§ 451. Definitions. As used in this title:

1. "Child" shall mean a person under the age of twenty-one years whose
guardianship and custody have been committed to a social services
official or a voluntary authorized agency, or whose guardianship and
custody have been committed to a certified or approved foster parent
pursuant to a court order prior to such person's eighteenth birthday,
except as provided in paragraph (g) of subdivision three of section
three hundred eighty-four-b of this article and section six hundred
thirty-one of the family court act. A "child" shall also mean a person
under the age of twenty-one years whose care and custody have been
transferred prior to such person's eighteenth birthday to a social
services official or a voluntary authorized agency pursuant to section
one thousand fifty-five of the family court act or section three hundred
eighty-four-a of this article, whose parents are deceased or where one
parent is deceased and the other parent is not a person entitled to
notice pursuant to section one hundred eleven-a of the domestic
relations law, and where such official or agency consents to the
adoption of such person in accordance with section one hundred thirteen
of the domestic relations law.

2. "Handicapped child" shall mean a child who possesses a specific
physical, mental or emotional condition or disability of such severity
or kind which, in accordance with regulations of the department, would
constitute a significant obstacle to the child's adoption.

3. "Hard to place child" shall mean a child, other than a handicapped
child, (a) who has not been placed for adoption within six months from
the date his guardianship and custody were committed to the social
services official or a voluntary authorized agency, or (b) who has not
been placed for adoption within six months from the date a previous
adoption placement terminated and the child was returned to the care of
the social services official or a voluntary authorized agency, or (c)
who possesses or presents any personal or familial attribute, condition,
problem or characteristic which, in accordance with regulations of the
department, would be an obstacle to the child's adoption,
notwithstanding the child has been in the guardianship and custody of
the social services official or a voluntary authorized agency for less
than six months.

4. (a) "Board rate" shall mean an amount equal to the monthly payment
which has been or would have been made by a social services official, in
accordance with section three hundred ninety-eight-a and other
provisions of this chapter, for the care and maintenance of the child,
if such child had been boarded out in a foster family boarding home.
Such rate shall reflect annual increases in room and board rates and
clothing replacement allowances.

(b) When a child is placed for adoption by a social services official
or a voluntary authorized agency with adoptive parents residing in
another social services district, the "board rate" shall mean the board
rate of the social services district placing the child for adoption or
the social services district in which the adoptive parents reside.

5. "Persons" shall include a single person eligible to adopt a child
as well as a couple eligible therefor.

6. "Voluntary authorized agency" shall mean an authorized agency as
defined in paragraphs (a) and (c) of subdivision ten of section three
hundred seventy-one of this article.

7. "Social services official" shall mean a county commissioner of
social services, a city commissioner of social services, or an Indian
tribe with which the department has entered into an agreement to provide
adoption services in accordance with subdivision two of section
thirty-nine of this chapter.