2007 Minnesota Statutes

260.755 DEFINITIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Scope. As used in sections 260.751 to 260.835, the following terms have
the meanings given them.
    Subd. 2. Administrative review. "Administrative review" means review under section
260C.212.
    Subd. 3. Child placement proceeding. "Child placement proceeding" includes a judicial
proceeding which could result in the following:
(a) "Adoptive placement" means the permanent placement of an Indian child for adoption,
including an action resulting in a final decree of adoption.
(b) "Involuntary foster care placement" means an action removing an Indian child from its
parents or Indian custodian for temporary placement in a foster home, institution, or the home
of a guardian. The parent or Indian custodian cannot have the child returned upon demand,
but parental rights have not been terminated.
(c) "Preadoptive placement" means the temporary placement of an Indian child in a foster
home or institution after the termination of parental rights, before or instead of adoptive placement.
(d) "Termination of parental rights" means an action resulting in the termination of the
parent-child relationship under section 260C.301.
The terms include placements based upon juvenile status offenses, but do not include a
placement based upon an act which if committed by an adult would be deemed a crime, or upon
an award of custody in a divorce proceeding to one of the parents.
    Subd. 4. Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of human services.
    Subd. 5. Demand. "Demand" means a written and notarized statement signed by a parent
or Indian custodian of a child which requests the return of the child who has been voluntarily
placed in foster care.
    Subd. 6. Family-based services. "Family-based services" means intensive family-centered
services to families primarily in their own home and for a limited time.
    Subd. 7. Indian. "Indian" means a person who is a member of an Indian tribe or an Alaskan
native and a member of a regional corporation as defined in section 7 of the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act, United States Code, title 43, section 1606.
    Subd. 8. Indian child. "Indian child" means an unmarried person who is under age 18 and is:
(1) a member of an Indian tribe; or
(2) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe.
    Subd. 9. Indian child's tribe. "Indian child's tribe" means the Indian tribe in which an
Indian child is a member or eligible for membership. In the case of an Indian child who is a
member of or eligible for membership in more than one tribe, the Indian child's tribe is the tribe
with which the Indian child has the most significant contacts. If that tribe does not express an
interest in the outcome of the actions taken under sections 260.751 to 260.835 with respect to the
child, any other tribe in which the child is eligible for membership that expresses an interest in the
outcome may act as the Indian child's tribe.
    Subd. 10. Indian custodian. "Indian custodian" means an Indian person who has legal
custody of an Indian child under tribal law or custom or under state law, or to whom temporary
physical care, custody, and control has been transferred by the parent of the child.
    Subd. 11. Indian organization. "Indian organization" means an organization providing child
welfare services that is legally incorporated as a nonprofit organization, is registered with the
secretary of state, and is governed by a board of directors having at least a majority of Indian
directors.
    Subd. 12. Indian tribe. "Indian tribe" means an Indian tribe, band, nation, or other 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 any Native group under the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act, United States Code, title 43, section 1602.
    Subd. 13. Local social services agency. "Local social services agency" means the local
agency under the authority of the county welfare or human services board or county board of
commissioners which is responsible for human services.
    Subd. 14. Parent. "Parent" means the biological parent of an Indian child, or any Indian
person who has lawfully adopted an Indian child, including a person who has adopted a child
by tribal law or custom. It does not include an unmarried father whose paternity has not been
acknowledged or established.
    Subd. 15. Permanency planning. "Permanency planning" means the systematic process of
carrying out, within a short time, a set of goal-oriented activities designed to help children live
in families that offer continuity of relationships with nurturing parents or caretakers, and the
opportunity to establish lifetime relationships.
    Subd. 16. Placement prevention and family reunification services. "Placement prevention
and family reunification services" means services designed to help children remain with their
families or to reunite children with their parents.
    Subd. 17. Private child-placing agency. "Private child-placing agency" means a private
organization, association, or corporation providing assistance to children and parents in their own
homes and placing children in foster care or for adoption.
    Subd. 18. Reservation. "Reservation" means Indian country as defined in United States
Code, title 18, section 1151 and any lands which are either held by the United States in trust for
the benefit of an Indian tribe or individual, or held by an Indian tribe or individual subject to a
restriction by the United States against alienation.
    Subd. 19. Secretary. "Secretary" means the secretary of the United States Department
of the Interior.
    Subd. 20. Tribal court. "Tribal court" means a court with jurisdiction over child custody
proceedings and which is either a court of Indian offenses, or a court established and operated
under the code or custom of an Indian tribe, or any other administrative body of a tribe which
is vested with authority over child custody proceedings. Except as provided in section 260.771,
subdivision 5 , nothing in this chapter shall be construed as conferring jurisdiction on an Indian
tribe.
    Subd. 21. Tribal social services agency. "Tribal social services agency" means the unit
under authority of the governing body of the Indian tribe which is responsible for human services.
    Subd. 22. Voluntary foster care placement. "Voluntary foster care placement" means
a decision in which there has been participation by a local social services agency or private
child-placing agency resulting in the temporary placement of an Indian child away from the home
of the child's parents or Indian custodian in a foster home, institution, or the home of a guardian,
and the parent or Indian custodian may have the child returned upon demand.
History: 1999 c 139 art 1 s 3; 2007 c 147 art 1 s 8,9