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Public Act 094-0530
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| SB0511 Enrolled |
LRB094 09016 LCB 39237 b |
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AN ACT concerning adoption.
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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 |
7 and 8 as follows:
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(750 ILCS 50/7) (from Ch. 40, par. 1509)
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Sec. 7. Process.
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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
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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
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pending. In the event there is service on any of the parties by
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publication, the publication shall contain notice of pendency |
of the
action, the name of the person to be adopted and the |
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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
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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
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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
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..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.)
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B. A minor defendant who has been served in accordance with |
this Section
may be defaulted in the same manner as any other |
defendant.
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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:
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(a) any person adjudicated by a court in this State to |
be the father of
the child;
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(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;
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(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;
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(d) any person who is recorded on the child's birth |
certificate as the
child's father;
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(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;
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(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;
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(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.
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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 |
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notice of the proceedings
the best interests of the child.
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(Source: P.A. 91-572, eff. 1-1-00.)
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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 |
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:
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(1) to be an unfit person
as defined in Section
1 of |
this Act, by clear and convincing evidence; or
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(2) not to be the biological or adoptive father of the |
child; or
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(3) to have waived his parental rights to the child |
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; |
or
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(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
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(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 |
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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
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(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.
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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 |
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 |
birth of the child or
within
300 days before the |
birth of the child, except for a husband or former
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husband who has been found by a court of competent |
jurisdiction not to be the
biological father of the |
child; or
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(ii) is the father of the child under a |
judgment for adoption, an
order of parentage, or an |
acknowledgment of parentage or paternity pursuant
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to subsection (a) of Section 5 of the Illinois |
Parentage Act of 1984; or
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(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
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(iv) in the case of a child placed with the |
adopting parents less than
6
months after birth, |
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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
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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
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(v) in the case of a child placed with the |
adopting parents
more
than 6 months after birth, |
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 |
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)
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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
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(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 |
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preceding the placement of the child for
adoption |
and openly held himself out to be the father of the |
child; or
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(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
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(2) The legal guardian of the person of the child, if |
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 |
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
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(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.
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(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:
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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 |
birth of the child or
within 300 days before the |
birth of the child, except for a husband or former
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husband who has been found by a court of competent |
jurisdiction not to be the
biological father of the |
child; or
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(ii) is the father of the child under a |
judgment for adoption, an
order of parentage, or an |
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acknowledgment of parentage or paternity pursuant
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to subsection (a) of Section 5 of the Illinois |
Parentage Act of 1984; or
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(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
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(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
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financial support of the child before
the |
expiration of 30 days following the birth of
the
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child,
provided that the court may consider in its |
determination all relevant
circumstances, |
including the financial condition of both |
biological parents;
or
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(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
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financially unable to visit the child or prevented |
from doing so by the person
or authorized agency |
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having lawful custody of the child. The subjective
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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
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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 |
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
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(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.
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(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.
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(e) In the case of the adoption of an adult, only the |
consent of
such adult shall be required.
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(Source: P.A. 93-510, eff. 1-1-04.)
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