Terms Used In Louisiana Codes > Children's Code > Title XII-A > Chapter 5 - Adoption of a Hague Convention Adoptee

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Convention adoption: means the adoption of a child habitually residing in any country outside the United States that is a party to the Hague Adoption Convention. See Louisiana Children's Code 1281.3
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. See Louisiana Children's Code 1281.3
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Hague Convention adoptee: means a child living in a Hague Convention country who is under the age of sixteen at the time a Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative, is filed on his behalf and who is found by the Department of State and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to meet the definition of "Convention Adoptee" under Section 101(b)(1)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 USC 1101(b)(1)(G)). See Louisiana Children's Code 1281.3
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.