Full Text of SB2496 93rd General Assembly
SB2496ham001 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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Judiciary I - Civil Law Committee
Adopted in House on May 19, 2004
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LRB093 20249 LCB 50268 a |
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| AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 2496
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| AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 2496 on page 1, by | 3 |
| replacing lines 4 and 5 with the following:
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| "Section 5. The Adoption Act is amended by changing | 5 |
| Sections 7, 8 and 18.3a as follows:"; and | 6 |
| on page 4, after line 2, by inserting the following:
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| "(750 ILCS 50/8) (from Ch. 40, par. 1510)
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| Sec. 8. Consents to adoption and surrenders for purposes of
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| adoption.
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| (a) Except as hereinafter provided in this
Section consents | 11 |
| or surrenders shall be required in all cases, unless the
person | 12 |
| whose
consent or surrender would otherwise be required shall be | 13 |
| found by the
court:
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| (1) to be an unfit person
as defined in Section
1 of | 15 |
| this Act, by clear and convincing evidence; or
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| (2) not to be the biological or adoptive father of the | 17 |
| child; or
| 18 |
| (3) to have waived his parental rights to the child | 19 |
| under Section 12a or
12.1 of
this Act; or
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| (4) to be the parent of an adult
sought to be adopted; | 21 |
| or
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| (5) to be
the father of the child as a result of | 23 |
| criminal sexual abuse or assault as
defined under Article |
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| 12 of the Criminal Code of 1961 , including but not limited | 2 |
| to: | 3 |
| (i) the father of the child, who is a family member | 4 |
| of the mother of the child, and the mother is under the | 5 |
| age of 18 at the time of the child's conception. For | 6 |
| purposes of this subsection, a "family member" is a | 7 |
| parent, step-parent, grandparent, step-grandparent, | 8 |
| sibling; or cousin of the first degree, whether by | 9 |
| whole blood, half-blood, or adoption, as well as a | 10 |
| person who has resided in the household with the mother | 11 |
| continuously for at least one year; or | 12 |
| (ii) the father of the child, who is at least 5 | 13 |
| years older than the child's mother, and the mother was | 14 |
| under the age of 17 at the time of child's conception, | 15 |
| unless the mother and father voluntarily acknowledge | 16 |
| the father's paternity of the child by marrying or by | 17 |
| establishing the father's paternity by consent of the | 18 |
| parties pursuant to the Illinois Parentage Act of 1984 | 19 |
| or pursuant to a substantially similar statute in | 20 |
| another state. | 21 |
| A criminal conviction of any offense pursuant to | 22 |
| Article 12 of the Criminal Code of 1961 is not required. ; | 23 |
| or
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| (6) to have been indicated for child sexual abuse as | 25 |
| defined in the
Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act | 26 |
| that involved sexual penetration of
the mother; or
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| (7) to be at least 5 years older than the mother and | 28 |
| the mother was under
the age 17 at the time of conception | 29 |
| of the child to be adopted.
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| (b) Where consents are required in the case of an adoption
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| of a minor child, the consents of the following persons shall | 32 |
| be
sufficient:
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| (1) (A) The mother of the minor child; and
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| (B) The father of the minor child, if the father:
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| (i) was married to the mother on the date of | 2 |
| birth of the child or
within
300 days before the | 3 |
| birth of the child, except for a husband or former
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| husband who has been found by a court of competent | 5 |
| jurisdiction not to be the
biological father of the | 6 |
| child; or
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| (ii) is the father of the child under a | 8 |
| judgment for adoption, an
order of parentage, or an | 9 |
| acknowledgment of parentage or paternity pursuant
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| to subsection (a) of Section 5 of the Illinois | 11 |
| Parentage Act of 1984; or
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| (iii) in the case of a child placed with the | 13 |
| adopting parents less
than
6 months after birth, | 14 |
| openly lived with the child, the child's | 15 |
| biological
mother, or
both,
and
held himself out to | 16 |
| be the child's biological father during the first | 17 |
| 30 days
following the birth of the child; or
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| (iv) in the case of a child placed with the | 19 |
| adopting parents less than
6
months after birth, | 20 |
| made a good faith effort to pay a reasonable amount | 21 |
| of the
expenses
related to the birth of the child | 22 |
| and to provide a reasonable amount for the
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| financial support of the child before the | 24 |
| expiration of 30 days following the
birth of the | 25 |
| child,
provided that the court may consider in its | 26 |
| determination all
relevant circumstances, | 27 |
| including the financial condition of both | 28 |
| biological
parents; or
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| (v) in the case of a child placed with the | 30 |
| adopting parents
more
than 6 months after birth, | 31 |
| has maintained substantial and continuous or
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| repeated contact with the child as manifested by:
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| (I) the payment by the father
toward the support of | 34 |
| the child of a fair and reasonable sum, according |
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| to the
father's means, and either (II) the father's | 2 |
| visiting the child at least
monthly
when | 3 |
| physically and financially able to do so and not | 4 |
| prevented from doing so
by the person or authorized | 5 |
| agency having lawful custody of the child, or (III)
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| the father's regular communication with the child | 7 |
| or with the person or agency
having the care or | 8 |
| custody of the child, when physically and | 9 |
| financially unable
to visit the child or prevented | 10 |
| from doing so by the person or authorized
agency | 11 |
| having lawful custody of the child. The subjective | 12 |
| intent of the
father,
whether expressed or | 13 |
| otherwise unsupported by evidence of acts | 14 |
| specified in
this sub-paragraph as manifesting | 15 |
| such intent, shall not preclude a
determination | 16 |
| that the father failed to maintain substantial and | 17 |
| continuous or
repeated contact with the child; or
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| (vi) in the case of a child placed with the | 19 |
| adopting parents more than
six
months after birth, | 20 |
| openly lived with the child for a period of six | 21 |
| months
within the one year period immediately | 22 |
| preceding the placement of the child for
adoption | 23 |
| and openly held himself out to be the father of the | 24 |
| child; or
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| (vii) has timely registered with Putative | 26 |
| Father Registry, as provided
in
Section 12.1 of | 27 |
| this Act,
and prior to the expiration of 30 days | 28 |
| from the date
of such registration, commenced | 29 |
| legal
proceedings to establish paternity under the | 30 |
| Illinois Parentage Act of 1984
or under the law of | 31 |
| the jurisdiction of the child's birth; or
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| (2) The legal guardian of the person of the child, if | 33 |
| there
is no surviving parent; or
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| (3) An agency, if the child has been surrendered for
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| adoption to such agency; or
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| (4) Any person or agency having legal custody of a | 3 |
| child by court order
if the parental rights of the parents | 4 |
| have been judicially terminated, and
the court having | 5 |
| jurisdiction of the guardianship of the child has | 6 |
| authorized
the consent to the adoption; or
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| (5) The execution and
verification of the petition by | 8 |
| any petitioner who is
also a parent of the child sought to | 9 |
| be adopted shall be sufficient evidence
of such parent's | 10 |
| consent to the adoption.
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| (c) Where surrenders to an agency are required in the case | 12 |
| of a placement
for adoption of a minor child by an agency, the | 13 |
| surrenders of the following
persons shall be sufficient:
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| (1) (A) The mother of the minor child; and
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| (B) The father of the minor child, if the father:
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| (i) was married to the mother on the date of | 17 |
| birth of the child or
within 300 days before the | 18 |
| birth of the child, except for a husband or former
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| husband who has been found by a court of competent | 20 |
| jurisdiction not to be the
biological father of the | 21 |
| child; or
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| (ii) is the father of the child under a | 23 |
| judgment for adoption, an
order of parentage, or an | 24 |
| acknowledgment of parentage or paternity pursuant
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| to subsection (a) of Section 5 of the Illinois | 26 |
| Parentage Act of 1984; or
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| (iii) in the case of a child placed with the | 28 |
| adopting parents less
than
6 months after birth, | 29 |
| openly lived with the child, the child's | 30 |
| biological
mother, or
both,
and
held himself out to | 31 |
| be the child's biological father during the first | 32 |
| 30 days
following the birth of a child; or
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| (iv) in the case of a child placed with the | 34 |
| adopting parents less than
6
months after birth, |
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| made a good faith effort to pay a reasonable amount | 2 |
| of the
expenses
related to the birth of the child | 3 |
| and to provide a reasonable amount for the
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| financial support of the child before
the | 5 |
| expiration of 30 days following the birth of
the
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| child,
provided that the court may consider in its | 7 |
| determination all relevant
circumstances, | 8 |
| including the financial condition of both | 9 |
| biological parents;
or
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| (v) in the case of a child placed with the | 11 |
| adopting parents more than
six
months after birth, | 12 |
| has maintained substantial and continuous or | 13 |
| repeated
contact with the child as manifested by: | 14 |
| (I) the payment by the father toward
the support of | 15 |
| the child of a fair and reasonable sum, according | 16 |
| to the
father's means, and either (II) the father's | 17 |
| visiting the child at least
monthly when | 18 |
| physically and financially able to do so and not | 19 |
| prevented from
doing so by the person or authorized | 20 |
| agency having lawful custody of the child
or (III) | 21 |
| the father's regular communication with the child | 22 |
| or with the person
or agency having the care or | 23 |
| custody of the child, when physically and
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| financially unable to visit the child or prevented | 25 |
| from doing so by the person
or authorized agency | 26 |
| having lawful custody of the child. The subjective
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| intent of the father, whether expressed or | 28 |
| otherwise, unsupported by evidence
of acts | 29 |
| specified in this sub-paragraph as manifesting | 30 |
| such intent, shall not
preclude a determination | 31 |
| that the father failed to maintain substantial and
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| continuous or repeated contact with the child; or
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| (vi) in the case of a child placed with the | 34 |
| adopting parents more than
six
months after birth, |
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| openly lived with the child for a period of six | 2 |
| months
within the one year period immediately | 3 |
| preceding the placement of the child for
adoption | 4 |
| and openly held himself out to be the father of the | 5 |
| child; or
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| (vii) has timely registered with the Putative | 7 |
| Father Registry, as
provided
in Section 12.1 of | 8 |
| this Act,
and prior to the expiration of 30 days | 9 |
| from the date
of such
registration, commenced | 10 |
| legal
proceedings to establish paternity under the | 11 |
| Illinois Parentage Act of 1984, or
under the law of | 12 |
| the jurisdiction of the child's birth.
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| (d) In making a determination under subparagraphs (b)(1) | 14 |
| and (c)(1), no
showing shall be required of diligent efforts by | 15 |
| a person or agency to
encourage the father to perform the acts | 16 |
| specified therein.
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| (e) In the case of the adoption of an adult, only the | 18 |
| consent of
such adult shall be required.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-510, eff. 1-1-04.)
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| (750 ILCS 50/18.3a) (from Ch. 40, par. 1522.3a)
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| Sec. 18.3a. Confidential intermediary.
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| (a) General purposes.
Notwithstanding any other provision | 23 |
| of
this Act, any
adopted person 21 years of age or over, any | 24 |
| adoptive parent or legal guardian
of
an adopted person under | 25 |
| the age of 21, or any birth parent of an adopted
person who is | 26 |
| 21 years of age or over may petition the court in any county in
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| the
State of Illinois for appointment of a confidential | 28 |
| intermediary as provided in
this Section for the purpose of | 29 |
| exchanging medical information with one or
more mutually | 30 |
| consenting biological relatives, obtaining identifying
| 31 |
| information about one or more mutually consenting biological | 32 |
| relatives, or
arranging contact with one or more mutually | 33 |
| consenting biological relatives.
Additionally, in cases where |
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| an adopted or surrendered person is deceased,
an adult child of | 2 |
| the adopted
or surrendered person may file a petition under | 3 |
| this Section and in cases
where the birth parent is deceased,
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| an adult birth sibling of the adopted person or of the deceased | 5 |
| birth parent
may
file a petition under this Section for the | 6 |
| purpose of exchanging medical
information with one or more | 7 |
| mutually consenting biological relatives,
obtaining | 8 |
| identifying information about one or more mutually consenting
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| biological relatives, or arranging contact with one or more | 10 |
| mutually
consenting biological relatives.
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| (b) Petition. Upon petition by an adopted person 21 years | 12 |
| of age or over, an
adoptive parent or legal guardian of an | 13 |
| adopted person under the age of 21,
or a birth parent of an | 14 |
| adopted person who is 21 years of age or over, the
court
shall | 15 |
| appoint a confidential intermediary. Upon petition by
an adult | 16 |
| child of an adopted person who is deceased
or by an adult birth | 17 |
| sibling of an adopted person
whose birth parent is deceased
or | 18 |
| by an adult sibling of a birth parent who is deceased,
the | 19 |
| court may appoint a confidential
intermediary if the court | 20 |
| finds that the disclosure is of greater benefit than
| 21 |
| nondisclosure.
The petition shall state which biological | 22 |
| relative
or
relatives are being sought and shall indicate if | 23 |
| the petitioner wants to do any
one or more of the following: | 24 |
| exchange medical information with the
biological relative or | 25 |
| relatives, obtain identifying information from the
biological | 26 |
| relative or relatives, or to arrange contact with the | 27 |
| biological
relative.
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| (c) Order. The order appointing the confidential | 29 |
| intermediary shall allow
that
intermediary to conduct a search | 30 |
| for the sought-after relative by accessing
those records | 31 |
| described in subsection (g) of this Section.
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| (d) Fees and expenses. The court shall condition the | 33 |
| appointment of the
confidential intermediary on the | 34 |
| petitioner's payment of the intermediary's
fees and expenses in |
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| advance of the commencement of the work of the
confidential | 2 |
| intermediary.
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| (e) Eligibility of intermediary. The court may appoint as | 4 |
| confidential
intermediary either an employee of the Illinois | 5 |
| Department of Children and
Family Services designated by the | 6 |
| Department to serve as such ,
or any other
person certified by | 7 |
| the Department as qualified to serve as a confidential
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| intermediary , or any employee of a licensed child welfare | 9 |
| agency certified
by the agency as qualified to serve as a | 10 |
| confidential intermediary .
Certification shall be dependent | 11 |
| upon the
confidential intermediary completing a course of | 12 |
| training including, but not
limited to, applicable federal and | 13 |
| State privacy laws.
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| (f) Confidential Intermediary Council. There shall be | 15 |
| established under the
Department of Children and Family
| 16 |
| Services a Confidential Intermediary Advisory Council. One | 17 |
| member shall be an
attorney representing the Attorney General's | 18 |
| Office appointed by the Attorney
General. One member shall be a | 19 |
| currently certified confidential intermediary
appointed by the | 20 |
| Director of the Department of Children and Family Services.
The | 21 |
| Director shall also appoint 5 additional members. When making | 22 |
| those
appointments, the Director shall consider advocates for | 23 |
| adopted persons,
adoptive parents, birth parents, lawyers who | 24 |
| represent clients in private
adoptions, lawyers specializing | 25 |
| in privacy law, and representatives of agencies
involved in | 26 |
| adoptions. The Director shall appoint one of the 7 members as
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| the chairperson. An attorney from the Department of Children | 28 |
| and Family
Services
and the person directly responsible for | 29 |
| administering the confidential
intermediary program shall | 30 |
| serve as ex-officio, non-voting advisors to the
Council. | 31 |
| Council members shall serve at the discretion of the Director | 32 |
| and
shall receive no compensation other than reasonable | 33 |
| expenses approved by the
Director. The Council shall meet no | 34 |
| less than twice yearly, and shall make
recommendations to the |
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| Director regarding the development of rules, procedures,
and | 2 |
| forms that will ensure efficient and effective operation of the
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| confidential intermediary process, including:
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| (1) Standards for certification for confidential | 5 |
| intermediaries.
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| (2) Oversight of methods used to verify that | 7 |
| intermediaries are complying
with the appropriate laws.
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| (3) Training for confidential intermediaries, | 9 |
| including training with
respect to federal and State | 10 |
| privacy laws.
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| (4) The relationship between confidential | 12 |
| intermediaries and the court
system, including the | 13 |
| development of sample orders defining the scope of the
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| intermediaries' access to information.
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| (5) Any recent violations of policy or procedures by | 16 |
| confidential
intermediaries and remedial steps, including | 17 |
| decertification, to prevent future
violations.
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| (g) Access. Subject to the limitations of subsection (i) | 19 |
| of this
Section, the
confidential
intermediary shall have | 20 |
| access to vital records maintained by the Department of
Public | 21 |
| Health and its local designees for the maintenance of vital | 22 |
| records and
all records of the court or any adoption agency,
| 23 |
| public
or private, which relate to the adoption or the identity | 24 |
| and location of an
adopted person, of an adult child of a | 25 |
| deceased adopted person, or of a birth
parent, birth sibling, | 26 |
| or the sibling of a deceased birth parent. The
confidential | 27 |
| intermediary shall not have access to any personal health
| 28 |
| information protected by the Standards for Privacy of | 29 |
| Individually
Identifiable Health Information adopted by the | 30 |
| U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services under the Health | 31 |
| Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996 unless the | 32 |
| confidential intermediary has obtained written consent from | 33 |
| the
person whose information is being sought or, if that person | 34 |
| is a minor child,
that person's parent or guardian. |
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| Confidential
intermediaries shall be authorized to inspect | 2 |
| confidential relinquishment and
adoption records. The | 3 |
| confidential intermediary shall not be authorized to
access | 4 |
| medical
records, financial records, credit records, banking | 5 |
| records, home studies,
attorney file records, or other personal | 6 |
| records.
In cases where a birth parent is being sought, an | 7 |
| adoption agency shall inform
the confidential intermediary of | 8 |
| any statement filed pursuant to Section 18.3
indicating a | 9 |
| desire of the surrendering birth parent to have identifying
| 10 |
| information shared or to not have identifying information | 11 |
| shared. If there was
a clear statement of intent by the | 12 |
| sought-after birth parent not to have
identifying information | 13 |
| shared, the confidential intermediary shall discontinue
the | 14 |
| search and inform the petitioning party of the sought-after | 15 |
| relative's
intent. Additional information
provided to the | 16 |
| confidential intermediary by an adoption agency shall be
| 17 |
| restricted to the full name, date of birth, place of birth, | 18 |
| last known address,
and last known telephone number of the | 19 |
| sought-after relative or, if applicable,
of the children or | 20 |
| siblings of the sought-after relative.
| 21 |
| (h) Adoption agency disclosure of medical information. If | 22 |
| the petitioner is
an adult adopted person or the adoptive | 23 |
| parent of a
minor and if the petitioner has signed a written | 24 |
| authorization to disclose
personal medical information, an | 25 |
| adoption agency disclosing information to a
confidential | 26 |
| intermediary shall disclose available medical information | 27 |
| about
the adopted person from birth through adoption.
| 28 |
| (i) Duties of confidential intermediary in conducting a | 29 |
| search. In
conducting
a search under this Section, the | 30 |
| confidential intermediary shall first confirm
that there is no | 31 |
| Denial of Information Exchange on file with the Illinois
| 32 |
| Adoption Registry. If the petitioner is an adult child of an | 33 |
| adopted person
who is deceased, the
confidential intermediary | 34 |
| shall additionally confirm that the adopted person
did not file |
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| a Denial of Information Exchange with the Illinois Adoption
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| Registry during his or her life. If the petitioner is an adult | 3 |
| birth sibling of
an
adopted
person or an adult sibling of a | 4 |
| birth parent who is deceased,
the confidential intermediary | 5 |
| shall
additionally confirm that the birth parent did not file a | 6 |
| Denial of Information
Exchange with the Registry during his or | 7 |
| her life. If the confidential
intermediary learns that a | 8 |
| sought-after birth parent signed a statement
indicating his or | 9 |
| her intent not to have identifying information shared, and
did | 10 |
| not later file an Information Exchange Authorization with the | 11 |
| Adoption
Registry, the confidential intermediary shall | 12 |
| discontinue the search and inform
the petitioning party of the | 13 |
| birth parent's intent.
| 14 |
| In conducting a search under this Section, the confidential | 15 |
| intermediary
shall attempt to locate the relative or relatives | 16 |
| from whom the petitioner has
requested information. If the | 17 |
| sought-after relative is deceased
or cannot be located after a | 18 |
| diligent search, the
confidential intermediary may contact | 19 |
| adult biological relatives of the
sought-after relative.
| 20 |
| The confidential intermediary shall contact a sought-after | 21 |
| relative on
behalf of the petitioner in a manner that respects | 22 |
| the sought-after relative's
privacy and shall inform the | 23 |
| sought-after relative of the petitioner's request
for medical | 24 |
| information, identifying information or contact as stated in | 25 |
| the
petition. Based upon the terms of the petitioner's request, | 26 |
| the confidential
intermediary shall contact a sought-after | 27 |
| relative on behalf of the petitioner
and inform the | 28 |
| sought-after relative of the following options:
| 29 |
| (1) The sought-after relative may totally reject one or | 30 |
| all of the
requests for medical information, identifying | 31 |
| information or
contact. The sought-after relative shall be | 32 |
| informed that they can
provide a medical questionnaire to | 33 |
| be forwarded to the petitioner
without releasing any | 34 |
| identifying information. The confidential
intermediary |
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| shall inform the petitioner of the sought-after
relative's | 2 |
| decision to reject the sharing of information or contact.
| 3 |
| (2) The sought-after relative may consent to | 4 |
| completing a medical
questionnaire only. In this case, the | 5 |
| confidential intermediary
shall provide the questionnaire | 6 |
| and ask the sought-after relative to
complete it. The | 7 |
| confidential intermediary shall forward the
completed | 8 |
| questionnaire to the petitioner and inform the petitioner
| 9 |
| of the sought-after relative's desire to not provide any | 10 |
| additional
information.
| 11 |
| (3) The sought-after relative may communicate with the | 12 |
| petitioner
without having his or her identity disclosed. In | 13 |
| this case, the
confidential intermediary shall arrange the | 14 |
| desired communication
in a manner that protects the | 15 |
| identity of the sought-after relative.
The confidential | 16 |
| intermediary shall inform the petitioner of the
| 17 |
| sought-after relative's decision to communicate but not | 18 |
| disclose
his or her identity.
| 19 |
| (4) The sought after relative may consent to initiate | 20 |
| contact with the
petitioner. If both the petitioner and the | 21 |
| sought-after relative or
relatives are eligible to | 22 |
| register with the Illinois Adoption Registry,
the | 23 |
| confidential intermediary shall provide the necessary
| 24 |
| application forms and request that the sought-after | 25 |
| relative
register with the Illinois Adoption Registry. If | 26 |
| either the petitioner
or the sought-after relative or | 27 |
| relatives are ineligible to register
with the Illinois | 28 |
| Adoption Registry, the confidential intermediary
shall | 29 |
| obtain written consents from both parties that they wish to
| 30 |
| disclose their identities to each other and to have contact | 31 |
| with
each other.
| 32 |
| (j) Oath. The confidential intermediary shall sign an oath | 33 |
| of
confidentiality substantially as follows: "I, .........., | 34 |
| being duly sworn, on
oath depose and say: As a condition of |
|
|
|
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LRB093 20249 LCB 50268 a |
|
| 1 |
| appointment as a confidential
intermediary, I affirm that:
| 2 |
| (1) I will not disclose to the petitioner,
directly or | 3 |
| indirectly, any confidential information
except in a | 4 |
| manner consistent with the
law.
| 5 |
| (2) I recognize that violation of this oath subjects me | 6 |
| to civil liability
and to a potential finding of contempt | 7 |
| of court.
................................
| 8 |
| SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me, a Notary Public, on (insert
| 9 |
| date)
| 10 |
| ................................."
| 11 |
| (k) Sanctions.
| 12 |
| (1) Any confidential intermediary who improperly | 13 |
| discloses
confidential information identifying a | 14 |
| sought-after relative shall be liable to
the sought-after | 15 |
| relative for damages and may also be found in contempt of
| 16 |
| court.
| 17 |
| (2) Any person who learns a sought-after
relative's | 18 |
| identity, directly or indirectly, through the use of | 19 |
| procedures
provided in this Section and who improperly | 20 |
| discloses information identifying
the sought-after | 21 |
| relative shall be liable to the sought-after relative for
| 22 |
| actual damages plus minimum punitive damages of $10,000.
| 23 |
| (3) The Department shall fine any confidential | 24 |
| intermediary who improperly
discloses
confidential | 25 |
| information in violation of item (1) or (2) of this | 26 |
| subsection (k)
an amount up to $2,000 per improper | 27 |
| disclosure. This fine does not affect
civil liability under | 28 |
| item (2) of this subsection (k). The Department shall
| 29 |
| deposit all fines and penalties collected under this | 30 |
| Section into the Illinois
Adoption Registry and Medical | 31 |
| Information Fund.
| 32 |
| (l) Death of person being sought. Notwithstanding any other | 33 |
| provision
of this Act, if the confidential intermediary | 34 |
| discovers that the person
being sought has died, he or she |
|
|
|
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LRB093 20249 LCB 50268 a |
|
| 1 |
| shall report this fact to the court,
along with a copy of the | 2 |
| death certificate.
| 3 |
| (m) Any confidential information obtained by the | 4 |
| confidential intermediary
during the course of his or her | 5 |
| search shall be kept strictly confidential
and shall be used | 6 |
| for the purpose of arranging contact between the
petitioner and | 7 |
| the sought-after birth relative. At the time the case is
| 8 |
| closed, all identifying information shall be returned to the | 9 |
| court for
inclusion in the impounded adoption file.
| 10 |
| (n) If the petitioner is an adopted person 21 years of age | 11 |
| or over or the
adoptive parent or legal guardian of an adopted | 12 |
| person under the age
of 21, any
non-identifying information, as | 13 |
| defined in Section 18.4, that is
ascertained during the course | 14 |
| of the search may be given in writing to
the petitioner before | 15 |
| the case is closed.
| 16 |
| (o) Except as provided in subsection (k) of this Section, | 17 |
| no liability shall
accrue to
the State, any State agency, any | 18 |
| judge, any officer or employee of the
court, any certified | 19 |
| confidential intermediary, or any agency designated
to oversee | 20 |
| confidential intermediary services for acts, omissions, or
| 21 |
| efforts made in good faith within the scope of this Section.
| 22 |
| (Source: P.A. 93-189, eff.
1-1-04.)".
|
|