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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 22. Social Services
Agency 40. Department of Social Services
Chapter 131. Standards for Licensed Child-Placing Agencies
11/21/2024

22VAC40-131-520. Selecting an adoptive home.

A. Siblings shall be placed together unless it clearly is not in the best interests of the children. If siblings are not placed together, the reasons for separation shall be documented in the file of each sibling.

B. Relatives and foster parents shall be considered primary adoptive resources when adoption is considered to be in the best interests of the child.

C. The licensee shall consider the following when selecting an adoptive home for a child:

1. The child's concerns about adoption, for children over one year of age;

2. The ages of the adoptive parents in relation to the age of the child; and

3. The child's best interests.

D. When the licensee accepts custody of a child for the purpose of adoption, the licensee shall consider recommendations made by the birth parents, a physician or attorney licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia, or a clergyman who is familiar with the situation of the proposed adoptive parents or the child. The licensee shall document recommendations made in the file of the child.

E. The licensee shall make selection of a particular prospective adoptive family for a child in accordance with the best interests of the child. The reasons for selecting the specific home for the child shall be documented in the child's file.

F. The licensee shall provide the adoptive parents full known factual information about the child and, excluding identifying information where required by law, known factual information about the child's birth family. The licensee shall provide to the adoptive parents written information about:

1. The child's history, including information about the child's birth, social, cultural, medical, educational, developmental, psychological, and mental health; and

2. Relevant known physical and mental history of the birth parents.

G. The licensee who holds the child's custody shall require the prospective adoptive parents sign and date a written acknowledgement that they have received the full factual information as described in subsection F 1 and 2 of this section. The written signed acknowledgement shall be placed in the adoptive home file.

H. The licensee shall permit the prospective adoptive parents to decide whether they will accept the child.

I. The licensee shall not use the prospective adoptive parent's decision to refuse to take one child into their home as the sole basis for excluding the prospective adoptive parents from consideration for future placement of other children.

Statutory Authority

§§ 63.2-217 and 63.2-1734 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from Virginia Register Volume 28, Issue 10, eff. May 1, 2012.

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