Iowa · statute · Iowa Code ch. 600 · 33 active provisions
1. This chapter* shall be construed liberally. The best interest of the person to be adopted shall be the paramount consideration in interpreting this chapter. However, the interests of the adopting parents shall be given due consideration in this interpretation. However, in determining the best interest of the person…
1. “Adoption service provider”, “adult”, “agency”, “biological parent”, “certified adoption investigator”, “child”, “court”, “custodian”, “department”, “guardian”, “guardian ad litem”, “juvenile court”, “minor”, “parent”, “parent-child relationship”, “stepparent”, and “termination of parental rights” mean the same as d…
1. An action for the adoption of any natural person shall be commenced by the filing of an adoption petition, as prescribed in section 600.5, in the juvenile court or court of the county in which an adult person to be adopted is domiciled or resides, or in the juvenile court or court of the county in which the guardian…
Any person who may adopt may file an adoption petition under section 600.3. The following persons may adopt: 1. An unmarried adult. 2. Husband and wife together. 3. A husband or wife separately if the person to be adopted is not the other spouse and if any of the following conditions apply: a. The adopting spouse is th…
An adoption petition shall be signed and verified by the petitioner, shall be filed with the juvenile court or court designated in section 600.3, and shall state: 1. The name, as it appears on the birth certificate or in a verified birth record or as it appears as a result of marriage, and the residence or domicile of…
An adoption petition shall have attached to it the following: 1. A certified copy of the birth certificate showing parentage of the person to be adopted or, if such certificate is not available, a verified birth record. The department shall provide a certified copy of a birth certificate or a verified birth record, as…
Prior to ordering a hearing on the adoption petition, the court shall make a determination of the need for a guardian ad litem for a minor child to be adopted and shall, in writing, either appoint or waive the appointment of a guardian ad litem for purposes of the adoption proceeding in the order setting the adoption h…
1. An adoption petition shall not be granted unless the following persons consent to the adoption or unless the juvenile court or court makes a determination under subsection 4: a. Any guardian of the person to be adopted. b. The spouse of a petitioner who is a stepparent. c. The spouse of a petitioner who is separatel…
The department shall adopt rules which provide that if adoption services are provided by or through the department, notwithstanding any other selection of adoptive parent criteria, the overriding criterion shall be a preference for placing a child in a stable home environment as expeditiously as possible.
The department shall develop and furnish to the state registrar of vital statistics a document listing all postadoption services available to adoptive families in the state, to be delivered along with a copy of the new birth certificate to the parents named in the adoption decree pursuant to section 600.13.
1. a. A preplacement investigation shall be directed to and a report of this investigation shall answer the following: 1. Whether the home of the prospective adoption petitioner is a suitable one for the placement of a minor person to be adopted. 2. How the prospective adoption petitioner’s emotional maturity, finances…
1. a. A biological parent shall not receive any thing of value as a result of the biological parent’s child or former child being placed with and adopted by another person, unless that thing of value is an allowable expense under subsection 2. b. Any person assisting in any way with the placement or adoption of a minor…
1. All of the following are prohibited practices regarding a proceeding under this chapter: a. The provision of termination of parental rights, child placement, or adoption services to any biological or adoptive parent by any person other than an adoption service provider or the department. b. The charging of a fee by…
The adoption of a minor person shall not be decreed until that person has lived with the adoption petitioner for a minimum residence period of one hundred eighty days. However, the juvenile court or court may waive this period if the adoption petitioner is a stepparent or related to the minor person within the fourth d…
1. The juvenile court or court shall set the time and place of the adoption hearing prescribed in section 600.12 upon application of the petitioner. The juvenile court or court may continue the adoption hearing if the notice prescribed in subsections 2 and 4 or subsections 3 and 4, as applicable, is given, except that…
1. An adoption hearing shall be conducted informally as a hearing in equity. The hearing shall be reported or electronically recorded. 2. Only those persons notified under section 600.11 and their witnesses and legal counsel or persons requested by the juvenile court or court to be present shall be admitted to the cour…
1. If the person to be adopted dies following the filing of an adoption petition pursuant to section 600.3, but prior to issuance of a final adoption decree pursuant to section 600.13, the juvenile court or court may waive any investigations and reports required pursuant to section 600.8 that remain uncompleted, waive…
1. At the conclusion of the adoption hearing, the juvenile court or court shall do one of the following: a. Issue a final adoption decree. b. Issue an interlocutory adoption decree. c. Issue a standby adoption decree pursuant to section 600.14A. d. Dismiss the adoption petition if the requirements of this chapter have…
1. An appeal from any final order or decree rendered under this chapter or chapter 600A shall be taken in the same manner as an appeal is taken from a final judgment under the rules of civil procedure. However, a rule of civil procedure provision regarding a minimum amount of value in controversy shall not bar an adopt…
1. As used in this section: a. “Standby adoption” means an adoption in which a terminally ill parent consents to termination of parental rights and the issuance of a final adoption decree effective upon the occurrence of a future event, which is either the death of the terminally ill parent or the request of the parent…
1. A decree establishing a parent-child relationship by adoption which is issued pursuant to due process of law by a juvenile court or court of any other jurisdiction within or outside the United States shall be recognized in this state. 2. For an adoption based on a decree issued by a foreign jurisdiction within the U…
1. Any information compiled under section 600.8, subsection 1, paragraph “c”, relating to medical and developmental histories shall be made available at any time by the clerk of court, the department, or any adoption service provider that made the placement to: a. The adopting parents. b. The adopted person, provided t…
1. The permanent termination of parental rights record of the juvenile court under chapter 600A and the permanent adoption record of the juvenile court or court shall be sealed by the clerk of the juvenile court or the clerk of court, as appropriate, when they are complete and after the time for appeal has expired. 2.…
The supreme court shall prescribe and the department shall adopt rules, to defray the actual cost of the provision of information or the opening of records pursuant to section 600.16 or 600.16A.
The department shall, within the limits of funds appropriated to the department and any gifts or grants received by the department for this purpose, provide financial assistance to any person who adopts a child with physical or mental disabilities or an older or otherwise hard-to-place child, if the adoptive parent has…