CHAPTER 603

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 68-349, 63-851, 68-854 and 68-855, as
amended, and 68-856 of the Code of Virginia, relating to preliminary
investigation in adoption proceedings, parental consent, visitations
during probationary period, omission of probationary period in cer-
tain instances and final order of adoption.

[H 722]
Approved March 31, 1962

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 63-349, 63-351, 63-354, 63-355, as amended, and 63-356 of
the Code of Virginia, be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 63-349. Upon the filing of the petition, the court wherein the peti-
tion is filed, or the clerk thereof upon order of the court, shall forthwith
forward a copy of the petition to the Commissioner who shall cause to be
made a thorough investigation of the matter and report thereon in writ-
ing to the court within * ninety days after the copy of the petition is for-
warded to him. Such investigation may be made through the local super-
intendent, or other welfare agency, of a county or city, or through a child
placing agency. Whenever the Commissioner requests that such an inves-
tigation be conducted by a local superintendent or other welfare agency
of a county or city, it shall be the duty of such person or agency to make
the necessary investigation and to report thereon promptly to the Com-
missioner. The investigation shall include, in addition to any other in-
quiries which the court may require the Commissioner to make, inquiries
as to (1) whether the petitioner is financially able, morally suitable, and
@ proper person to care for and to train the child, (2) what the physical
and mental condition of the child is, (3) why the parents, if living, desire
to be relieved of the responsibility for the custody, care and maintenance
of the child, and what their attitude is toward the proposed adoption, (4)
whether the parents have abandoned the child or are morally unfit to have
custody over him, (5) the circumstances under which the child came to
live, and is living, in the home of the petitioner, and (6) whether the child
is a suitable child for adoption by the petitioner. In making his report
the Commissioner shall also include his recommendation as to the action
to be taken by the court on the petition.

§ 63-351. No petition for adoption shall be granted, except as herein-
after provided in this section, unless there be written consent to the pro-
posed adoption filed with the petition. Such consent shall be signed and ac-
knowledged before an officer authorized by law to take acknowledgements.

The consent of a parent for the adoption of his or her child shall not
be oe 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-

on; or

(3) By the child placing agency or the local board of public welfare
having custody of the child, with right to place him for adoption, through
court commitment or parental agreement 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.

§ 63-354. After the entry of an interlocutory order of adoption, the
Commissioner shall cause the child to be visited in the home of the peti-
tioner, at least * three times within a period of six months from the date
of entry of the interlocutory order, by an agent of the Department or of
a local board or department of public welfare, or by an agent of a child
placing agency, or, if the petitioner has moved outside the State, by a
representative of a public welfare agency, or of any agency approved by
the public welfare authorities, of the state, territory or country into which
the petitioner has moved, provided, however, that there be not less than
ninety days between the first visit and the last visit. Whenever the Com-
missioner requests that such visitations be made by a local superintendent,
or other welfare agency of a county or city, it shall be the duty of such
person or agency to make the necessary visits and to report thereon
promptly the results of each such visit to the Commissioner. The Com-
missioner shall make to the court a written report of his findings made
pursuant to such visitations, within fifteen days after the expiration of *
siz months from the date upon which the interlocutory order was entered,
and shall furnish a copy of such report to counsel of record for the parties
if requested in any pleading filed in the proceedings, setting out the name
and address of such counsel, and which copy shall be returned by such
counsel as is required by § 63-360 for the return of the original report.

§ 68-355. If the child is legally the child by birth or adoption of one
of the petitioners, or if the child has been placed in the home of the peti-
tioner by a child placing agency and such agency certifies to the court
that the child has lived in the home of the petitioner continuously for a
period of at least * six months next preceding the filing of the petition,
and has been visited by a representative of such agency at least * three
times within such six months period provided there be not less than ninety
days between the first visit and the last visit, or if the child has resided
in the home of the petitioner continuously for as much as five years
immediately prior to the filing of the petition for adoption, and is at least
sixteen years of age at the time thereof, and if the court is of the opinion
that the entry of an interlocutory order would otherwise be proper, the
court, after receipt of the Commissioner’s report, as provided for in
§ 63-349, may omit the probationary period provided for in the preceding
section and the interlocutory order, and enter a final order of adoption,
and the court may, for good cause shown, in cases of placement by a child
placing agency, omit the requirement of this section that the visitations
be made in the * siz months immediately preceding the filing of the peti-
tion, provided, however, that such visits be made in some * six-month
period preceding such filing.

§ 63-356. After the expiration of * six months from the date upon
which the interlocutory order is entered, and after considering the report
of the Commissioner made pursuant to § 63-354, if the court is satisfied
that the best interests of the child will be served thereby, the court shall
enter the final order of adoption. An attested copy of every final order of
adoption shall be forwarded, by the clerk of the court in which it was
entered, to the Commissioner.