Effective 28 Aug 2018

453.015. Definitions. — As used in sections 453.010 to 453.400, the following terms mean:

(1) "Minor" or "child", any person who has not attained the age of eighteen years or any person in the custody of the children's division who has not attained the age of twenty-one;

(2) "Parent", a birth parent or parents of a child, including the putative father of the child, as well as the husband of a birth mother at the time the child was conceived, or a parent or parents of a child by adoption. The putative father shall have no legal relationship unless he has acknowledged the child as his own by affirmatively asserting his paternity;

(3) "Post adoption contact agreement", a voluntary written agreement executed by one or both of a child's birth parents and each adoptive parent describing future contact between the parties to the agreement and the child; provided, that such agreement shall be approved by the court under subsection 4 of section 453.080;

(4) "Putative father", the alleged or presumed father of a child including a person who has filed a notice of intent to claim paternity with the putative father registry established in section 192.016 and a person who has filed a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity pursuant to section 193.087;

(5) "Stepparent", the spouse of a biological or adoptive parent. The term does not include the state if the child is a ward of the state. The term does not include a person whose parental rights have been terminated.

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(L. 1982 H.B. 1171, et al., A.L. 1985 H.B. 366, et al., A.L. 1997 H.B. 343, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1918, A.L. 2014 H.B. 1299 Revision, A.L. 2018 S.B. 819)