CHAPTER 300

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 68-348 and 63-851, as amended, and
63-356.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to requirements for bringing
petition for adoption, how consent for adoption given and adoption by
certain spouses.

[S 152]

Approved March 10, 1956

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 63-348, 63-351 and 63-356.1, as amended, of the Code of
Virginia be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 63-348. Proceedings for the adoption of a minor child and for a
change of the name of such child shall be instituted only by petition
to * a court of record having chancery jurisdiction in the county or city
in which the petitioner resides or in the city or county in which is located
the child placing agency which placed the child, provided that the Chancery
Court of the city of Richmond shall have exclusive jurisdiction in every
such case arising in the said city if the petitioner resides on the north
side of the James River, and that the Hustings Court of the city of Rich-
mond, Part II, shall have exclusive jurisdiction if the petitioner resides in
the said city on the south side of the James River. * Such petition may be
filed by any natural person who resides in the Commonwealth or who has
custody of a child placed by a child placing agency of the Commonwealth,
for leave to adopt a minor child not legally his by birth, and if it be so
desired by the petitioner, also to change the name of such child. In the
case of married persons the petition shall be the joint petition of the
husband and wife, but in the event the child to be adopted is legally the
child by birth or adoption of one of the petitioners, such petitioner shall
unite in the petition for the purpose of indicating his or her consent to
the prayer thereof only. The petition shall contain a full disclosure of the
circumstances under which the child came to live, and is living, in the home
of the petitioner.

§ 63-351. No petition for adoption shall be granted, except as here-
inafter provided in this section, unless there be written consent to the
proposed adoption filed with the petition. Such consent shall be signed
and acknowledged before an officer authorized by law to take acknowledg-
ments.

The consent of a parent for the adoption of his or her child shall not
be valid unless the child be at least ten days old at the time the consent

is signed.
A parent who has not reached the age of twenty-one shall have legal
capacity to give consent to adoption and shall be as fully bound thereby
as if said parent had attained the age of twenty-one years.

Consent by the child shall be necessary if the child is fourteen years
of age or older.

Consent shall be executed:

(1) By the parents or surviving parent of a child born in wedlock;
provided, however, if the parents are divorced and one has been divested
of custody by terms of the divorce and does not consent to the adoption
the petition may be granted without the consent of such parent; or

(2) By the mother of a child born out of wedlock. The consent of the
father of a child born to an unmarried woman shall not be required unless
such child becomes legitimate prior to the filing of the petition for adop-
tion; or

(3) By the child placing agency having custody of the child, with
right to place for adoption, through court commitment or parental agree-
ment as provided in § 63-73 or § 63-241 of the Code; or

(4) If after hearing evidence the court finds that the consent of any
person or agency whose consent is hereinabove required is withheld con-
trary to the best interests of the child, or if a valid consent is unobtain-
able, the court may grant the petition without such consent.

If the child is not in the custody of a child placing agency and both
parents are deceased, the court, after hearing evidence to that effect, may
grant the petition without the filing of any consent.

§ 63-356.1. When a natural parent or a parent by adoption of an
infant whose spouse has died, marries again and the surviving natural
parent or parent by adoption desires the new spouse to adopt the infant,
on a petition filed by the surviving natural parent or parent by adoption
and new spouse for the adoption and change of name of the infant, the
court may proceed to order the proposed adoption or change of name with-
out referring the matter to the Director of Welfare and Institutions. If
the court feels that there should be some investigation before a final order
of adoption is entered, it shall thereupon refer the matter to the local
superintendent of public welfare for an investigation and report within
such time as the court designates.