Chap. 102.—An ACT for the protection of deer in the county of Mecklenburg.
{[S B 214]
Approved February 25, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be unlawful for any person to kill, chase or capture, or buy,
offer for sale or have in possession any wild deer in the county of
Mecklenburg between January first and October first of each year,
or to track or hunt them in the snow.

2. Any person violating any of the provisions of this act shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Chap 103.—An ACT to regulate child placing, and to provide for the licensing,
visitation, supervision, inspection and regulation of agencies engaged in the
business of receiving and caring for children or placing or boarding them
in private homes; and to repeal sections 1931 to 1935, inclusive, of the
Code of Virginia. [S B 8&2]

Approved February 27, 1922.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia as follows:

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the State board of public welfare
to pass annually on the fitness of every agency, public, semi-public
or private which engages in the business for gain.or otherwise, of
receiving and caring for children or placing, or boarding them in
private homes. Annually and at such time as the board shall direct
every such agency shall make a report showing its condition, manage-
ment and competency to care adequately for such children as are
or may be committed thereto or received thereby, the system of visita-
tion employed for children placed in private homes, and such other
facts as the board may require. When the board is satisfied that
such agency is competent and has adequate facilities to care for such
children, and that the requirements of the statutes covering the man-
agement of such agencies are being complied with it shall issue to the
agency a license which shall continue in force for one year unless
sooner revoked by the board. No agency which has not received
such license within the fifteen months next preceding shall receive a
child for care or placing out, or place a child in,another home or
solicit money in behalf of such agency. All such agencies shall be
subject to the visitation and inspection by the local board of health.
and the same visitation, inspection and sunervision bv the State board
of public welfare as are the public charitable institutions of the State.
The word “agency” where used in this. act shall include individuals,
partnerships, voluntary associations and corporations.
Section 2. Every agency permitted by law to receive, secure
homes for, or otherwise care for children, shall keep a record con-
taining names, ages, present and former residences of all children
received; the names, former residences, occupations and character
so far as known of the parents; the dates of reception, placing out
or adoption, together with the names, occupations and residences of
the person with whom the child is placed; the date and cause of
cancellation of any contract, the date and cause of any removal to
another home; the date and cause of termination of custody, and a
brief history of each child until he shall have reached the age of
eighteen years, or shall have been legally adopted or discharged ac-
cording to law.

Section 3. Every such agency shall report on the first day of
each month to the State board of public welfare on forms supplied by
it, giving the information contained in the record and such other in-
formation as the board may require.

Section 4. The State board of public welfare shall within ninety
days of the receipt of the notice of placement of ‘any child, cause
such child to be visited by one of its agents for the purpose of as-
certaining whether the home is 'a suitable one for the child, and
whether the child is contented. The board shall continue to visit
and supervise the care of such child as though the child were placed
out by the board. Whenever satisfied that a-child has been placed
in an unsuitable home, or that the child continues to be discontented,
the board may order its transfer by the agency which placed it, and
if said order is not obeyed within thirty days, or such shorter time
as is named in the order, the board itself shall take charge of and
provide for such child.

Section 5. Every agency placing out a child shall through one
of its agents visit the proposed home and make a preliminary in-
vestigation as to its suitability before placing such child therein. After
placement the child shall be visited within two months, and as often
thereafter by the agency placing it out as may be required by the
State board of public welfare. \

Section 6. Every agency placing a child in a home shall enter into
a written agreement with the person taking the child, which agree-
ment shall provide that the agency shall have access at all times to
such child and to the home in which he is living, and for the return
of the child by the person taking him whenever in the opinion of
the agency, or in the opinion of the State board of public welfare,
the best interests of the child shall require it. The provisions of this
section shall not apply to children who have been legally adopted.

Section 7. No agency shall bring or send into the State any child
for the purpose of placing him out or procuring his adoption, with-
out first obtaining the consent of the State board of public welfare.
Such agency shall conform to the rules of the board, and shall enter
into a written agreement with the board to remove such child from
the State when requested so to do by the said board, prior to the
child’s adoption or becoming of age; that it will place the child
under written contract approved by the board; that the person with
whom the child is placed shall be responsible for his proper care
and training; that the board shall have the same right of visitation
and supervision of the child and the home in which it is placed as in
the case of a child placed out by the board. Before the child shall
be brought or sent into the State for the purpose of placing him in a
home, the agency so bringing or sending such child shall first notify
the State board of its intention and shall obtain from the State board
a certificate stating that such home is in the opinion'of the said board
a suitable home for the child. The agency bringing or sending the
child into the State shall report once a year, or when the child is
placed in another home, or at such other times ‘as the board may
direct, as to the location and well-being of the child so long as he
shall remain within the State and until he shall have reached the age
of eighteen years or shall have been legally adopted.

Section 8. No child shall be taken or sent out of the State for
the purpose of placing him in a home, otherwise than by a parent or
guardian, unless the agency so taking or sending him shall give the
State board of public welfare notice of its intention and furnish such
information as the board may require. Such agency shall place the
child under written contract approved by the board that the person
with whom the child is placed shall be responsible for his proper
care and training, and thereafter shall report to the board once a
year and at such other times as the board may direct, as to the loca-
tion and well-being of such child until he shall have reached the age
of eighteen years or shall have been legally adopted.

Section 9. No officer, agent, or employee of the State board of
public welfare or a local board of health shall directly or indirectly
disclose the contents of the records herein provided for, or the facts
learned about the children, their parents or relatives or other persons
having custody or control of them, except upon inquiry before a court
or justice, upon order of court or justice, at a coroner’s inquest, or
for the information of the State board of public welfare:

Provided, that any person who has arrived at the age of majority
and who believes himself to have been placed out by an agency report-
ing to the board, shall have the right to demand and receive from
the board such information as the board may have concerning his
own parents or relatives.

Section 10. Every person, acting for himself or for an agency,
and every officer, agent or employee of the State board of public
welfare, who violates any of the provisions of this act, or who shall
intentionally make any false statements to the State board of public
welfare shall upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not
more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than
one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Section 11. Sections nineteen hundred and thirty-one to nineteen
hundred and thirty-five, inclusive, of the Code of Virginia are hereby
repealed.