This is a plan generated by a school to provide special considerations to help a child learn. Such as, a child is placed in a classroom where there is little distraction.

A person who has been adopted.

A legal process through the courts that allows a child not born of you to be legally your heir.

An adult person, whom has been adopted, usually adopted as a child.

A person who has relinquished rights to a biological child.

The State governing agency responsible for protecting children. Each state calls this something different but the responsibilities are similar. In New Hampshire child welfare is the Department of Health & Human Services, Division for Children, Youth & Families.

A child whose parents still have parental rights, but the child is not living with the parents. A placing agency (most of the time the State) has placed the child with another family to protect the child.

The Home Study is part of the process to adopt a child. It is a document that is prepared by an agency to prove that your home is a good and safe place for a child. It usually includes a home inspection (done by a case worker), bios on both parents that includes history and descriptions of the type of work the parents do and what other children are in the household. It can be a long and arduous process, but hey, so is being pregnant for 9 months!

An Individualized Education Plan is often used to provide special education services to a child in school.

This is a packet of information about the child that contains all of the information to place a child for adoption in a state different than the state with custody.

An older child in the foster care system is a child over the age of 5, this varies by State.

These are a wide array of services that support the families that adopt. Examples include: respite, support groups, counseling and many more.

A doctor trained as both a medical doctor and a psychologist. This doctor may or may not do psychotherapy in addition to prescribing and monitoring psychiatric medications.

There are many different types of psychiatric evaluations. Each condition has a different test. Many times an informal or general psychiatric evaluation is made in order to attain services or medication. This may not be written as a formal report. Testing for a particular condition will generally generate a report of which the patient is entitled to have a copy.

Primarily respite is needing a break. All parents need a break at times. Typical babysitting offers parents a break either for a couple of hours or overnight at Grandmas. Parenting children who have special circumstances is exceptionally exhausting and challenging. Parents cannot always rely on babysitting as a respite solution, due to the child's particular needs. In this case there are trained respite providers who can watch the child. We offer a workshop to train respite providers click here. For your reference, I have also provided an actual dictionary definition. I thought it was interesting that both respite and respect come from the same origin

A group of children who have been raised together. Sometimes they are full siblings (same Mom & Dad) and sometimes part siblings (different Mom or Dad) and sometimes not biologically related at all just have been raised together.

Specialized Foster Care is warranted when there are specific circumstances that require a special foster family. Specific circumstances could include: developmental or emotional delays or disabilities, sibling groups, older children, or other reasons that would require a more highly trained foster family.

An amount of money equal to current foster care rates that is paid to adoptive parents. There are criteria to determine if a child is eligible for a subsidy.

Termination of Parental Rights. This requires a decision by a judge.

Foster families receive extra training to provide a home for emotional and behavior challenged children.

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