Adoption Statutes and Legislative Code
US STATE ADOPTION
Washington D.C.
§ 16-309. Adoption proceedings.
(a) Within a period of ninety days, or such time as extended by the court,
after a copy of the petition and the order providing for the report is served
upon the agency directed to make the investigation, the agency shall make the
report and recommendation required by section 16-307 to the court and thereupon
the court shall proceed to act upon the petition.
(b) After considering the petition, the consents, and such evidence as
the parties and any other properly interested person may present, the court
may enter a final or interlocutory decree of adoption when it is satisfied that:
(1) the prospective adoptee is physically, mentally, and otherwise suitable
for adoption by the petitioner;
(2) the petitioner is fit and able to give the prospective adoptee a proper
home and education;
(3) the adoption will be for the best interests of the prospective adoptee;
and
(4) the adoption form has been completed by the petitioner pursuant to section
10 of the Vital Records Act of 1981.
(b-1) In determining whether the petitioner will be able to give the prospective
adoptee a proper home and education, the court shall give due consideration
to any assurance by the Mayor that he will provide or contribute funds for the
necessary maintenance or medical care of the prospective adoptee under an adoption
subsidy agreement under § 3-115.
(c) A final decree of adoption may not be entered unless the prospective
adoptee has been living with the petitioner for at least six months.
(d) If it appears to be in the interest of the prospective adoptee, the
court may enter an interlocutory decree of adoption, which shall by its terms
automatically become a final decree of adoption on a day therein named, not
less than six months nor more than one year, from the date of entry of the interlocutory
decree, unless in the interim the decree shall have been set aside for cause
shown. The supervising agency shall be permitted to visit the adoptee during
the period of the interlocutory decree.
(e) The court may revoke its interlocutory decree for good cause shown
at any time before it becomes a final decree, either on its own motion or on
the motion of one of the parties to the adoption. Before the revocation, notice
shall be given thereof to all those persons or parties who were given notice
of the original petition for adoption, and an opportunity for all of them to
be heard.
(f) All proceedings with reference to adoption shall be of a confidential
nature and shall be held in chambers or in a sealed courtroom with as little
publicity as the court deems appropriate.
(Dec. 23, 1963, 77 Stat. 540, Pub. L. 88-241, § 1; 1973 Ed., § 16-309; Jan. 2, 1974, 87 Stat. 1061, Pub. L. 93-241,
§ 2(b); Oct. 8, 1981, D.C. Law 4-34, §
29(e), 28 DCR 3271; Mar. 24, 1998, D.C. Law 12-81, § 10(a), 45 DCR 745.)
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§ 16-310.
Finality of decrees of adoption.
An attempt to invalidate a final decree of adoption by reason
of a jurisdictional or procedural defect may not be received by
any court of the District, unless regularly filed with the court
within one year following the date the final decree became
effective.
(Dec. 23, 1963, 77 Stat. 540, Pub. L. 88-241, § 1; 1973 Ed., § 16-310.)
§ 16-311.
Sealing and inspection of records and papers.
From and after the filing of the petition, records and papers
in adoption proceedings shall be sealed. They may not be
inspected by any person, including the parties to the proceeding,
except upon order of the court, and only then when the court is
satisfied that the welfare of the child will thereby be promoted
or protected. The clerk of the court shall keep a separate docket
for adoption proceedings.
(Dec. 23, 1963, 77 Stat. 541, Pub. L. 88-241, § 1; 1973 Ed., § 16-311.)
§ 16-312.
Legal effects of adoption.
(a) A final decree of adoption establishes the
relationship of natural parent and natural child between adopter
and adoptee for all purposes, including mutual rights of
inheritance and succession as if adoptee were born to adopter.
The adoptee takes from, through, and as a representative of his
adoptive parent or parents in the same manner as a child by birth,
and upon the death of an adoptee intestate, his property shall
pass and be distributed in the same manner as if the adoptee had
been born to the adopting parent or parents in lawful wedlock.
All rights and duties including those of inheritance and
succession between the adoptee, his natural parents, their issue,
collateral relatives, and so forth, are cut off, except that when
one of the natural parents is the spouse of the adopter, the
rights and relations as between adoptee, that natural parent, and
his parents and collateral relatives, including mutual rights of
inheritance and succession, are in no wise altered.
(b) While it is in force, an interlocutory decree of
adoption has the same legal effect as a final decree of adoption.
Upon the revocation of an interlocutory decree of adoption, the
status of the adoptee, the natural parents of the adoptee, and
the petitioners are as though the interlocutory decree were null
and void ab initio.
(c) The family name of the adoptee shall be changed to that
of the adopter unless the decree otherwise provides, and the
given name of the adoptee may be fixed or changed at the same
time.
(Dec. 23, 1963, 77 Stat. 541, Pub. L. 88-241, § 1; 1973 Ed., § 16-312; Mar. 24, 1998, D.C. Law
12-81, § 10(b), 45 DCR 745.)
(a) Upon the issuance of a final decree of adoption, an
adoption form shall be sent to the Registrar pursuant to the
Vital Records Act of 1981. Unless otherwise requested in the
petition by the adopters, the Registrar shall cause to be made a
new record of the birth in the new name with the names of the
adopters and shall then cause the original birth certificate and
the order of the Court to be sealed and filed. The sealed package
may be opened only by order of the Court or by the Registrar to
properly administer the Vital Records Act of 1981.
(b) If the adoption occurred outside the District either
before or after August 25, 1937, a new certificate of birth shall
be made pursuant to section 11 of the Vital Records Act of 1981.
The Registrar shall seal the original birth certificate. The
sealed original birth certificate may be opened only by order of
a court of competent jurisdiction or by the Registrar to properly
administer the Vital Records Act of 1981.
(c) If the birth of the adoptee occurred outside the
District the clerk of the court shall, upon petition by the
adopter, furnish him with a certified copy of the final decree of
adoption.
(c-1) If the birth of the adoptee occurred outside of the
United States, a new certificate of birth shall be made pursuant
to section 11 of the Vital Records Act of 1981.
(d) When an adoption in the District occurred prior to
August 25, 1937, the court shall, upon presentation of a motion
by a party to the proceedings, order the clerk of the court to
seal the records in the proceeding. Upon presentation of a
certified copy of the order the Mayor shall cause to be made a
new record of the birth in the new name and with the names of the
adopters and shall then cause to be sealed and filed the original
birth certificate with the order of the court. The sealed package
may be opened only by order of the court.
(Dec. 23, 1963, 77 Stat. 541, Pub. L. 88-241, § 1; July 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 555, Pub. L. 91-358, title I, § 145(a)(2); 1973 Ed., § 16-314; Oct. 8, 1981, D.C. Law 4-34, § 29(f), 28 DCR 3271; Apr. 30, 1988, D.C. Law 7-104, § 4(e), 35 DCR 147; May 21, 1992, D.C. Law 9-101, § 2, 39 DCR 2146
The provisions of this chapter have no effect prior to June 8,
1954, except to the extent that they specifically so provide.
They do not affect in any way the rights and relations obtained
by any decree of adoption entered prior to June 8, 1954.
(Dec. 23, 1963, 77 Stat. 542, Pub. L. 88-241, § 1; 1973 Ed., § 16-315.)