Chap. 265.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5333 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to the adoption of minor children. [S B 236]

Approved March 27, 1940

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

Section 5333. Proceedings for the adoption of a minor child and
for a change in the name of such child shall be by petition to the cir-
cuit or corporation or hustings court of the city, or the circuit court
of the county, in which the petitioner or petitioners reside. Any such
petition may be filed by any person for leave to adopt a minor child
or children not his or hers by birth, or by a husband and wife jointly
if such child to be adopted is not the child by birth or by legal adop-
tion of either of them. In the event the child to be adopted is the
child by birth or by legal adoption of the husband or wife of such
proposed foster parent, then such husband or wife shall unite in the
petition to indicate his or her consent to such adoption and to a
change in name if this is desired. A written consent, duly acknow-
ledged, must be given to such adoption by the child, if of 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 disqualified, 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 friend
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 competent
person, to make a careful and thorough investigation of the matter
and report his findings in writing to said court. In all cases of adop-
tion under this section the person so directed to make such investiga-
tion shall make inquiry, among other things, as to—

(1) 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;

(2) The physical and mental condition of such child. For this
purpose, said investigator may secure the opinion of a reputable
physician or competent medical examiner.

If the child to be adopted is not the child by birth or by legal
adoption of the husband or wife of the proposed foster parent the
person so directed to make such investigation shall also make inquiry
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.

If the child to be adopted is not the child by birth or by legal
adoption of the husband or wife of the proposed foster parent, and
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 finan-
cially able and morally fit to have the care, supervision and training
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.

If such child to be adopted be the child by birth or by legal adop-
tion of the husband or wife of the proposed foster parent and the court
is satisfied that such petitioning foster parent is financially able
and morally fit to have the care, supervision and training of such
child, and that a change of name, where such change is requested, is
for the best interests of said child, no interlocutory order shall be
necessary, but the court shall make a final order setting forth the
facts and declaring that such child to all legal intents and purposes
is the child of the petitioner and that its name shall be thereby changed.

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, other than any such parent who is the hus-
band or wife of the foster parent, 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. Any child adopted under the pro-
visions of this section shall, from and after the entry of the interlocu-
tory order herein provided for, or from and after the entry of the
final order where no such interlocutory order is entered, be, to all
intents and purposes, the child and heir at law of the person so adopt-
ing him or her, and, unless and until such interlocutory order or any
final order is subsequently revoked, shall be 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 without 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
restoration 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.