Full Text of HB1429 94th General Assembly
HB1429eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HB1429 Engrossed |
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| AN ACT concerning families.
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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 Section | 5 |
| 6 as follows:
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| (750 ILCS 50/6) (from Ch. 40, par. 1508)
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| Sec. 6. Investigation.
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| A. Investigation; all cases. Within 10 days after the | 9 |
| filing of
a petition for the adoption or standby adoption of a | 10 |
| child other than a related
child, the
court shall appoint a | 11 |
| child welfare agency approved by the Department of
Children and | 12 |
| Family Services, or a person deemed competent by the court, or
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| in
Cook County the Court Services Division of the Cook County | 14 |
| Department of
Public Aid, or the Department of Children and | 15 |
| Family Services if the court
determines that no child welfare | 16 |
| agency is available or that the petitioner
is financially | 17 |
| unable to pay for the investigation, to investigate
accurately, | 18 |
| fully and promptly, the allegations contained in the petition;
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| the character, reputation, health and general standing in the | 20 |
| community of
the petitioners; the religious faith of the | 21 |
| petitioners and, if
ascertainable, of the child sought to be | 22 |
| adopted; and whether the
petitioners are proper persons to | 23 |
| adopt the child and whether the child is
a proper subject of | 24 |
| adoption. The investigation required under this Section
shall | 25 |
| include a fingerprint based criminal background check with a | 26 |
| review
of fingerprints by the Illinois State Police and Federal | 27 |
| Bureau of
Investigation.
Each petitioner subject to this | 28 |
| investigation, shall submit his or her
fingerprints to the
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| Department
of State Police in the form and manner prescribed by | 30 |
| the Department of State
Police. These fingerprints shall be | 31 |
| checked against the fingerprint records
now and hereafter filed | 32 |
| in the Department of State
Police and Federal Bureau of |
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| Investigation criminal history records
databases. The | 2 |
| Department of State Police shall charge
a fee for conducting | 3 |
| the criminal history records check, which shall be
deposited in | 4 |
| the State Police Services Fund and shall not exceed the actual
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| cost of the records check.
The criminal background check | 6 |
| required by
this Section shall include a listing of when, where | 7 |
| and by whom the criminal
background check was prepared. The | 8 |
| criminal background check required by this
Section shall not be | 9 |
| more than two years old.
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| Neither a clerk of the circuit court nor a judge may | 11 |
| require that a
criminal
background check or fingerprint review | 12 |
| be filed with, or at the same time as,
an initial petition for | 13 |
| adoption.
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| A-5. As part of the investigation process, the | 15 |
| court-appointed investigator shall present to the petitioner a | 16 |
| Designation of Standby Guardian Designee form and information | 17 |
| regarding guardianship so that the petitioner can include | 18 |
| guardianship designation in the adoption process if the | 19 |
| petitioner so chooses.
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| B. Investigation; foreign-born child. In the case of a | 21 |
| child born
outside the United States or a territory thereof, in | 22 |
| addition to the
investigation required under subsection (A) of | 23 |
| this Section, a
post-placement investigation shall be | 24 |
| conducted in accordance with the
requirements of the Child Care | 25 |
| Act of 1969, the Interstate Compact on the
Placement of | 26 |
| Children, and regulations of the foreign placing agency and
the | 27 |
| supervising agency.
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| The requirements of a post-placement investigation shall | 29 |
| be deemed to
have been satisfied if a valid final order or | 30 |
| judgment of adoption has
been entered by a court of competent | 31 |
| jurisdiction in a country other than
the United States or a | 32 |
| territory thereof with respect to such child and
the | 33 |
| petitioners.
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| C. Report of investigation. The court shall determine | 35 |
| whether the costs of
the investigation shall be charged to the | 36 |
| petitioners. The information obtained
as a result of such |
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| investigation shall be presented to the court in a written
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| report. The results of the criminal background check required | 3 |
| under subsection
(A) shall be provided to the court for its | 4 |
| review. The court may, in its
discretion, weigh the | 5 |
| significance of the results of the criminal background
check | 6 |
| against the entirety of the background of the petitioners. The | 7 |
| Court, in
its discretion, may accept the report of the | 8 |
| investigation previously made by a
licensed child welfare | 9 |
| agency, if made within one year prior to the entry of
the | 10 |
| judgment. Such report shall be treated as confidential and | 11 |
| withheld from
inspection unless findings adverse to the | 12 |
| petitioners or to the child sought to
be adopted are contained | 13 |
| therein, and in that event the court shall inform the
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| petitioners of the relevant portions pertaining to the adverse | 15 |
| findings. In no
event shall any facts set forth in the report | 16 |
| be considered at the hearing of
the proceeding, unless | 17 |
| established by competent evidence. The report shall be
filed | 18 |
| 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 | 20 |
| the clerk of the
court and shall be made available for | 21 |
| inspection only upon order of the court.
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| D. Related adoption. Such investigation shall not be made | 23 |
| when the
petition seeks to adopt a related child or an adult | 24 |
| unless the court, in
its discretion, shall so order. In such an | 25 |
| event the court may appoint a
person deemed competent by the | 26 |
| court.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-418, eff. 1-1-04.)
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