Chap. 337.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5333 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as heretofore amended, relating to the adoption of minor children by
adult persons, so as to provide for reporting adoptions to the State Bureau
of Vital Statistics. [H B 232]

Approved March 27, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
fifty-three hundred and thirty-three of the Code of Virginia, as here-
tofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 5333. A resident of this State who is not married, or a
husband and wife (residents of this State) jointly, may petition the
circuit or corporation or hustings court of a city, or the circuit court
of a county, in which city or county they reside, for leave to adopt a
minor child not theirs by birth, and for a change of the name of
such child; but a written consent, duly acknowledged, must be given
to such adoption by the child, if of the age of fourteen years or over,
and by each of his or her known living parents who is not hopelessly
insane or otherwise incapacitated from giving such consent, or who
is not habitually addicted to the use of drugs or of intoxicating
liquors, or has not abandoned such child, or has not lost custody of
the child through the order of a court; or if the parents are dis-
qualified, as aforesaid, then by the legal guardian, or if there be no
such guardian, then by a discreet and suitable person appointed by
the court to act in the proceedings as the next friened of such child;
but if such parents or guardian join in said petition it shall be deemed
such consent in writing.

Upon the filing of said petition, the court shall direct a probation
officer or other officer of the court, or an agent of the State or county
or city board of public welfare, or some other discreet and com-
petent person, to make a careful and thorough investigation of the mat-
ter and report his findings in writing to said court. The person so
directed to make such investigation shall make inquiry, among other
things, as to—

(1) Why the natural parents, if living, desire to be relieved of
the care, support and guardianship of such child;

(2) Whether the natural parents have abandoned such child or are
morally unfit to have its custody;

(3) Whether the proposed foster-parent or parents is or are
financially able and morally fit to have the care, supervision and
training of such child;

(4) The physical and mental condition of such child. For this
purpose, said investigator may secure the opinion of a reputable phy-
sician or competent mental examiner.

If the court is satisfied that the natural parents have just cause
for desiring to be relieved of the care, support and guardianship of
said child, or have abandoned the child, or are morally unfit to retain
its custody; that the petitioning foster-parent or parents is or are
financially able and morally fit to have the care, supervision and train-
ing of such child; that said child is suitable for adoption in a private
family home, and that such change of name and guardianship is for
the best interests of said child, it shall make an interlocutory order
setting forth the facts and declaring that from the date of the final
order of adoption in such case, if such final order be afterwards en-
tered, as hereinafter provided, such child, to all legal intents and
purposes, will be the child of the petitioner or petitioners and that its
name may be thereby changed. Such final order of adoption shall
not be granted until the child shall have lived for one year in the
proposed home and shall have been visited during the said period at
least once in every three months by a probation officer, an agent of
the State or county or city board of public welfare or other person
designated by the court for the purpose. At any time before the
entry of such final order of adoption, the court may revoke its inter-
locutory order for good cause, either of its own motion or on the
motion of the natural parent or parents of such child, the original
petitioner or petitioners or the child itself by its next friend; but no
such revocation shall be entered unless ten days’ notice in writing shall
have been given to the original petitioner or petitioners (unless he or
they make the motion), or have removed from the State, nor unless
the original petitioner or petitioners, if residents of the State, shall
have been given an opportunity to be heard.

The clerks of the court in which such final order of adoption is
entered shall report to the State Bureau of Vital Statistics on forms
provided by the bureau for this purpose, every final adoption of a
child under this chapter, and include same with the monthly report
of marriages and divorces to the bureau. There shall be allowed to
the clerks a fee of twenty-five cents for each adoption reported, to be
paid through the State treasury from funds appropriated for that
purpose with the voucher for the payment for reporting marriages
and divorces, upon the certification of the Bureau of Vital Statistics.

Upon the entry of such final order of adoption, the judge or the
clerk of the court shall notify the State Board of Public Welfare and
the county or city board of public welfare, if there be one, of the
action taken, giving the names and addresses of the natural parents,
if known, or of the child’s next of kin, the age and the name of
such child both before and after adoption, and the names and addresses
of the foster parents. Said boards of public welfare shall likewise
be notified of any subsequent modification or revocation of such order
of adoption.

The natural parents shall, by such final order of adoption, be
divested of all legal rights and obligations in respect to the child,
and the child shall be free from all legal obligations of obedience and
maintenance in respect to them; such child shall, from and after the
entry of the interlocutory order herein provided for, be, to all intents
and purpose, the child and heir at law of the person so adopting him
or her, unless and until such order is subsequently revoked, entitled
to all the rights and privileges and subject to all the obligations of
a child of such person begotten in lawful wedlock; but on the decease
of such person and the subsequent decease of such adopted child with-
out issue, the property of such adopting parent still undisposed of
shall descend to his or her next of kin, and not to the next of kin
of such adopted child.

At any time after the final order of the court permitting such
adoption and change of name, the parent or parents of such minor
child, the State Board of Public Welfare, or the child itself, if twenty-
one years of age, and if not twenty-one years of age, then the child
by its next friend or the adopting parent or parents, may petition the
court which entered such order of adoption to vacate the same and
terminate the adoption and restore the former name. And the court
shall hear evidence for and against such petition, and if from such
evidence it appears that a termination of such adoption and restora-
tion of name is manifestly right and proper, and especially if it be for
the best interests of the child, the court shall vacate said final order
of adoption and change of name, and thereupon such child shall be
restored to the position and name which it held before such final
order of adoption. But before the court acts upon such petition, ten
days’ notice in writing shall be given to the person or persons who
has been permitted to adopt said child, if then residents of the
State; and if said petition be filed by the next friend of said child,
or by its parent or parents, and said child be over fourteen years of
age, the court shall require said child to appear before it and ascertain
its wishes in the matter, though the court need not be controlled
thereby.

And the court shall see that all the property rights of such child,
as well as of the person or persons adopting it, are protected, and may
make such order as may be proper in the premises so that no injustice
may be done.