LRB-2418/1
GMM:kmg:mrc
1999 - 2000 LEGISLATURE
October 12, 1999 - Introduced by Representative Cullen, cosponsored by Senator
Huelsman. Referred to Committee on Family Law.
AB526,2,7 1An Act to repeal 48.235 (1) (b), 48.235 (5), 48.41 (2) (d), 48.433 (8) (a) 2., 48.434
2(3), 48.434 (6), 632.896 (1) (c) 2. and 948.24; to consolidate, renumber and
3amend
48.433 (8) (a) (intro.) and 1.; to amend 20.435 (3) (jj), 46.03 (18) (am),
446.03 (18) (b), 46.10 (2), 46.215 (1) (h), 46.215 (1) (i), 46.22 (1) (c) 4., 48.025 (2),
548.14 (1), 48.14 (2) (b), 48.23 (2), 48.23 (4), 48.235 (1) (c), 48.235 (8) (c), 48.31 (1),
648.36 (1) (a), 48.368 (1), 48.371 (3) (intro.), 48.38 (4) (d) 3., 48.40 (2), 48.42 (1)
7(intro.), 48.42 (2) (a), 48.422 (7) (bm), 48.428 (1), 48.432 (3) (a) 2., 48.432 (3) (a)
84., 48.432 (4) (a), 48.432 (7) (a), 48.433 (2), 48.433 (3), 48.433 (6) (a), 48.433 (7)
9(a) 3., 48.433 (7) (b), 48.433 (7) (c), 48.433 (7) (d), 48.433 (7) (e), 48.434 (2), 48.434
10(4), 48.434 (5), 48.434 (7), 48.46 (3), 48.48 (3m) (a), 48.48 (17) (a) 5., 48.48 (17)
11(a) 9., 48.57 (1) (e), 48.57 (1) (j), 48.61 (5), 48.63 (3), 48.64 (1m), 48.685 (1) (bg),
1248.685 (1) (d), 48.75 (1g) (a) 4., 48.78 (2) (a), 48.98 (4) (b), 48.981 (7) (a) 13., 49.32
13(1) (b), 51.30 (4) (b) 18. c., 69.14 (3) (c), 69.15 (2) (a) (intro.), 69.15 (2) (b), 69.15
14(6) (b), 71.05 (6) (b) 22., 103.10 (3) (b) 2., 146.82 (2) (a) 9. c., 146.82 (2) (a) 18m.,

1252.15 (5) (a) 19., 301.03 (18) (b), 301.12 (2), 632.896 (1) (c) 1., 632.896 (1) (c) 5.,
2785.05, 806.07 (3), 808.04 (7) and 938.368 (1); to repeal and recreate 48.433
3(5), subchapter XIX (title) of chapter 48 [precedes 48.81], 48.81 to 48.97,
4subchapter XX (title) of chapter 48 [precedes 48.973] and chapter 882; and to
5create
48.432 (3) (a) 1m., 48.432 (3) (a) 4m., 48.973, 48.976, 48.979, 48.9795 and
6252.15 (5) (a) 20. of the statutes; relating to: a uniform adoption act, granting
7rule-making authority, making an appropriation and providing penalties.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill eliminates current law relating to adoption and enacts instead the
Uniform Adoption Act (1994) (UAA) as drafted by the National Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
Current law
Under current law, the adoption of a child begins with placement of the child
for adoption. Current law permits the department of health and family services
(DHFS), a county department of human services or social services (county
department) or a child welfare agency (collectively referred to as an "agency") to place
a child for adoption in a licensed foster home without a court order if the agency is
the guardian of the child. Current law also permits a parent having physical custody
of a child to place the child for adoption with a relative without a court order.
Current law, however, does not permit a parent to place a child with a
nonrelative without a court order. Instead, the parent and the proposed adoptive
parent must petition the court assigned to exercise jurisdiction under the children's
code (juvenile court) for an order approving the placement of the child with the
proposed adoptive parent. The petition for adoptive placement must be accompanied
by a petition for the voluntary termination of the petitioning parent's parental rights
to the minor (TPR). On the filing of the petitions, the juvenile court must schedule
a hearing; ascertain the paternity of the child; and order DHFS or a county
department to investigate the proposed placement, interview the petitioners,
provide counseling if requested and report its recommendation to the juvenile court,
unless a child welfare agency has already investigated the proposed placement and
interviewed the petitioners. At the beginning of the hearing the juvenile court must
review all payments made or agreed to be made by the proposed adoptive parent to
the birth parent in connection with the pregnancy or with the birth, placement or
adoption of the child to determine whether any of those payments are coercive to the
birth parent. Current law provides that making any payment to a birth parent
conditional on the surrender of the child, the TPR or the finalization of the adoption
is presumed to be coercive. If the juvenile court finds that the agreement is coercive,
the juvenile court must dismiss the petitions or amend the agreement to delete the

coercion. After the hearing, the juvenile court must make a conclusion whether the
placement is in the best interest of the child. If the placement is approved, the
juvenile court must proceed immediately with the TPR hearing. If the juvenile court
orders the TPR, the juvenile court must order the child to be placed with the
prospective adoptive parents and appoint an agency to be the guardian of the child.
Current law also specifies a procedure for the adoption of a foreign child. Under
current law, before bringing a foreign child into this country for adoption, the
prospective adoptive parent of the foreign child must file a bond with DHFS
conditioned on the child not becoming dependent on public funds for support before
the adoption is finalized. The prospective adoptive parent must also file with DHFS
for review a certified copy of a judgment, order or other document of the foreign
jurisdiction freeing the child for adoption. If DHFS finds that the judgment, order
or other document frees the child for adoption, if DHFS has been furnished with a
home study recommending the prospective adoptive parent, if a child welfare agency
has been identified to provide services for the child and if the prospective adoptive
parent has filed the bond, then DHFS must certify to the U.S. immigration and
naturalization service that all preadoptive requirements that can be met before a
child is brought into this country have been met. Within 60 days after the child is
brought into the country, the prospective adoptive parent must file a petition for
adoption or a TPR petition, or both. If a petition for adoption is not filed or is
withdrawn or denied, the juvenile court must transfer guardianship of the child to
an agency and order the agency to file a TPR petition, must order the prospective
adoptive parent to show cause why the bond should not be forfeited and may order
that the physical custody of the child remain with a suitable individual with whom
the child has been living.
After a child is placed for adoption, the prospective adoptive parent must file
a petition for adoption with the juvenile court. A relative, a stepparent, the
prospective adoptive parent of a foreign child or a prospective adoptive parent who
has the approval of the child's guardian may file a petition for adoption at any time
after complying with all of the requirements relating to placement for adoption. Any
other person, for example, a nonrelative, may not file a petition for adoption until the
child has been in the home of the petitioner for six months or more. On the filing of
the petition, the juvenile court must schedule a hearing within 90 days after the
filing and order an agency to make an investigation to determine whether the child
is a proper subject for adoption and whether the petitioner's home is suitable for the
child. If the petitioner is a stepparent, the juvenile court must order a screening,
rather than an investigation, consisting of no more than one interview and a
background check. After reviewing the report of the screening, the juvenile court
may either proceed on the petition or order a full investigation of the stepparent.
Current law also requires the agency that is the guardian of a child, if any, to file its
recommendation with the juvenile court and requires DHFS to file a
recommendation, except that DHFS is not required to file a recommendation if the
guardianship agency has filed a recommendation, if an agency has filed a report of
its investigation or if the petitioner is a relative. At the hearing, which the petitioner
and the child, if 14 years of age or over, must attend, the juvenile court must ascertain

the paternity of a nonmarital child, if not already determined, and grant the
adoption, if all necessary consents, reports and recommendations have been filed
and if the juvenile court finds that the adoption is in the best interest of the child.
After the adoption, the relationship of parent and child between the natural
parent and the adopted child ceases to exist, unless the natural parent is the spouse
of the adoptive parent, and the relationship of parent and child thereafter exists
between the adoptive parent and the adopted child, except that the juvenile court
may grant reasonable visitation rights to a relative who has maintained a
relationship similar to a parent-child relationship with a child who has been adopted
by a relative or stepparent and the child may continue to inherit through a deceased
natural parent if the remaining natural parent remarries and the stepparent adopts
the child.
Also, after the adoption, the state registrar of vital statistics (state registrar)
must prepare a new birth certificate, unless the adoptive parents request otherwise,
and impound the original birth certificate and all other information relating to the
adoption. Current law provides that all adoption records are closed and may not be
disclosed except by order of the juvenile court for good cause shown or except as
follows:
1. The juvenile court must disclose to the adoptive parents the child's medical
record.
2. The agency that placed the child for adoption must, on the request of an
adoptive parent or the adoptee, if 18 years of age or over, provide the requester with
medical and genetic information about the adoptee and the adoptee's birth parents
and with nonidentifying social history information about the adoptee's family.
3. DHFS must release medical information that it has in its centralized birth
record file to an adoptive parent, an adoptee 18 years of age or over or an offspring
of an adoptee if 18 years of age or over and must, if that information is not on file,
conduct a search for the birth parents, on request, to obtain that information.
4. DHFS must disclose the original birth certificate of an adoptee and
identifying information about the adoptee's birth parents to an adoptee 21 years of
age or over if the birth parents have filed affidavits authorizing that disclosure, and
DHFS must, if those affidavits are not on file, conduct a search for the birth parents,
on request, to inform the birth parent that he or she may file the affidavit.
5. The agency that placed the child for adoption or that accepted guardianship
of the child following TPR must disclose identifying information about a birth parent
of an adoptee under 21 years of age to the adoptee's adoptive parent if the birth
parent has filed with the agency a written authorization of that disclosure, and must
disclose identifying information about an adoptive parent of an adoptee under 21
years of age to the adoptee's birth parent if the adoptive parent has filed with the
agency a written authorization of that disclosure.
Finally, current law expressly prohibits or permits certain activities in
connection with an adoption. Specifically, no person, other than an agency, a parent
seeking to place his or her own child for adoption, an individual who has received a
favorable recommendation regarding his or her fitness to be an adoptive parent or
a person providing adoption information exchange services or adoption information,

may advertise for the purpose of finding a child to adopt or advertise that the person
will find an adoptive home, arrange for or assist in an adoption or adoptive placement
or place a child for adoption. Current law also permits certain payments in
connection with an adoption and prohibits all other payments. Payments permitted
under current law include payments for services provided by a child welfare agency,
medical and hospital care received by the birth mother in connection with the
pregnancy or birth of the child or received by the child, counseling for the birth
parents, living expenses of the birth mother not to exceed $1,000, investigation of the
proposed adoptive placement, legal and other services received by a birth parent or
the child, maternity clothes, local transportation of a birth parent that is related to
the pregnancy or adoption, foster care for the child pending his or her adoptive
placement, birthing classes and a gift for the birth mother not to exceed $50 in value.
If the juvenile court finds that an impermissible payment has been made, the
juvenile court may dismiss the petition for adoption and refer the matter to the
district attorney for prosecution.
The bill
Placement
The bill permits a parent having legal and physical custody of a child, a
guardian or agency authorized by the juvenile court or an agency to which a child has
been relinquished by his or her parent, that is, the parent has voluntarily
surrendered his or her rights to the child to the agency for purposes of adoption, to
place a child for adoption. A child may be placed for adoption, however, only with a
prospective adoptive parent for whom a favorable preplacement evaluation has been
prepared by a person certified by DHFS to prepare evaluations, except that a
preplacement evaluation is not required for the placement of a child with a relative.
In those cases, the prospective adoptive parent must be evaluated during the
pendency of the adoption proceeding. The preplacement evaluation must be based
on a personal interview and home visit with the prospective adoptive parent and on
interviews with persons who know the prospective adoptive parent and must contain
information as to the age, nationality, religion, marital and family history, physical
and mental health, education and employment history, property and income and
criminal, child abuse or neglect and domestic abuse history of the proposed adoptive
parent. The evaluator must assess this information to determine whether placement
of the child, or any child, in the home of the prospective adoptive parent would pose
a significant risk of harm to the physical or psychological well-being of the child. The
bill requires an agency placing a child for adoption to place the child with a
prospective adoptive parent selected by the child's parent or guardian, if the agency
has agreed to do so, or, if the agency has not so agreed, to place the child in accordance
with the best interest of the child. In determining the best interest of the child, the
agency must consider certain individuals in the following order of preference:
1. An individual who has previously adopted a sibling of the child.
2. An individual with characteristics selected by the birth parent.
3. An individual who has had prior physical custody of the child.
4. A relative of the child.

An agency may not delay or deny a placement based on the race, national origin
or ethnic background of the child and must place siblings together, if practicable and
in their best interest. A person placing a child for adoption must disclose to the
prospective adoptive parents background information about the child and the child's
natural parents, including their medical, social and psychological histories and any
history of convictions or delinquency adjudications.
The bill also permits a health care facility to release a child to an individual or
agency if the child's mother authorizes the release. A copy of the authorization must
be sent to DHFS within 72 hours after the child is released and the person to whom
the child is released must, within 30 days after the release, report to DHFS on the
disposition of the child, that is, whether a petition for adoption has been filed,
whether an agency has acquired custody of the child, whether the child has been
returned to his or her parent or whether the child has been transferred to another
individual. If DHFS does not receive the report within 45 days after the release,
DHFS must investigate to determine the child's whereabouts. If the person to whom
the child is released does not take action with respect to the adoption of the child,
DHFS must immediately remove the child from that person's physical custody.
Consent or relinquishment
Subject to certain exceptions, the juvenile court may grant a petition for
adoption when a parent or guardian has placed the child for adoption without agency
involvement only if one of the following persons has consented to the adoption:
1. The birth mother and one of the following:
a. A man who was married to the birth mother if the child was born during or
within 300 days after the end of the marriage.
b. A man who attempted to marry the mother, but the marriage is or could be
declared invalid, if the child was born during or within 300 days after the end of the
attempted marriage.
c. A man who has been judicially determined to be the father of the child or who
has signed a statement acknowledging his paternity and who has supported and
visited or communicated with the child or who has married or attempted to marry
the child's mother after the child's birth, but before the placement.
d. A man who has received the child into his home and openly held out the child
as his own.
2. The child's guardian, if authorized by the juvenile court to consent to the
child's adoption.
3. The child's current adoptive parents.
When an agency has placed the child for adoption, the juvenile court may grant
a petition for adoption only if the agency and any parent who has not relinquished
the child to the agency consents to the adoption. Generally, the child must also
consent to the adoption, if 12 years of age or over.
Under the bill, the consent of various persons is not required. Those persons
include an individual who has relinquished the child to an agency, an individual
whose parental rights to the child have been terminated or determined not to exist,
an incompetent parent, a man who has not been married to the mother and who
denies his paternity or disclaims his interest in the child, the personal representative

of a deceased parent's estate and a parent who fails to appear or answer in a TPR or
adoption proceeding. The bill also permits the juvenile court to dispense with the
consent of a guardian or agency if the juvenile court finds that consent is being
withheld contrary to the best interest of the child and to dispense with the consent
of a child 12 years of age or over if the juvenile court finds that it is not in the best
interest of the child to require that consent.
A parent may consent to the adoption of his or her child or relinquish the child
to an agency for adoption at any time after the child is born. Before executing a
consent or relinquishment, the parent must have been informed of the meaning and
consequences of adoption, the availability of counseling and legal counsel and the
procedure for prohibiting the release of background information about and the
identity of the parent. The parent must also have been informed that indentifying
information about the parent will be made available, on request, to the adoptee on
attaining 18 years of age, to the adoptive parent or guardian of the adoptee before
the adoptee attains 18 years of age or, if the adoptee is deceased, to a direct
descendant of the adoptee who has attained 18 years of age or to the parent or
guardian of a direct descendent under 18 years of age unless the parent prohibits the
disclosure of that information. The parent must execute the consent or
relinquishment in the presence of a judge, an individual designated by a judge, an
employe designated by an agency to take consents, an attorney, a military officer or
a foreign service officer. The person in whose presence the consent or relinquishment
is executed must certify that the parent understood the consent or relinquishment,
signed it voluntarily, was furnished the required information, was offered counseling
and legal counsel and was informed of his or her obligation to provide background
information about the child's medical, social and psychological history. The consent
or relinquishment must contain instructions on how to revoke or set aside the
consent or relinquishment and may provide for its revocation if another consent or
relinquishment is not executed within a specified time, if the parental rights of
another individual are not terminated or if the petition for adoption is denied or
withdrawn. The consent or relinquishment must also state all of the following:
1. That the parent voluntarily and unequivocally consents to the transfer of
custody of the child to the prospective adoptive parent or agency for purposes of
adoption.
2. That the parent understands that the consent or relinquishment is final and,
except under limited circumstances, may not be revoked or set aside.
3. That the parent understands that the adoption will terminate his or her
parental rights and obligations to the child, other than the payment of child support
arrears.
4. That the parent has received or been offered a copy of the consent or
relinquishment, counseling, legal counsel and information about the meaning and
consequences of adoption.
5. That the parent has not received or been offered money or anything of value
for the consent or relinquishment, except as authorized by law.
6. That the parent has had an opportunity to sign a document stating whether
and under what circumstances identifying information about the parent may be

disclosed; and has been advised of the obligation to provide background information
about the child's history.
7. That the parent believes that adoption is in the best interest of the child.
8. That the parent waives notice of the proceeding for adoption.
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