Terms Used In South Carolina Code 63-7-2860

• Court: means the family court. See South Carolina Code 63-7-20
• Department: means the Department of Social Services. See South Carolina Code 63-7-2820
• Fictive kin: means an individual who is not related by birth, adoption, or marriage to a child but has an emotionally significant relationship with the child or the child's family. See South Carolina Code 63-7-2820
• Legal Guardianship: means :
  
  (a) a judicially established relationship between a child and caretaker that is intended to be permanent and self-sustaining and transfers to the caretaker the following parental rights and responsibilities with respect to the child:
  
  (i) the duty to provide protection, support, food, clothing, shelter, supervision, education, and care;
  
  (ii) physical custody of the child;
  
  (iii) legal custody when family court has not awarded legal custody to another person, agency, or institution;
  
  (iv) the right to consent to marriage, enlistment in the armed forces, and medical and surgical treatment;
  
  (v) the duty and authority to represent the child in legal actions and to make decisions of substantial legal significance affecting the child;
  
  (vi) the right to determine the nature and extent of the child's contact with other persons; and
  
  (vii) the right to manage the child's income and assets. See South Carolina Code 63-7-20
• Relative: means an individual within the first, second, or third degree to a parent or stepparent of a child who may be related through blood, marriage, or adoption or through the establishment of a fictive kin relationship. See South Carolina Code 63-7-2820