46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

RELATING TO CHILDREN; AMENDING THE DEFINITION OF "CAREGIVER" IN THE KINSHIP GUARDIANSHIP ACT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 40-10B-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2001, Chapter 167, Section 2) is amended to read:

"40-10B-2. POLICY--PURPOSE.--

A. It is the policy of the state that the interests of children are best served when they are raised by their parents. When neither parent is able or willing to provide appropriate care, guidance and supervision to a child, it is the policy of the state that, whenever possible, a child should be raised by family members, [or] kinship caregivers or caregivers that maintain intact sibling groups in a residential setting.

B. The Kinship Guardianship Act is intended to address those cases where a parent has left a child or children in the care of another for ninety consecutive days and that arrangement leaves the child or children without appropriate care, guidance or supervision, or where a parent has left a child with a caregiver having power of attorney pursuant to Section 45-5-104 NMSA 1978.

C. The purposes of the Kinship Guardianship Act are to:

(1) establish procedures to effect a legal relationship between a child and a kinship caregiver or other caregiver when the child is not residing with either parent; and

(2) provide a child or a sibling group with a stable and consistent relationship with a kinship caregiver or other caregiver that will enable the [child] children to develop physically, mentally and emotionally to the maximum extent possible when the [child's] children's parents are not willing or able to do so."

Section 2. Section 40-10B-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2001, Chapter 167, Section 3) is amended to read:

"40-10B-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Kinship Guardianship Act:

A. "caregiver" means:

(1) an adult, who is not a parent of a child, with whom a child resides and who provides that child with the care, maintenance and supervision consistent with the duties and responsibilities of a parent of the child; or

(2) a nonprofit organization that:

(a) receives no public funding;

(b) acts as a temporary or permanent guardian of children voluntarily placed in its care pursuant to a caregiver's power of attorney;

(c) is dedicated to maintaining sibling groups intact in a residential setting; and

(d) provides the children placed with it the care, maintenance and supervision consistent with the duties and responsibilities of a parent of the children;

B. "child" means an individual who is a minor;

C. "kinship" means the relationship that exists between a child and a relative of the child, a godparent, a member of the child's tribe or clan or an adult with whom the child has a significant bond;

D. "parent" means a biological or adoptive parent of a child whose parental rights have not been terminated; and

E. "relative" means an individual related to a child as a spouse, parent, stepparent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, first cousin or any person denoted by the prefix "grand" or "great", or the spouse or former spouse of the persons specified."