43-1301.

Terms, defined.

For purposes of the Foster Care Review Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Local board means a local foster care review board created pursuant to section 43-1304;

(2) Office means the Foster Care Review Office created pursuant to section 43-1302;

(3) Foster care facility means any foster family home as defined in section 71-1901, residential child-caring agency as defined in section 71-1926, public agency, private agency, or any other person or entity receiving and caring for foster children;

(4) Foster care placements means (a) all types of placements of juveniles described in sections 43-245 and 43-247, (b) all types of placements of neglected, dependent, or delinquent children, including those made by the Department of Health and Human Services, by the court, by parents, or by third parties, (c) all types of placements of children who have been voluntarily relinquished pursuant to section 43-106.01 to the department or any child-placing agency as defined in section 71-1926 licensed by the department, and (d) all types of placements that are considered to be a trial home visit, including those made directly by the department or office;

(5) Person or court in charge of the child means (a) the Department of Health and Human Services, an association, or an individual who has been made the guardian of a neglected, dependent, or delinquent child by the court and has the responsibility of the care of the child and has the authority by and with the assent of the court to place such a child in a suitable family home or institution or has been entrusted with the care of the child by a voluntary placement made by a parent or legal guardian, (b) the court which has jurisdiction over the child, or (c) the entity having jurisdiction over the child pursuant to the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act;

(6) Voluntary placement means the placement by a parent or legal guardian who relinquishes the possession and care of a child to a third party, individual, or agency;

(7) Family unit means the social unit consisting of the foster child and the parent or parents or any person in the relationship of a parent, including a grandparent, and any siblings with whom the foster child legally resided prior to placement in foster care, except that for purposes of potential sibling placement, the child's family unit also includes the child's siblings even if the child has not resided with such siblings prior to placement in foster care;

(8) Residential child-caring agency has the definition found in section 71-1926;

(9) Child-placing agency has the definition found in section 71-1926;

(10) Siblings means biological siblings and legal siblings, including, but not limited to, half-siblings and stepsiblings; and

(11) Trial home visit means a placement of a court-involved juvenile who goes from a foster care placement back to his or her legal parent or parents or guardian but remains as a ward of the state.