2023 Idaho Code › Title 16 - JUVENILE PROCEEDINGS › Chapter 15 - ADOPTION OF CHILDREN › Section 16-1514 - PETITION FOR ADOPTION OF FOREIGN BORN CHILD.

16-1514. PETITION FOR ADOPTION OF FOREIGN BORN CHILD. (1) Proceedings to adopt a foreign born child who has been allowed to enter the United States for the purpose of adoption shall be commenced by the filing of a petition under this section. A petition under this section shall be initiated by the person or persons proposing to adopt the child and shall be filed with the district court of the judicial district in which said person or persons reside. The petitioner shall have resided and maintained a dwelling within the state of Idaho for at least six (6) consecutive months prior to the filing of a petition. The petition shall set forth the following:
(a) The name and address of the petitioner or petitioners;
(b) The name of the child proposed to be adopted and the name by which he or she shall be known when adopted;
(c) The degree of relationship of the child, if any, to the petitioner or petitioners;
(d) The child’s country of origin, and date of birth, if known;
(e) That the child has been issued a visa or other document authorizing entry into the United States as an immigrant or for the purpose of adoption or for humanitarian reasons relating to adoption in the United States and the date of the person’s entry into the United States;
(f) That a home study of the petitioner or petitioners was prepared and the name of the person or agency performing the home study. A copy of the home study shall be attached to the petition;
(g) That, to the information and belief of the petitioners, the biological parents of the child to be adopted are residents of another country;
(h) That the adoption of such child is in the child’s best interests.
(2) At the time fixed for the hearing on a petition for adoption under this section, the person or persons adopting the child and the child to be adopted must appear before the court where the petition was filed. The judge shall examine the petitioner or petitioners at the hearing and, if satisfied that the proposed adoption is in the best interests of the child to be adopted, shall enter a decree of adoption. The petitioner or petitioners shall at such time execute an agreement to the effect that the child shall be adopted and treated in all respects as the petitioner’s own lawful child.
(3) This section governs the adoption of all foreign born children who have entered the United States to be adopted. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no consent shall be required from the biological parents of the child to be adopted if the child has been granted permission by the United States department of state or United States department of homeland security to enter the United States for the purpose of adoption or for humanitarian reasons relating to adoption by United States citizens. A visa or other document from the United States department of state or United States department of homeland security authorizing entry into the United States for the purpose of adoption, or for humanitarian reasons relating to adoption by United States citizens, shall be deemed conclusive evidence of the termination of the parental rights of the biological parents and compliance with the laws of the country of the child’s birth. The provisions of chapter 20, title 16, Idaho Code, shall not apply to adoptions under this section.
(4) The decisions and orders of foreign courts and government agencies, authorized to approve adoptions, shall be accorded judicial comity or the same full faith and credit accorded a judgment of a sister state without additional proceedings or documentation, provided the United States department of state or United States department of homeland security has allowed the child to enter the United States as set forth in subsection (3) of this section.
History:
[16-1514, added 1996, ch. 188, sec. 2, p. 596; am. 1998, ch. 313, sec. 1, p. 1035; am. 2006, ch. 77, sec. 1, p. 234.]