Art. 1281.3.  Definitions

As used in this Title:

(1)  "Agency" or "child placing agency" includes the Department of Children and Family Services, the corresponding department of any other state, and those private agencies and institutions licensed for the placement of children for adoption by the Department of Children and Family Services or by the corresponding department of any other state.  Any person offering or providing intercountry adoption services shall be accredited by the Department of State in accordance with the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012.

(2)  "Birth certificate" means official documentation of the child's record of birth acceptable to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and, if the document is not in English, a certified translation of the document.

(3)  "Convention adoptee" or "Hague Convention adoptee" means a child living in a Hague Convention country who is under the age of sixteen at the time a Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative, is filed on his behalf and who is found by the Department of State and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to meet the definition of "Convention Adoptee" under Section 101(b)(1)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 USC 1101(b)(1)(G)).

(4)  "Department" means the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.

(5)  "Foreign orphan" means a child living in a Non-Hague Convention country (a) who is under the age of sixteen at the time a Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, is filed on his behalf and who is found by the Department of State or United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to meet the definition of "orphan" under Section 101(b)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 USC 1101(b)(1)(F)); or (b) who is under the age of eighteen and is a biological sibling of a child previously adopted by the same applicant(s) who is petitioning on his behalf.

(6)  "Hague Convention adoption" or "Hague adoption" or "Convention adoption" means the adoption of a child habitually residing in any country outside the United States that is a party to the Hague Adoption Convention.  "Orphan adoption" or "Non-Hague adoption" refers to the adoption of a child from a country that is not a party to the Hague Adoption Convention.

Acts 1999, No. 1268, §1; Acts 2004, No. 26, §3; Acts 2013, No. 86, §1.