Public Act 094-0530
 
SB0511 Enrolled LRB094 09016 LCB 39237 b

    AN ACT concerning adoption.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Adoption Act is amended by changing Sections
7 and 8 as follows:
 
    (750 ILCS 50/7)  (from Ch. 40, par. 1509)
    Sec. 7. Process.
    A. All persons named in the petition for adoption or
standby adoption, other than the petitioners and any party who
has previously either denied being a parent pursuant to Section
12a of this Act or whose rights have been terminated pursuant
to Section 12a of this Act, but including the person sought to
be adopted, shall be made parties defendant by name, and if the
name or names of any such persons are alleged in the petition
to be unknown such persons shall be made parties defendant
under the name and style of "All whom it may concern". In all
such actions petitioner or his attorney shall file, at the
office of the clerk of the court in which the action is
pending, an affidavit showing that the defendant resides or has
gone out of this State, or on due inquiry cannot be found, or
is concealed within this State, so that process cannot be
served upon him, and stating the place of residence of the
defendant, if known, or that upon diligent inquiry his place of
residence cannot be ascertained, the clerk shall cause
publication to be made in some newspaper published in the
county in which the action is pending. If there is no newspaper
published in that county, then the publication shall be in a
newspaper published in an adjoining county in this State,
having a circulation in the county in which such action is
pending. In the event there is service on any of the parties by
publication, the publication shall contain notice of pendency
of the action, the name of the person to be adopted and the
name of the parties to be served by publication, and the date
on or after which default may be entered against such parties.
Neither the name of petitioners nor the name of any party who
has either surrendered said child, has given their consent to
the adoption of the child, or whose parental rights have been
terminated by a court of competent jurisdiction shall be
included in the notice of publication. The Clerk shall also,
within ten (10) days of the first publication of the notice,
send a copy thereof by mail, addressed to each defendant whose
place of residence is stated in such affidavit. The certificate
of the Clerk that he sent the copies pursuant to this section
is evidence that he has done so. Except as provided in this
section pertaining to service by publication, all parties
defendant shall be notified of the proceedings in the same
manner as is now or may hereafter be required in other civil
cases or proceedings. Any party defendant who is of age of 14
years or upward may waive service of process by entering an
appearance in writing. The form to be used for publication
shall be substantially as follows: "ADOPTION NOTICE - STATE OF
ILLINOIS, County of ...., ss. - Circuit Court of .... County.
In the matter of the Petition for the Adoption of ...., a
..male child. Adoption No. ..... To-- .... (whom it may concern
or the named parent) Take notice that a petition was filed in
the Circuit Court of .... County, Illinois, for the adoption of
a child named ..... Now, therefore, unless you ...., and all
whom it may concern, file your answer to the Petition in the
action or otherwise file your appearance therein, in the said
Circuit Court of ...., County, Room ...., ...., in the City of
...., Illinois, on or before the .... day of ...., a default
may be entered against you at any time after that day and a
judgment entered in accordance with the prayer of said
Petition. Dated, ...., Illinois, .... ...., Clerk. (Name and
address of attorney for petitioners.)
    B. A minor defendant who has been served in accordance with
this Section may be defaulted in the same manner as any other
defendant.
    C. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this or
any other law, and in addition to the notice requirements of
any law pertaining to persons other than those specified in
this subsection, the persons entitled to notice that a petition
has been filed under Section 5 of this Act shall include:
        (a) any person adjudicated by a court in this State to
    be the father of the child;
        (b) any person adjudicated by a court of another state
    or territory of the United States to be the father of the
    child, when a certified copy of the court order has been
    filed with the Putative Father Registry under Section 12.1
    of this Act;
        (c) any person who at the time of the filing of the
    petition is registered in the Putative Father Registry
    under Section 12.1 of this Act as the putative father of
    the child;
        (d) any person who is recorded on the child's birth
    certificate as the child's father;
        (e) any person who is openly living with the child or
    the child's mother at the time the proceeding is initiated
    and who is holding himself out to be the child's father;
        (f) any person who has been identified as the child's
    father by the mother in a written, sworn statement,
    including an Affidavit of Identification as specified
    under Section 11 of this Act;
        (g) any person who was married to the child's mother on
    the date of the child's birth or within 300 days prior to
    the child's birth.
    The sole purpose of notice under this Section shall be to
enable the person receiving notice to appear in the adoption
proceedings to present evidence to the court relevant to
whether the consent or surrender of the person to the adoption
is required pursuant to Section 8 of this Act. If the court
determines that the consent or surrender of the person is not
required pursuant to Section 8, then the person shall not be
entitled to participate in the proceedings or to any further
notice of the proceedings the best interests of the child.
(Source: P.A. 91-572, eff. 1-1-00.)
 
    (750 ILCS 50/8)  (from Ch. 40, par. 1510)
    Sec. 8. Consents to adoption and surrenders for purposes of
adoption.
    (a) Except as hereinafter provided in this Section consents
or surrenders shall be required in all cases, unless the person
whose consent or surrender would otherwise be required shall be
found by the court:
        (1) to be an unfit person as defined in Section 1 of
    this Act, by clear and convincing evidence; or
        (2) not to be the biological or adoptive father of the
    child; or
        (3) to have waived his parental rights to the child
    under Section 12a or 12.1 of this Act; or
        (4) to be the parent of an adult sought to be adopted;
    or
        (5) to be the father of the child as a result of
    criminal sexual abuse or assault as defined under Article
    12 of the Criminal Code of 1961; or
        (6) to be the father of a child who:
            (i) is a family member of the mother of the child,
        and the mother is under the age of 18 at the time of
        the child's conception; for purposes of this
        subsection, a "family member" is a parent,
        step-parent, grandparent, step-grandparent, sibling,
        or cousin of the first degree, whether by whole blood,
        half-blood, or adoption, as well as a person age 18 or
        over at the time of the child's conception who has
        resided in the household with the mother continuously
        for at least one year; or
            (ii) is at least 5 years older than the child's
        mother, and the mother was under the age of 17 at the
        time of the child's conception, unless the mother and
        father voluntarily acknowledge the father's paternity
        of the child by marrying or by establishing the
        father's paternity by consent of the parties pursuant
        to the Illinois Parentage Act of 1984 or pursuant to a
        substantially similar statute in another state.
        A criminal conviction of any offense pursuant to
    Article 12 of the Criminal Code of 1961 is not required. to
    have been indicated for child sexual abuse as defined in
    the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act that involved
    sexual penetration of the mother; or
        (7) to be at least 5 years older than the mother and
    the mother was under the age 17 at the time of conception
    of the child to be adopted.
    (b) Where consents are required in the case of an adoption
of a minor child, the consents of the following persons shall
be sufficient:
        (1) (A) The mother of the minor child; and
            (B) The father of the minor child, if the father:
                (i) was married to the mother on the date of
            birth of the child or within 300 days before the
            birth of the child, except for a husband or former
            husband who has been found by a court of competent
            jurisdiction not to be the biological father of the
            child; or
                (ii) is the father of the child under a
            judgment for adoption, an order of parentage, or an
            acknowledgment of parentage or paternity pursuant
            to subsection (a) of Section 5 of the Illinois
            Parentage Act of 1984; or
                (iii) in the case of a child placed with the
            adopting parents less than 6 months after birth,
            openly lived with the child, the child's
            biological mother, or both, and held himself out to
            be the child's biological father during the first
            30 days following the birth of the child; or
                (iv) in the case of a child placed with the
            adopting parents less than 6 months after birth,
            made a good faith effort to pay a reasonable amount
            of the expenses related to the birth of the child
            and to provide a reasonable amount for the
            financial support of the child before the
            expiration of 30 days following the birth of the
            child, provided that the court may consider in its
            determination all relevant circumstances,
            including the financial condition of both
            biological parents; or
                (v) in the case of a child placed with the
            adopting parents more than 6 months after birth,
            has maintained substantial and continuous or
            repeated contact with the child as manifested by:
            (I) the payment by the father toward the support of
            the child of a fair and reasonable sum, according
            to the father's means, and either (II) the father's
            visiting the child at least monthly when
            physically and financially able to do so and not
            prevented from doing so by the person or authorized
            agency having lawful custody of the child, or (III)
            the father's regular communication with the child
            or with the person or agency having the care or
            custody of the child, when physically and
            financially unable to visit the child or prevented
            from doing so by the person or authorized agency
            having lawful custody of the child. The subjective
            intent of the father, whether expressed or
            otherwise unsupported by evidence of acts
            specified in this sub-paragraph as manifesting
            such intent, shall not preclude a determination
            that the father failed to maintain substantial and
            continuous or repeated contact with the child; or
                (vi) in the case of a child placed with the
            adopting parents more than six months after birth,
            openly lived with the child for a period of six
            months within the one year period immediately
            preceding the placement of the child for adoption
            and openly held himself out to be the father of the
            child; or
                (vii) has timely registered with Putative
            Father Registry, as provided in Section 12.1 of
            this Act, and prior to the expiration of 30 days
            from the date of such registration, commenced
            legal proceedings to establish paternity under the
            Illinois Parentage Act of 1984 or under the law of
            the jurisdiction of the child's birth; or
        (2) The legal guardian of the person of the child, if
    there is no surviving parent; or
        (3) An agency, if the child has been surrendered for
    adoption to such agency; or
        (4) Any person or agency having legal custody of a
    child by court order if the parental rights of the parents
    have been judicially terminated, and the court having
    jurisdiction of the guardianship of the child has
    authorized the consent to the adoption; or
        (5) The execution and verification of the petition by
    any petitioner who is also a parent of the child sought to
    be adopted shall be sufficient evidence of such parent's
    consent to the adoption.
    (c) Where surrenders to an agency are required in the case
of a placement for adoption of a minor child by an agency, the
surrenders of the following persons shall be sufficient:
        (1) (A) The mother of the minor child; and
            (B) The father of the minor child, if the father:
                (i) was married to the mother on the date of
            birth of the child or within 300 days before the
            birth of the child, except for a husband or former
            husband who has been found by a court of competent
            jurisdiction not to be the biological father of the
            child; or
                (ii) is the father of the child under a
            judgment for adoption, an order of parentage, or an
            acknowledgment of parentage or paternity pursuant
            to subsection (a) of Section 5 of the Illinois
            Parentage Act of 1984; or
                (iii) in the case of a child placed with the
            adopting parents less than 6 months after birth,
            openly lived with the child, the child's
            biological mother, or both, and held himself out to
            be the child's biological father during the first
            30 days following the birth of a child; or
                (iv) in the case of a child placed with the
            adopting parents less than 6 months after birth,
            made a good faith effort to pay a reasonable amount
            of the expenses related to the birth of the child
            and to provide a reasonable amount for the
            financial support of the child before the
            expiration of 30 days following the birth of the
            child, provided that the court may consider in its
            determination all relevant circumstances,
            including the financial condition of both
            biological parents; or
                (v) in the case of a child placed with the
            adopting parents more than six months after birth,
            has maintained substantial and continuous or
            repeated contact with the child as manifested by:
            (I) the payment by the father toward the support of
            the child of a fair and reasonable sum, according
            to the father's means, and either (II) the father's
            visiting the child at least monthly when
            physically and financially able to do so and not
            prevented from doing so by the person or authorized
            agency having lawful custody of the child or (III)
            the father's regular communication with the child
            or with the person or agency having the care or
            custody of the child, when physically and
            financially unable to visit the child or prevented
            from doing so by the person or authorized agency
            having lawful custody of the child. The subjective
            intent of the father, whether expressed or
            otherwise, unsupported by evidence of acts
            specified in this sub-paragraph as manifesting
            such intent, shall not preclude a determination
            that the father failed to maintain substantial and
            continuous or repeated contact with the child; or
                (vi) in the case of a child placed with the
            adopting parents more than six months after birth,
            openly lived with the child for a period of six
            months within the one year period immediately
            preceding the placement of the child for adoption
            and openly held himself out to be the father of the
            child; or
                (vii) has timely registered with the Putative
            Father Registry, as provided in Section 12.1 of
            this Act, and prior to the expiration of 30 days
            from the date of such registration, commenced
            legal proceedings to establish paternity under the
            Illinois Parentage Act of 1984, or under the law of
            the jurisdiction of the child's birth.
    (d) In making a determination under subparagraphs (b)(1)
and (c)(1), no showing shall be required of diligent efforts by
a person or agency to encourage the father to perform the acts
specified therein.
    (e) In the case of the adoption of an adult, only the
consent of such adult shall be required.
(Source: P.A. 93-510, eff. 1-1-04.)