Law Dictionary Definitions

adoption by estoppel.See ADOPTION(1). [Blacks Law 8th]

adoption-assistance plan.An  employer-sponsored  program  that  provides  financial assistance to employees for adoption-related expenses. [Blacks Law 8th]

Adoption  Assistance  and  Child  Welfare  Act.A  1980  federal  statute  whose  purpose  was  to force  states  to  use  reasonable  efforts  (1)  to  avoid  removing  children  from  their  homes,  (2)  to reunite  families  when  children  had  been  removed  because  of  abuse  or  neglect,  and  (3)  when reunification  failed,  to  terminate  parental  rights  and  place  the  children  in …

Adoption and Safe Families Act.A 1997 federal law that requires states to  provide safe and permanent homes for abused and neglected children within shorter periods than those required by earlier state and federal laws. • The primary focus is on the safety and well-being of the child, in contrast to previously paramount rights of the…

adoption agency.A licensed establishment where a biological parent can voluntarily surrender a child for adoption. See agency adoption under ADOPTION. [Blacks Law 8th]

adoption,n.1.Family  law.  The  creation  of  a  parent–child  relationship  by  judicial  order between  two  parties  who  usu.  are  unrelated;  the  relation  of  parent  and  child  created  by  law between  persons  who  are  not in  fact parent and  child.  •  This relationship  is brought about  only after  a  determination  that  the  child  is  an  orphan  or  has …

adoptee.  A  person  who  has become the legal  child  of  one  or two  nonbiological  parents. — Also termed adopted child. [Blacks Law 8th]

adopted child.See CHILD. [Blacks Law 8th]

adoptability,n. Family law. 1. A child’s availability to be adopted, esp. by reason of all legal impediments  having  been  removed.  2.  The  likelihood  of  a  child’s  being  adopted;  a  prospective adoptee’s desirability from the pros-pective parents’ point of view. — adoptable,adj. [Blacks Law 8th]

ad       omissa       vel       male       appretiata       (ad       oh-mis-<<schwa>>       vel       mal-ee <<schwa>>-pree-shee-ay-t<<schwa>>).  [Law  Latin]  Scots  law.  Concerning  things  omitted  or undervalued.  •  The  phrase  appeared  in  reference  to  an  executor’s  duty  to  include  in  an  estate’s inventory previously omitted items or to reevaluate undervalued items in the estate’s inventory. [Blacks Law 8th]