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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 1009
January Session, 2023
AN ACT CONCERNING IDENTIFIED ADOPTIONS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 45a-728 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2023): 2
The Commissioner of Children and Families shall adopt regulations 3
in accordance with chapter 54 concerning [adoption] adoptive 4
placement of children [who have been identified or located] by child-5
placing agencies, whether such children have been identified or 6
located by prospective adoptive parents or placed for adoption by such 7
agencies. Such regulations shall provide that for adoptions involving 8
an identified [expectant mother] pregnant person, counseling of [the 9
birth mother] such person shall be required [within] not later than 10
seventy-two hours [of] after the birth of the child, or as soon as 11
medically possible after [the] such birth. [, and that permissible 12
payment of expenses for birth parent counseling shall include the cost 13
of transportation.] Such counseling may be provided by a person with 14
a master's or doctoral degree in counseling, psychology, social work or 15
related mental health disciplines from an accredited college or 16
university. 17
Sec. 2. Section 45a-728a of the general statutes is repealed and the 18
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2023): 19 Substitute Bill No. 1009
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Prospective adoptive parents may participate in the labor and birth 20
of the child identified for adoption and may visit with such newborn 21
child, provided the [birth mother] pregnant person, the child-placing 22
agency and [her] the pregnant person's physician agree and such 23
participation and visitation are consistent with the medically necessary 24
procedures of the hospital. 25
Sec. 3. Section 45a-728b of the general statutes is repealed and the 26
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2023): 27
Any licensed hospital discharging a newborn infant identified for 28
adoption to a child-placing agency shall arrange for the physical 29
transfer of custody of such infant to take place in a safe, secure and 30
private room on the hospital premises. The prospective adoptive 31
parent or parents may be present at the discharge with the approval of 32
the child-placing agency. At the time of discharge, the hospital shall 33
provide such prospective adoptive parent or parents or child-placing 34
agency with any nonidentifying information customarily provided to 35
[birth] any alleged genetic parents upon discharge concerning the care, 36
feeding and health of the infant. The hospital shall provide the child-37
placing agency with the medical information concerning the [birth 38
mother] person who gave birth and the infant within a reasonable 39
time. Such prospective adoptive parent or parents shall be permitted to 40
participate in any program of instruction regarding infant care and 41
child development that is made available by such licensed hospital to 42
[birth] any alleged genetic parents, provided such prospective 43
adoptive parent or parents pay the cost of such participation in such 44
program. 45
Sec. 4. Section 45a-728c of the general statutes is repealed and the 46
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2023): 47
(a) With respect to [adoption] adoptive placement of [children who 48
have been] a child identified or located by a prospective adoptive 49
parent or parents, payment [for the living expenses of the birth mother 50
by the prospective adoptive parents shall be permitted in an amount 51 Substitute Bill No. 1009
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not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars or such amount as 52
may be approved in unusual circumstances by the probate court for 53
the district where the child-placing agency is located or where the 54
prospective adoptive parents reside. In addition to the payment of 55
living expenses, payment by the prospective adoptive parents of 56
reasonable telephone and maternity clothing expenses of the birth 57
mother shall be permitted.] or reimbursement by such adoptive parent 58
or parents to the person giving birth for reasonable expenses, fees and 59
services relating to the pregnancy or adoption, including, but not 60
limited to, living, medical or legal expenses, as determined by the 61
child-placing agency, shall be permitted. Any such payments or 62
reimbursements shall be made not earlier than one hundred eighty 63
days prior to the expected date of birth of such child and not later than 64
sixty days after the birth of such child. Any such payments or 65
reimbursements are subject to approval by the Probate Court in which 66
an application and agreement for adoption pursuant to section 45a-727 67
has been or will be filed. 68
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, payments or 69
reimbursements provided by a prospective adoptive parent or parents 70
in accordance with subsection (a) of this section shall not obligate any 71
alleged genetic parent or parents to place such child for adoption. If 72
such alleged genetic parent or parents do not place such child for 73
adoption after such child's birth, the prospective adoptive parent or 74
parents who provided such payments or reimbursements shall have no 75
right to reimbursement for such payments or reimbursements. 76
(c) A prospective adoptive parent or parents may seek 77
reimbursement for payments or reimbursements provided in 78
accordance with subsection (a) of this section if (1) the person who 79
received such payments or reimbursements was knowingly n ot 80
pregnant at the time of the receipt of such payments or 81
reimbursements, or (2) such person received payments or 82
reimbursements simultaneously from a separate prospective adoptive 83
parent or parents without the knowledge of such other prospective 84 Substitute Bill No. 1009
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adoptive parent or parents. 85
(d) Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, prior to the 86
provision of payment or reimbursement in accordance with subsection 87
(a) of this section, the prospective adoptive parent or parents 88
providing such payment or reimbursement shall file with the Probate 89
Court in which an application and agreement for adoption pursuant to 90
section 45a-727 has been or will be filed, a sworn affidavit containing a 91
list of all expenses, fees and services that such parent or parents intend 92
to pay or for which such parent or parents intend to reimburse. The 93
Probate Court shall, ex parte and without prior notice, approve 94
reasonable payments and reimbursements for such expenses, fees and 95
services. If the Probate Court determines that a payment or 96
reimbursement is unreasonable, the Probate Court shall schedule a 97
hearing on such affidavit to occur not later than thirty days after such 98
affidavit is filed. Not later than thirty days after such hearing, the court 99
shall issue an order approving or disapproving each payment or 100
reimbursement based on specific findings of fact. 101
(e) A prospective adoptive parent or parents may make payments or 102
reimbursements, in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, of 103
not more than two thousand dollars total, without filing a sworn 104
affidavit in accordance with subsection (d) of this section, provided the 105
child-placing agency determines (1) there is a demonstrated need for 106
such payments or reimbursements to protect the health or well-being 107
of the pregnant person or child, and (2) such payments or 108
reimbursements are reasonable. 109
Sec. 5. Section 45a-728d of the general statutes is repealed and the 110
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2023): 111
Any [birth] alleged genetic parent, or such parent's legal 112
representative, may advertise through any public media [in this state] 113
for the placement of [his or her] such parent's child for the purposes of 114
identified adoption or adoption through a child-placing agency. Any 115
prospective adoptive parent, or such prospective adoptive parent's 116 Substitute Bill No. 1009
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legal representative, may advertise through any public media [in this 117
state] for placement of a child into his or her care for the purposes of 118
identified adoption or adoption through a child-placing agency. 119
Sec. 6. Subsection (a) of section 45a-763 of the general statutes is 120
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 121
1, 2023): 122
(a) An Adoption Review Board is established, to consist of the 123
Commissioner of Children and Families or [his] the commissioner's 124
designee, the Probate Court Administrator or [his] the administrator's 125
designee, and [an officer] a representative of a child-placing agency 126
which is located in the state and licensed by the Commissioner of 127
Children and Families, who shall be appointed by the Governor to 128
serve for a term of four years from the date of [his] such appointment. 129
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2023 45a-728
Sec. 2 July 1, 2023 45a-728a
Sec. 3 July 1, 2023 45a-728b
Sec. 4 July 1, 2023 45a-728c
Sec. 5 July 1, 2023 45a-728d
Sec. 6 July 1, 2023 45a-763(a)
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1, "within seventy-two hours of birth" was changed to
"[within] not later than seventy-two hours [of] after the birth" for
consistency with standard drafting conventions, Section 4(a), "has or
will be" was changed to "has been or will be" for clarity, Section 4(c),
"from separate prospective adoptive parents without the knowledge of
the other prospective adoptive parents" was changed to "from a
separate adoptive parent or parents without the knowledge of such
other prospective adoptive parent or parents" for clarity, and in Section
4(d), "has or will be filed, a sworn affidavit containing all expenses,
fees and services such parent or parents intend to pay or reimburse
for" was changed to "has been or will be filed, a sworn affidavit
containing a list of all expenses, fees and services that such parent or Substitute Bill No. 1009
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parents intend to pay for or for which such parent or parents intend to
reimburse" for clarity.
KID Joint Favorable Subst.