Full Text of SB0068 95th General Assembly
SB0068eng 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning civil law.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Adoption Act is amended by changing Sections | 5 |
| 6, 18.4a, and 18.5 and by adding Section 18.4b as follows:
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| (750 ILCS 50/6) (from Ch. 40, par. 1508)
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| Sec. 6. A. Investigation; all cases. Within 10 days after | 8 |
| the filing of
a petition for the adoption or standby adoption | 9 |
| of a child other than a related
child, the
court shall appoint | 10 |
| a child welfare agency approved by the Department of
Children | 11 |
| and Family Services, or a person deemed competent by the court, | 12 |
| or
in
Cook County the Court Services Division of the Cook | 13 |
| County Department of
Public Aid, or the Department of Children | 14 |
| and Family Services if the court
determines that no child | 15 |
| welfare agency is available or that the petitioner
is | 16 |
| financially unable to pay for the investigation, to investigate
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| accurately, fully and promptly, the allegations contained in | 18 |
| the petition;
the character, reputation, health and general | 19 |
| standing in the community of
the petitioners; the religious | 20 |
| faith of the petitioners and, if
ascertainable, of the child | 21 |
| sought to be adopted; and whether the
petitioners are proper | 22 |
| persons to adopt the child and whether the child is
a proper | 23 |
| subject of adoption. The investigation shall include a review |
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| of the individual health information summaries required by | 2 |
| Section 18.4b. The investigation required under this Section
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| shall include a fingerprint based criminal background check | 4 |
| with a review
of fingerprints by the Illinois State Police and | 5 |
| Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
Each petitioner subject to | 6 |
| this investigation, shall submit his or her
fingerprints to the
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| Department
of State Police in the form and manner prescribed by | 8 |
| the Department of State
Police. These fingerprints shall be | 9 |
| checked against the fingerprint records
now and hereafter filed | 10 |
| in the Department of State
Police and Federal Bureau of | 11 |
| Investigation criminal history records
databases. The | 12 |
| Department of State Police shall charge
a fee for conducting | 13 |
| the criminal history records check, which shall be
deposited in | 14 |
| the State Police Services Fund and shall not exceed the actual
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| cost of the records check.
The criminal background check | 16 |
| required by
this Section shall include a listing of when, where | 17 |
| and by whom the criminal
background check was prepared. The | 18 |
| criminal background check required by this
Section shall not be | 19 |
| more than two years old.
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| Neither a clerk of the circuit court nor a judge may | 21 |
| require that a
criminal
background check or fingerprint review | 22 |
| be filed with, or at the same time as,
an initial petition for | 23 |
| adoption.
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| B. Investigation; foreign-born child. In the case of a | 25 |
| child born
outside the United States or a territory thereof, in | 26 |
| addition to the
investigation required under subsection (A) of |
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| this Section, a
post-placement investigation shall be | 2 |
| conducted in accordance with the
requirements of the Child Care | 3 |
| Act of 1969, the Interstate Compact on the
Placement of | 4 |
| Children, and regulations of the foreign placing agency and
the | 5 |
| supervising agency.
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| The requirements of a post-placement investigation shall | 7 |
| be deemed to
have been satisfied if a valid final order or | 8 |
| judgment of adoption has
been entered by a court of competent | 9 |
| jurisdiction in a country other than
the United States or a | 10 |
| territory thereof with respect to such child and
the | 11 |
| petitioners.
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| C. Report of investigation. The court shall determine | 13 |
| whether the costs of
the investigation shall be charged to the | 14 |
| petitioners. The information obtained
as a result of such | 15 |
| investigation shall be presented to the court in a written
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| report. The results of the criminal background check required | 17 |
| under subsection
(A) shall be provided to the court for its | 18 |
| review. The court may, in its
discretion, weigh the | 19 |
| significance of the results of the criminal background
check | 20 |
| against the entirety of the background of the petitioners. The | 21 |
| Court, in
its discretion, may accept the report of the | 22 |
| investigation previously made by a
licensed child welfare | 23 |
| agency, if made within one year prior to the entry of
the | 24 |
| judgment. Such report shall be treated as confidential and | 25 |
| withheld from
inspection unless findings adverse to the | 26 |
| petitioners or to the child sought to
be adopted are contained |
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| therein, and in that event the court shall inform the
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| petitioners of the relevant portions pertaining to the adverse | 3 |
| findings. In no
event shall any facts set forth in the report | 4 |
| be considered at the hearing of
the proceeding, unless | 5 |
| established by competent evidence. The report shall be
filed | 6 |
| with the record of the proceeding. If the file relating to the
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| proceeding is not impounded, the report shall be impounded by | 8 |
| the clerk of the
court and shall be made available for | 9 |
| inspection only upon order of the court.
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| D. Related adoption. Such investigation shall not be made | 11 |
| when the
petition seeks to adopt a related child or an adult | 12 |
| unless the court, in
its discretion, shall so order. In such an | 13 |
| event the court may appoint a
person deemed competent by the | 14 |
| court.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-418, eff. 1-1-04.)
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| (750 ILCS 50/18.4a) (from Ch. 40, par. 1522.4a)
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| Sec. 18.4a. Medical and mental health histories.
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| (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
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| contrary, to the extent currently in possession of the agency, | 20 |
| the medical
and mental health histories of a child legally | 21 |
| freed for adoption and of
the birth parents, with information | 22 |
| identifying the
birth parents
eliminated, shall be provided by | 23 |
| an agency to the child's prospective
adoptive parent and shall | 24 |
| be provided upon request to an adoptive parent
when a child has | 25 |
| been adopted. The medical and mental health histories
shall |
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| include all the following available information:
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| (1) Conditions or diseases believed to be hereditary.
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| (2) Drugs or medications taken by the child's birth
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| mother during pregnancy.
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| (3) Psychological and psychiatric information.
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| (4) Any other information that may be a factor | 7 |
| influencing the child's
present or future health.
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| (b) The Department of
Children and Family Services may | 9 |
| promulgate rules
and regulations governing the release of | 10 |
| medical histories
under this Section and the preparation of the | 11 |
| individual health information summaries required by Section | 12 |
| 18.4b .
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| (Source: P.A. 91-417, eff. 1-1-00.)
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| (750 ILCS 50/18.4b new) | 15 |
| Sec. 18.4b. Individual health information summaries. In | 16 |
| any adoption action that is not an adoption that is assisted by | 17 |
| an Illinois child welfare agency or an intercounty adoption, | 18 |
| and other than when the petition seeks to adopt a related child | 19 |
| or an adult, individual health information summaries for the | 20 |
| child, birth mother, and birth father and a certified copy of | 21 |
| the adoption petition shall be filed except for good cause | 22 |
| shown with the Illinois Adoption Registry within 14 days after | 23 |
| the petition for adoption is filed. An individual health | 24 |
| information summary shall be based upon all significant | 25 |
| medical, dental, and mental health information available about |
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| the person but shall not contain any information identifying | 2 |
| either birth parent. | 3 |
| (a) The child's individual health information summary | 4 |
| shall include: | 5 |
| (1) his or her general physical characteristics and | 6 |
| significant health information about the child concerning | 7 |
| any disease, disability, dental condition, chronic or | 8 |
| acute illness, allergy, hospitalization, or history of | 9 |
| alcohol or other drug abuse; | 10 |
| (2) significant health information concerning any | 11 |
| psychological or
psychiatric condition, medication, or | 12 |
| treatment; | 13 |
| (3) conditions or diseases believed to be hereditary; | 14 |
| and
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| (4) any other information that may be a factor | 16 |
| influencing the child's
present or future physical, | 17 |
| dental, or mental health. | 18 |
| (b) The birth mother's individual health information | 19 |
| summary shall include: | 20 |
| (1) her age and significant health
information about | 21 |
| her concerning any disease, disability, dental condition, | 22 |
| chronic or acute illness, allergy, or history of alcohol or | 23 |
| other drug abuse; | 24 |
| (2) significant health information concerning any | 25 |
| psychological or
psychiatric condition, medication, or | 26 |
| treatment; |
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| (3) conditions or diseases believed to be hereditary; | 2 |
| (4) any other information that may be a factor | 3 |
| influencing the child's
present or future physical, | 4 |
| dental, or mental health; and | 5 |
| (5) drugs or medications taken by her during the | 6 |
| child's pregnancy. | 7 |
| (c) The birth father's individual health information | 8 |
| summary shall include: | 9 |
| (1) his age and significant health
information about | 10 |
| him concerning any disease, disability, dental condition, | 11 |
| chronic or acute illness, allergy, or history of alcohol or | 12 |
| other drug abuse; | 13 |
| (2) significant health information concerning any | 14 |
| psychological or
psychiatric condition, medication, or | 15 |
| treatment; | 16 |
| (3) conditions or diseases believed to be hereditary; | 17 |
| and | 18 |
| (4) any other information that may be a factor | 19 |
| influencing the child's
present or future physical, | 20 |
| dental, or mental health.
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| (750 ILCS 50/18.5) (from Ch. 40, par. 1522.5)
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| Sec. 18.5. Liability. No liability shall attach to the | 23 |
| State, any
agency thereof,
any licensed agency, any judge, any | 24 |
| officer or employee of the court, or
any party or employee | 25 |
| thereof involved in the surrender of a child for
adoption or in |
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| an adoption proceeding for acts or efforts made or information | 2 |
| provided within the
scope of Sections 18.05 thru 18.5, | 3 |
| inclusive, of this Act and
under
its provisions, except for | 4 |
| subsection (f) of Section 18.1.
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| (Source: P.A. 91-417, eff. 1-1-00.)
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 7 |
| becoming law.
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