State Laws for Advertising Children for Adoption

The following is what I have found in state laws. If you know of other state laws missing please let us know in the comments or send to rallyreform@yahoo.com

The reason I put this together is because blogs across the US photolist and advertise children. Many seem to violate these laws, but who but adoption reformers care? I have highlighted possible law-breaking text in red.

Alabama

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Ala. Code § 26-10A-36

It shall be unlawful for any person, organization, corporation, partnership, hospital, association, or agency to advertise verbally, through print, electronic media, or otherwise that they will adopt children or assist in the adoption of children.

California

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Family Law § 8609(a)

No person or organization may advertise in any periodical or newspaper or by radio or other public medium that he, she, or it will place or provide children for adoption, or cause any advertisement to be published in any public medium soliciting, requesting, or asking for any child or children for adoption, unless that person or organization is licensed to place children for adoption by the department.

Colorado

Use of Intermediaries/FacilitatorsCitation: Rev. Stat. § 19-5-213

No person–other than an adoption exchange whose membership includes county departments and child placement agencies, a licensed child placement agency, or a county department–shall offer, give, charge, or receive any money or other consideration or thing of value in connection with locating or identifying for purposes of adoption any child, natural parent, expectant natural parent, or prospective adoptive parent.

Delaware

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Ann. Code Tit. 13, § 930

Only the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families or a licensed agency may advertise in this State regarding the availability of adoption services or for the placement of a child for the purpose of adoption.

District of Columbia

Use of Intermediaries/FacilitatorsCitation: Ann. Code § 4-1405(a)

No person other than the parent, guardian, or relative within the third degree, and no firm, corporation, association, or agency other than a licensed child-placing agency may place or arrange or assist in placing or arranging for the placement of a child under age 16 in a family home or for adoption.

Florida

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Ann. Stat. § 63.212(1)(g)

It is unlawful for any person, except an adoption entity, to advertise or offer to the public, in any way, by any medium whatever, that a minor is available for adoption or that a minor is sought for adoption; it is unlawful for any person to publish or broadcast any such advertisement without including the Florida license number of the agency or attorney placing the advertisement.

Georgia

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Ann. Code § 19-8-24(a)(!), (d)

It shall be unlawful for any person, organization, corporation, hospital, or association that has not been established as a child-placing agency by the department to advertise, whether in a periodical, by television, radio, or any other public medium or private means, that the person, organization, corporation, hospital, or association will adopt children or will arrange for children to be placed for adoption.

Idaho

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Ann. Code § 18-1512A

No person or entity shall publish or broadcast on radio or television an advertisement or notice of a child or children offered or wanted for adoption, or claim through such advertisement to have the ability to place, locate, dispose, or receive a child or children for adoption, unless the person or entity is a duly authorized agent or employee of the Department of Health and Welfare or an institution licensed by the department to care for and place children.

This section is not intended to prohibit:

A licensed attorney from advertising his or her ability to practice or provide services related to the adoption of • children

Physicians and other health-care providers from assisting or providing natural and adoptive parents with medical • care necessary to initiate and complete adoptive placements

Illinois

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Cons. Stat. Tit. 225, § 10/12Advertise means communication by any public medium originating or distributed in this State, including, but not limited to, newspapers, periodicals, telephone book listings, outdoor advertising signs, radio, or television.

A child care facility or child welfare agency licensed or operating under a permit issued by the department may publish advertisements for the services that the facility is specifically licensed or issued a permit to provide. A person, group of persons, agency, association, organization, corporation, institution, center, or group that advertises or publishes any advertisement offering, soliciting, or promising to perform adoption services is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to a fine, unless they are:

Licensed or operating under a permit issued by the department as a child care facility or child welfare agency•

A birth parent or a prospective adoptive parent acting on his or her own behalf•

A licensed attorney advertising his or her availability to provide legal services relating to adoption, as permitted • by law

Indiana

Use of Intermediaries/FacilitatorsCitation: Ann. Code § 35-46-1-22

A person who knowingly or intentionally provides, engages in, or facilitates adoption services to a birth parent or prospective adoptive parent who resides in Indiana commits unauthorized adoption facilitation, a misdemeanor.

‘Adoption services’ means at least one of the following services that is provided for compensation, either directly or indirectly, and provided either before or after the services are rendered:

Arranging for the placement of a child•

Identifying a child for adoption•

Matching adoptive parents with birth parents•

Arranging or facilitating an adoption•

Taking or acknowledging consents or surrenders for termination of parental rights for adoption purposes•

Performing background studies on the adoptive child or adoptive parents•

Making determinations about the best interests of a child and the appropriateness in placing the child for • adoption

Postplacement monitoring of a child before the adoption is finalized

Kansas

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Ann. Stat. § 59-2123(a)(1), (b)-(c)

No person shall advertise that such person will adopt, find an adoptive home for a child, or otherwise place a child for adoption. This provision shall not apply to a licensed child-placing agency.

As used in this section, advertise means to communicate by newspaper, radio, television, handbills, placards or other print, broadcast, telephone directory, or electronic medium

Kentucky

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 199.590(3), (5)

No person, association, or organization, other than the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or a child-placing institution or agency, shall place a child or act as intermediary in the placement of a child for adoption or otherwise, except in the home of a stepparent, grandparent, sister, brother, aunt, or uncle, or upon written approval of the Secretary.

A person, organization, group, agency, or any legal entity, except a child-placing agency, shall not accept any fee for bringing the adoptive parents together with the child to be adopted or the biological parents of the child to be adopted. This section shall not interfere with the legitimate practice of law by an attorney

Louisiana

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Rev. Stat. § 46:1425(A)

It shall be unlawful for any person or organization other than a licensed child-placing agency or a Louisiana-based crisis pregnancy center to advertise through print or electronic media that it will adopt children or assist in the adoption of children

Maine

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Rev. Stat. Tit. 18-A, § 9-313

Advertising for adoption services or soliciting adoptions is prohibited, except licensed child-placing agencies may advertise in accordance with rules adopted by the department

Massachusetts

Use of Intermediaries/FacilitatorsCitation: Ann. Laws Ch. 28A, § 11(c)

No person shall place or knowingly facilitate the placement of any child in the care or control of any other person not related to such child by blood or marriage, or in the care or control of any organization other than a licensed or approved placement agency, for purposes of adoption.

No person unrelated to such child by blood or marriage, and no organization other than a licensed or approved placement agency, shall receive such a child for purposes of adoption, except from a licensed or approved placement agency.

Minnesota

Use of Intermediaries/FacilitatorsCitation: Ann. Stat. §§ 259.21; 259.47; 259.55, Subd. 3; 260.93

It is unlawful for a person, other than the commissioner or an agency, knowingly to engage in placement activities without being licensed by the commissioner, except for the placement of a child by a birth parent or legal guardian in a preadoptive home. Placement activities include:

Placement•

Arranging or providing short-term foster care pending an adoptive placement•

Facilitating placement by maintaining a list in any form of birth parents or prospective adoptive parents•

Collecting health and social histories of a birth family•

Conducting an adoption study•

Witnessing consents to an adoption•

It is unlawful for any person to give money or anything of value to the birth parent of a child if the person is engaged or has engaged in any placement activity in connection with the adoption of the child.

A private child-placing agency is any private corporation, agency, foundation, institution, or charitable organization, or any private person or attorney, that facilitates, causes, or is involved in the placement of a child from one State to another and is not an instrumentality of the State or acting under State law.

Montana

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Ann. Code § 42-7-105(1)(a)

No person, other than the Department of Public Health and Human Services or a licensed child-placing agency, may advertise in any public medium that the person knows of a child who is available for adoption, is willing to accept a child for adoption, or knows of prospective adoptive parents for a child.

Nevada

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Rev. Stat. §§ 127.283; 127.310(1)

An agency that provides child welfare services or any child-placing agency may publish in any newspaper published in this State or broadcast by television a photograph or any relevant personal information concerning any child who is difficult to place for adoption.

A child-placing agency shall not publish or broadcast:

Any personal information that reveals the identity of the child or his parents •

A photograph or personal information of a child without the prior approval of the agency having actual custody of • the child.

No person or organization other than an agency that provides child welfare services may advertise in any periodical or newspaper, or by radio or other public medium, that he or she will place children for adoption, or accept, supply, provide, or obtain children for adoption, or cause any advertisement to be published, soliciting, requesting or asking for any child for adoption, unless he or she holds a valid license to place children for adoption.

Use of Intermediaries/FacilitatorsCitation: Rev. Stat. §§ 127.240; 127.290(1); 127.285(1)

No person except a parent, guardian, or agency may place, arrange the placement of, or assist in placing or in arranging the placement of, any child for adoption without securing and having in full force a license to operate a child-placing agency issued by the division. This subsection applies to agents, servants, physicians, and attorneys of parents or guardians, as well as to other persons.

This section does not prohibit a person, including a person acting in his or her professional capacity, from sharing information regarding an adoption if no money or other valuable consideration is paid.

Except as otherwise provided in §§ 127.275 and 127.285, no person who does not have in full force a license to operate a child-placing agency may request or accept, directly or indirectly, any compensation or thing of value for placing, arranging the placement of, or assisting in placing or arranging the placement of, any child for adoption.

An attorney may not receive compensation for taking part in finding children for adoption or finding parents to adopt children.

New Hampshire

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Rev. Stat. § 170-E:39

A child-placing agency licensed or operating under a permit issued by the department may publish advertisements of the services for which it is specifically licensed or issued a permit under this subdivision.

No person who is required to obtain a license or permit under this subdivision may advertise or cause to be published an advertisement soliciting or offering a child for placement unless the person has obtained the requisite license or permit.

North Carolina

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Gen. Stat. § 48-10-101(b)-(b1)

No one other than a county department of social services, an adoption facilitator, or a licensed agency may advertise in any periodical or newspaper, or by radio, television, or other public medium, that any person or entity will place or accept a child for adoption.

This article shall not prohibit a person from advertising that the person desires to adopt. This section shall apply only to a person with a current completed preplacement assessment that finds the person suitable to be an adoptive parent.

The advertisement may be published only in a periodical or newspaper or on radio, television, cable television, or the Internet. The advertisement shall include a statement that:

Indicates that the person has a completed preplacement assessment•

Identifies the name of the agency that completed the preplacement assessment•

Identifies the date the preplacement assessment was completed•

States whether the person is willing to provide lawful expenses

Use of Intermediaries/FacilitatorsCitation: Gen. Stat. §§ 48-10-102; 48-10-101; 48-1-101(3a); 48-3-201; 48-3-202

Except as provided in § 48-10-103, a person or entity may not pay or give, offer to pay or give, or request, receive, or accept any money or anything of value, directly or indirectly, for:

The placement of a minor for adoption•

The consent of a parent, a guardian, or an agency to the adoption of a minor •

The relinquishment of a minor to an agency for purposes of adoption•

Assisting a parent or guardian in locating or evaluating a potential adoptive parent or in transferring custody of a • minor to the adoptive parent

No one other than a parent, guardian, or agency may place a minor for adoption. No one other than a parent, guardian, agency, or an adoption facilitator may solicit potential adoptive parents for children in need of adoption. No one other than an agency or an adoption facilitator, or an individual with a completed preplacement assessment that contains a finding that the individual is suitable to be an adoptive parent or that individual’s immediate family, may solicit for adoption a potential adoptee.

An adoption facilitator is an individual or a nonprofit entity that assists birth parents in locating and evaluating prospective adoptive parents without charge.

In a direct placement, a parent or guardian must personally select a prospective adoptive parent, but a parent or guardian may obtain assistance from another person or entity, or an adoption facilitator, in locating or evaluating a prospective adoptive parent.

North Dakota

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Cent. Code §§ 23-16-08; 50-11-06; 50-19-11; 50-12-17

No hospital providing maternity care may in any way advertise that it will give children for adoption or hold itself out, directly or indirectly, as being able to dispose of children; however, such hospitals may inform an unmarried mother of child-placing agencies licensed by the Department of Human Services.

No facility licensed to provide foster care may advertise children for adoption, or be held out directly or indirectly, as being able to dispose of children, without first being licensed to do so under chapter 50-12.

No licensed maternity home may in any way advertise that it will give children for adoption, or hold itself out, directly or indirectly, as being able to dispose of children, but may inform an unmarried mother of licensed child-placing agencies.

A person may not advertise, without a license to do so, in any public medium that the person knows of a child who is available for adoption or is willing to accept a child for adoption or that the person knows of prospective adoptive parents of a child.

Oregon

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Rev. Stat. § 109.311(4)

It is unlawful for any person to advertise a child offered or wanted for adoption or to advertise that the person is able to place, locate, dispose of, or receive a child for adoption. The provisions of this section do not apply to:

The State Office for Services to Children and Families or a licensed Oregon adoption agency or an agent, • employee, or person with whom the Office or adoption agency has a contract authorizing such actions

A person who has completed a home study and has received a favorable recommendation regarding the fitness of • the person to be an adoptive parent or the person’s attorney or uncompensated agent

Nothing in this section prohibits an attorney licensed to practice in Oregon from advertising the attorney’s availability to provide services related to the adoption of children.

The word advertise means to communicate by newspaper, radio, television, handbills, placards or other print, or broadcast or electronic media that originates with the State

Washington

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Rev. Code § 26.33.400(1)-(2)

No person or entity shall cause to be published for circulation, or broadcast on a radio or television station, an advertisement of a child or children offered or wanted for adoption, or shall hold himself or herself out through such advertisement as having the ability to place, locate, dispose, or receive a child or children for adoption unless such person or entity is:

A duly authorized agent, contractee, or employee of the department or a children’s agency or institution, licensed • by the department to care for and place children

A person who has a completed preplacement report with a favorable recommendation as to the fitness of the • person to be an adoptive parent

Nothing in this section prohibits an attorney from advertising his or her availability to practice or provide services to the adoption of children.

Wisconsin

Use of AdvertisementCitation: Ann. Stat. § 48.825

No person may do any of the following:

Advertise for the purpose of finding a child to adopt•

Advertise that the person will find an adoptive home for a child or arrange for or assist in the adoption or adoptive • placement of a child

Advertise that the person will place a child for adoption•

This section does not apply to any of the following:

The department, a county department, or a licensed child welfare agency•

An individual or agency providing adoption information through the State adoption information exchange or State • adoption center

A foster care and adoption resource center or postadoption resource center•

An individual who has received a favorable recommendation regarding his or her fitness to be an adoptive parent • in this State from the department, a county department, a licensed child welfare agency, or in another jurisdiction from an entity authorized by that jurisdiction to conduct studies of potential adoptive homes

An individual seeking to place his or her child for adoption•

No person may publish by a public medium an advertisement that violates this section. If the owner, agent, or employee of the public medium receives a copy of the license of the person or agency requesting the advertisement that indicates that the person or agency is licensed to provide adoption services in this State, the advertisement does not violate this section.

Nothing in this section prohibits an attorney licensed to practice in this State from advertising his or her availability to practice or provide services relating to the adoption of children.

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