Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
Authorized agencies operating an adoption program
shall:
(a) have an adoption or home
finding unit which will accept public inquiries. Inquiries regarding adoption
received elsewhere in the agency shall be referred immediately to such
unit;
(b) respond to inquiries
regarding adoption within five business days of receipt of the inquiry and
offer an invitation to an individual or group orientation session, which shall
take place within 30 days of receipt of the inquiry;
(c) conduct such orientation sessions during
evening and other hours convenient to those invited;
(d) discuss the characteristics of the
children available for adoption, show New York State's Waiting
Children and explain its use at each such orientation
session;
(e) discuss the procedures
for application and adoption study and the availability of adoption
subsidies;
(f) offer an adoption
application form approved by the department at the conclusion of such
session;
(g) inform possible
adoptive parents of the following additional information at the orientation
session:
(1) that married persons can adopt
only as a couple with each partner participating, and that a married person who
is living separate and apart from his or her spouse pursuant to a legally
recognizable separation agreement or decree of separation or who has been
living separate and apart from his or her spouse for a period of three years or
more prior to the commencement of the adoption proceeding may also adopt a
child;
(2)
(i) that pursuant to section 424-a of the Social Services Law, an
agency will inquire of the Office of Children and Family Services whether the
applicant and any other person over the age of 18 who resides in the home of
the applicant is the subject of an indicated child abuse or maltreatment report
and that pursuant to Federal law, where the applicant or other person over the
age of 18 who resides in the home of the applicant resided in another state at
any time during the five years preceding the application for approval as an
adoptive parent made in accordance with this Part, the agency will request
child abuse and maltreatment information maintained by the child abuse and
maltreatment registry from the applicable child welfare agency in each such
state of previous residence; and
(ii) that pursuant to section 495 of the Social Services Law, an agency
will inquire of the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special
Needs whether the applicant and any other person over the age of 18 who resides
in the home of the applicant is listed on the register of substantiated
category one cases of abuse or neglect maintained by the Justice Center for the
Protection of People with Special Needs.
(3) that as part of the application process,
each applicant to be an adoptive parent will be required to submit a sworn
statement including whether such applicant, to the best of the applicant's
knowledge, has ever been convicted of a crime in New York State or any other
jurisdiction and that the applicant and any other person over the age of 18 who
currently resides in the home of the applicant will be required to be
fingerprinted for the purpose of a criminal history record check performed by
the Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and subject to the criminal history record check requirements set
forth in section 378-a (2) of the Social
Services Law and section
421.27
of this Part;
(4) that pursuant to
section 372-e of the Social Services Law, an
applicant may apply for a fair hearing if an application is not acted upon by
the completion of an adoption home study within six months or if an application
is rejected; and
(5) that an
adopted person 18 years of age or older, or if the adopted person is deceased,
the adopted person's direct line descendants, or the lawful representative of
such adopted person or the lawful representative of such adopted person's
direct line descendants, as the case may be, has a right either to receive from
the commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, the commissioner
of Health and Mental Hygiene of the City of New York, the applicable local
registrar or any person so authorized by such commissioner or local registrar a
certified copy of the adopted person's original long form birth certificate,
including any change attached to that certificate by a biological parent or
parents and any information provided to such commissioner or local registrar in
accordance with state law or, where it is impossible for such commissioner or
local registrar to provide a copy of the original long form birth certificate
of a person adopted in this state and such certificate is not part of the
records of such commissioner or local registrar, to receive from an authorized
agency, as defined in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision 10 of section 371 of the Social Services Law, identifying
information regarding the adopted person and the adopted person's biological
parents that would otherwise appear on an original long form birth certificate
in this state. The adoptive person 18 years of age or older may also be
informed of the Adoption Information Registry and the Mutual Consent Voluntary
Adoption Registry pursuant to sections 4138-c and 4138-d of the Public Health
Law where the adoptive person, the biological siblings or the birth parents of
the adoptive person may register with either registry to obtain more
information about the adoption.
(h) within five days of an orientation
session, contact persons who have inquired about adoption, been invited to such
session, but failed to attend, invite them to another orientation session or,
if they are unable to attend a scheduled orientation session, offer an
individual orientation interview;
(i) develop a record for each person
inquiring about adoption which contains:
(1)
a dated record of the inquiry, whether received by mail, telephone or in
person;
(2) a dated copy of the
invitation to an orientation session;
(3) a dated copy of the written
acknowledgment of the inquiry; and
(4) a dated record of all further
communication, whether by letter, telephone or in person; and
(j) retain such record, if no
completed application is filed, for 12 months after the last
communication.
