RÉSUMÉ DIGEST
ACT 464 (HB 54) 2021 Regular Session Edmonds
New law creates the crime of adoption deception and defines the crime as being committed
by any person who is a birth mother, or who holds herself out to be a birth mother, who is
interested in making an adoption plan and who knowingly or intentionally benefits from
payment of adoption-related expenses in connection with that adoption plan if any of the
following occur:
(1)The person knows or should have known that she is not pregnant at the time the
payments were requested or received.
(2)The person accepts living expenses assistance from a prospective adoptive parent or
adoption entity without disclosing that she is receiving living expenses assistance
from another prospective adoptive parent or adoption entity at the same time in an
effort to adopt the same child.
New law provides for the following penalties:
(1)If the amount received by the person is $1,000 or less, the person shall either be fined
up to $500, imprisoned for not more than 60 days, or both.
(2)If the amount received by the person exceeds $1,000, the person shall either be fined
up to $5,000, imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than five years, or
both.
Effective August 1, 2021.
(Adds R.S. 14:67.5)