County of Santa Cruz Foster Care and Adoption

Glossary of Terms and Acronyms

• Adoption is a method approved by law to establish the legal relationship of parent and child who are not related by birth, with the same natural rights and obligations that exist between children and their birth parent. It is a way of securing permanent families for children who need them.
• Adoptive Family is a permanent family created through the legal adoption process.
• Biological Parents are parents who are related to their children genetically.
• CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates for children.
• Concurrent Planning means looking to a foster family as a temporary home while the biological parents work to get their child(ren) back, and if that can’t happen, looking to the foster home as a possible permanent placement.
• CPR means Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a procedure of maintaining artificial respiration.
• Dependents are children who are “wards” of the court only because the children have been abused or neglected by their parents. These children are not delinquents. They are innocent of any wrongdoing.
• Dependency System is the court system in charge of making the best decisions for children who have been removed from their families due to abuse or neglect.
• Family Resource Centers are Community-based nonprofits that offer a range of services and activities.
• Forever Families is a permanent, adoptive family.
• Fost/adopt as per the State regulations, in order to adopt a child, you must first be licensed as that child’s foster parent. People who adopt through the County actually “Fost/adopt.”
• Foster Care is a protective service for children and families where children are provided a substitute family life experience for a planned period of time. The primary goal is family reunification but if this is not possible an alternative plan is developed.
• Foster Family is a person or persons who are trained and licensed to lovingly care for foster children who are not related to them.
• Foster Parent is an adult whose home has been licensed to care for foster children and who exhibits the interest and ability to care for children. The age requirement is that the person be at least 21 years of age. Individuals may be single, living with a partner, married, or divorced. Same sex couples are eligible.
• Guardianship or Legal Guardian is a legal proceeding where a person can act as the parent of a child with the court’s order, but both the parental figure and the biological parent may ask the court to terminate this status, so it is generally not permanent.
• Home Inspection is when a social worker comes to your home to ensure it is safe before you can be a Foster or Adoptive parent.
• Juvenile Court is the Court in charge of foster children and deciding when and if they may return to their biological parents and is also called the Dependency Court or the 300 Court.
• Legal Freeing is when the Court determines that the child or children cannot return to their parents, and the Court further determines that the parents can’t qualify to get their children back, and then the Court can order that the parents’ rights to the child are terminated and the child is no longer legally the child of the parents.
• Licensed Foster Parents are people who have been trained and licensed by the County according to state guidelines who may care for foster children.
• Livescan is high-tech electronic fingerprinting.
• Mentor is an experienced foster parent who works with newer foster parents and relative caregivers to offer them support and guidance.
• Orientation is the first meeting where you learn about foster care and adoption.
• Recovery is the process of maintaining sobriety.
• Relative Caregiver is a relative or relatives who care for foster children they are related to, who otherwise would be in foster homes of non-relatives.
• Relinquished for adoption is when parents voluntarily give their children up for adoption.
• Resource Family is Foster parents and relatives caregivers of foster children.
• Resource Family Liaisons work as the support person for resource families.
• Resource Family Specialist is responsible for the recruitment, helping foster and adoptive parents get their questions answered, and who can refer people interested in fostering or adopting to the right places in the County, and can also help you complete your application to foster or adopt.
• Reunify or Reunification is a process when biological parents are given a certain time period by the Court to provide a safe home for their child or children so they may “reunify” or get back together with their children.
• Siblings are brothers and sisters.
• Tuberculosis Test or TB Test is a medical test to determine that you do not have tuberculosis.
• Wing is a volunteer who works with foster children.