Definitions

When used in this article: (1) "Child" means a person under the age of twenty-one. (2) "Department" means the Department of Social Services. (3) "Fictive kin" means an individual who is not related by birth, adoption, or marriage to a child but has an emotionally significant relationship with the child or the child's family. (4) "Relative" means an individual within the first, second, or third degree to a parent or stepparent of a child who may be related through blood, marriage, or adoption or through the establishment of a fictive kin relationship. (5) "Supplemental legal guardianship benefits" means monthly payments made by the department to a legal guardian pursuant to and after entering a written agreement with a relative or fictive kin to provide support for a child who without supplemental support may not achieve permanency through legal guardianship.