As used in the Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act:

1. "Civilian personnel" means direct-hire, permanent civilian employees of the Department of Defense;

2. "Close and substantial relationship" means a relationship in which a bond has been forged between the child and the other person by regular contact or communication;

3. "Custodial responsibility" refers to legal custody, physical custody or visitation rights with respect to a child;

4. "Deploying parent" means a legal parent of a minor child or the legal guardian of a child, who is a member of the United States Armed Forces, civilian personnel or contractor serving in designated combat zones and who is deployed or has been notified of an impending deployment;

5. "Deployment" means the temporary transfer of a servicemember, civilian personnel or contractor serving in designated combat zones in compliance with official orders to another location in support of combat, contingency operation, or natural disaster requiring the use of orders for a period of more than thirty (30) consecutive days, during which family members are not authorized to accompany the servicemember at government expense. Deployment shall include any period during which a servicemember, civilian personnel or contractor serving in designated combat zones is absent from duty on account of sickness, wounds, leave or other lawful cause;

6. "Guardian" means a person who has been appointed as a guardian of a minor or incapacitated adult pursuant to the requirements of Title 30 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The term shall include a limited guardian, but shall not include a guardian ad litem;

7. "Nondeploying parent" means a legal parent or guardian who is not deployed and who has a child or ward in common with a deploying parent;

8. "Servicemember" means a member of either:

a.the active or reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard, or

b.the active or reserve components of the National Guard; and

9. "Visitation" means the right to take a child for a limited period of time to a place other than the habitual residence of the child.

Added by Laws 2011, c. 354, § 4, emerg. eff. May 26, 2011. Amended by Laws 2017, c. 29, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2017.