfully adopted an Indian child pursuant to state law or tribal law or tribal custom;

W. "permanency plan" means a determination by the court that the child's interest will be served best by:

(1) reunification;

(2) placement for adoption after the parents' rights have been relinquished or terminated or after a motion has been filed to terminate parental rights;

(3) placement with a person who will be the child's permanent guardian;

(4) placement in the legal custody of the department with the child placed in the home of a fit and willing relative; or

(5) placement in the legal custody of the department under a planned permanent living arrangement;

X. "person" means an individual or any other form of entity recognized by law;

Y. "plan of care" means a plan created by a health care professional intended to ensure the safety and well-being of a substance-exposed newborn by addressing the treatment needs of the child and any of the child's parents, relatives, guardians, family members or caregivers to the extent those treatment needs are relevant to the safety of the child;

Z. "preadoptive parent" means a person with whom a child has been placed for adoption;

AA. "protective supervision" means the right to visit the child in the home where the child is residing, inspect the home, transport the child to court-ordered diagnostic examinations and evaluations and obtain information and records concerning the child;

BB. "relative" means a person related to another person:

(1) by blood within the fifth degree of consanguinity or through marriage by the fifth degree of affinity; or

(2) with respect to an Indian child, as established or defined by the Indian child's tribe's custom or law;

CC. "reservation" means:

(1) "Indian country" as defined in 18 U.S.C. Section 1151;

(2) any lands to which the title is held by the United States in trust for the benefit of an Indian tribe or individual; or

(3) any lands held by an Indian tribe or individual subject to a restriction by the United States against alienation;

DD. "reunification" means either a return of the child to the parent or to the home from which the child was removed or a return to the noncustodial parent;

EE. "secretary" means the United States secretary of the interior;

FF. "tribal court" means a court with jurisdiction over child custody proceedings that is either a court of Indian offenses, a court established and operated under the law or custom of an Indian tribe or any other administrative body that is vested by an Indian tribe with authority over child custody proceedings;

GG. "tribal court order" means a document issued by a tribal court that is signed by an appropriate authority, including a judge, governor or tribal council member, and that orders an action that is within the tribal court's jurisdiction; and

HH. "tribunal" means any judicial forum other than the court.

NMS § 32A-1-4

1978 Comp., § 32A-1-4, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 77, § 13; 1995, ch. 206, § 2; 1999, ch. 77, § 2; 2003, ch. 225, § 1; 2005, ch. 189, § 1; 2009, ch. 239, § 7; 2016, ch. 60, § 1.

Amended by 2023, c. 90,s. 2, eff. 7/1/2023.

Amended by 2022, c. 41,s. 44, eff. 7/1/2022.

Amended by 2019, c. 190,s. 1, eff. 6/14/2019.

Amended by 2016, c. 60,s. 1, eff. 7/1/2016.