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| 1 | AN ACT concerning families.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 5. The Adoption Act is amended by changing Section | ||||||
| 5 | 6 as follows:
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| 6 | (750 ILCS 50/6) (from Ch. 40, par. 1508)
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| 7 | Sec. 6. Investigation.
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| 8 | A. Investigation; all cases. Within 10 days after the | ||||||
| 9 | filing of
a petition for the adoption or standby adoption of a | ||||||
| 10 | child other than a related
child, the
court shall appoint a | ||||||
| 11 | child welfare agency approved by the Department of
Children and | ||||||
| 12 | Family Services, or a person deemed competent by the court, or
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| 13 | in
Cook County the Court Services Division of the Cook County | ||||||
| 14 | Department of
Public Aid, or the Department of Children and | ||||||
| 15 | Family Services if the court
determines that no child welfare | ||||||
| 16 | agency is available or that the petitioner
is financially | ||||||
| 17 | unable to pay for the investigation, to investigate
accurately, | ||||||
| 18 | fully and promptly, the allegations contained in the petition;
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| 19 | the character, reputation, health and general standing in the | ||||||
| 20 | community of
the petitioners; the religious faith of the | ||||||
| 21 | petitioners and, if
ascertainable, of the child sought to be | ||||||
| 22 | adopted; and whether the
petitioners are proper persons to | ||||||
| 23 | adopt the child and whether the child is
a proper subject of | ||||||
| 24 | adoption. The investigation required under this Section
shall | ||||||
| 25 | include a fingerprint based criminal background check with a | ||||||
| 26 | review
of fingerprints by the Illinois State Police and Federal | ||||||
| 27 | Bureau of
Investigation.
Each petitioner subject to this | ||||||
| 28 | investigation, shall submit his or her
fingerprints to the
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| 29 | Department
of State Police in the form and manner prescribed by | ||||||
| 30 | the Department of State
Police. These fingerprints shall be | ||||||
| 31 | checked against the fingerprint records
now and hereafter filed | ||||||
| 32 | in the Department of State
Police and Federal Bureau of | ||||||
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| 1 | Investigation criminal history records
databases. The | ||||||
| 2 | Department of State Police shall charge
a fee for conducting | ||||||
| 3 | the criminal history records check, which shall be
deposited in | ||||||
| 4 | the State Police Services Fund and shall not exceed the actual
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| 5 | cost of the records check.
The criminal background check | ||||||
| 6 | required by
this Section shall include a listing of when, where | ||||||
| 7 | and by whom the criminal
background check was prepared. The | ||||||
| 8 | criminal background check required by this
Section shall not be | ||||||
| 9 | more than two years old.
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| 10 | Neither a clerk of the circuit court nor a judge may | ||||||
| 11 | require that a
criminal
background check or fingerprint review | ||||||
| 12 | be filed with, or at the same time as,
an initial petition for | ||||||
| 13 | adoption.
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| 14 | A-5. As part of the investigation process, the | ||||||
| 15 | court-appointed investigator shall present to the petitioner a | ||||||
| 16 | Designation of Standby Guardian Designee form and information | ||||||
| 17 | regarding guardianship so that the petitioner can include | ||||||
| 18 | guardianship designation in the adoption process if the | ||||||
| 19 | petitioner so chooses.
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| 20 | B. Investigation; foreign-born child. In the case of a | ||||||
| 21 | child born
outside the United States or a territory thereof, in | ||||||
| 22 | addition to the
investigation required under subsection (A) of | ||||||
| 23 | this Section, a
post-placement investigation shall be | ||||||
| 24 | conducted in accordance with the
requirements of the Child Care | ||||||
| 25 | Act of 1969, the Interstate Compact on the
Placement of | ||||||
| 26 | Children, and regulations of the foreign placing agency and
the | ||||||
| 27 | supervising agency.
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| 28 | The requirements of a post-placement investigation shall | ||||||
| 29 | be deemed to
have been satisfied if a valid final order or | ||||||
| 30 | judgment of adoption has
been entered by a court of competent | ||||||
| 31 | jurisdiction in a country other than
the United States or a | ||||||
| 32 | territory thereof with respect to such child and
the | ||||||
| 33 | petitioners.
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| 34 | C. Report of investigation. The court shall determine | ||||||
| 35 | whether the costs of
the investigation shall be charged to the | ||||||
| 36 | petitioners. The information obtained
as a result of such | ||||||
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| 1 | investigation shall be presented to the court in a written
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| 2 | report. The results of the criminal background check required | ||||||
| 3 | under subsection
(A) shall be provided to the court for its | ||||||
| 4 | review. The court may, in its
discretion, weigh the | ||||||
| 5 | significance of the results of the criminal background
check | ||||||
| 6 | against the entirety of the background of the petitioners. The | ||||||
| 7 | Court, in
its discretion, may accept the report of the | ||||||
| 8 | investigation previously made by a
licensed child welfare | ||||||
| 9 | agency, if made within one year prior to the entry of
the | ||||||
| 10 | judgment. Such report shall be treated as confidential and | ||||||
| 11 | withheld from
inspection unless findings adverse to the | ||||||
| 12 | petitioners or to the child sought to
be adopted are contained | ||||||
| 13 | therein, and in that event the court shall inform the
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| 14 | petitioners of the relevant portions pertaining to the adverse | ||||||
| 15 | findings. In no
event shall any facts set forth in the report | ||||||
| 16 | be considered at the hearing of
the proceeding, unless | ||||||
| 17 | established by competent evidence. The report shall be
filed | ||||||
| 18 | with the record of the proceeding. If the file relating to the
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| 19 | proceeding is not impounded, the report shall be impounded by | ||||||
| 20 | the clerk of the
court and shall be made available for | ||||||
| 21 | inspection only upon order of the court.
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| 22 | D. Related adoption. Such investigation shall not be made | ||||||
| 23 | when the
petition seeks to adopt a related child or an adult | ||||||
| 24 | unless the court, in
its discretion, shall so order. In such an | ||||||
| 25 | event the court may appoint a
person deemed competent by the | ||||||
| 26 | court.
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| 27 | (Source: P.A. 93-418, eff. 1-1-04.)
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