(750 ILCS 50/20) (from Ch. 40, par. 1524)
    Sec. 20. Practice. The provisions of the Civil Practice Law and all existing and future amendments of that Law and the Supreme Court Rules now or hereafter adopted in relation to that Law shall apply to all adoption proceedings except as otherwise specifically provided in this Act.
    Proceedings under this Act shall receive priority over other civil cases in being set for hearing.
    No matters not germane to the distinctive purpose of a proceeding under this Act shall be introduced by joinder, counterclaim or otherwise.
    An appeal from a judgment order for adoption or other appealable orders under this Act shall be prosecuted and heard on an expedited basis, unless good cause for doing otherwise is shown.
    In the event a judgment order for adoption is vacated or a petition for adoption is denied, the court shall promptly conduct a hearing as to the temporary and permanent custody of the minor child who is the subject of the proceedings pursuant to Part VI of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. The parties to said proceedings shall be the petitioners to the adoption proceedings, the minor child, any biological parents whose parental rights have not been terminated, and other parties who have been granted leave to intervene in the proceedings.
    This Act shall be liberally construed, and the rule that statutes in derogation of the common law must be strictly construed shall not apply to this Act.
    All defects in pleadings, either in form or substance, not objected to prior to the entry of final judgment, shall be deemed to be waived.
    As to persons over whom the court had jurisdiction or persons claiming under them, it shall be no basis for attack as to the validity of an adoption judgment that the court lacked jurisdiction over some other person or persons over whom it should have had jurisdiction. If, upon attack by a person or persons over whom the court lacked jurisdiction, or persons claiming under them, an adoption judgment is set aside, it shall be set aside only insofar as it affects such person or persons.
    The provisions of this Section shall apply to all cases pending on or after July 3, 1994.
(Source: P.A. 89-315, eff. 1-1-96; 90-655, eff. 7-30-98.)