The secondary purposes are (i) to protect biological parents from ill-advised decisions to relinquish a child or consent to the child's adoption, (ii) to protect adoptive parents from assuming responsibility for a child about whose heredity or mental or physical condition they know nothing, (iii) to protect the privacy of the parties to the adoption, and (iv) to discourage unlawful trafficking in children and other unlawful placement activities.

As your lawyers, we have a duty to strictly comply with the statutory requirements for adoptive placements. Being sure that our clients are fully informed about and understand the adoption process is an essential part of our responsibility. The following is designed to address the most common questions clients have about adoptions. Please ask us if you have other questions after reviewing the following summary.

• Friends and relatives;
• Private adoption agencies;
• County departments of social services, or
• Adoption facilitators. An adoption facilitator is an individual or nonprofit entity that assists biological parents in locating and evaluating prospective adoptive parents without charge.

• Age and date of birth, nationality, race, or ethnicity, and any religious preference of the prospective parents;
• Marital and family status and history, including the presence of any children born to or adopted by the individual and any other children in the household;
• Physical and mental health, including any addiction to alcohol or drugs;
• Educational and employment history and any special skills;
• Property and income, and current financial information provided by the individual;
• Reason for wanting to adopt;
• Any previous request for an assessment or involvement in an adoptive placement and the outcome of the assessment or placement;
• Whether the individual has ever been a respondent in a domestic violence proceeding or a proceeding concerning a minor who was allegedly abused, dependent, neglected, abandoned, or delinquent, and the outcome of the proceeding;
• Whether the individual has ever been convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation;
• Whether the individual has located a parent interested in placing a child with the individual for adoption, and a brief, nonidentifying description of the parent and the child; and
• Any other fact or circumstance that may be relevant to a determination of the individual's suitability to be an adoptive parent, including the quality of the environment in the home and the functioning of any children in the household. The assessment must be completed within 90 days of receipt of a request. A copy of the completed pre-placement assessment must be provided to the prospective adoptive parents. The prospective adoptive parents are entitled to respond to any unfavorable assessment and to have their response reviewed by the agency. A copy of the pre-placement assessment must also be provided to the biological parent that placed the child for adoption. If a copy cannot be provided to one or both of the biological parents, an affidavit must be filed with the petition for adoption explaining why.

Once the petition is filed, notice of the petition will be served on any person whose consent was necessary but had not been obtained. Notice will also be served on the agency that placed the child for adoption and the agency that prepared the pre-placement assessment. The court will order the preparation and filing of a report by the agency that placed the child or prepared the pre- placement assessment. The report is to provide information to assist the court in determining whether the adoptive placement is in the best interest of the child and must be completed within 60 days of the receipt of the order by the agency. The petitioners must also file an affidavit accounting for any payment made in connection with the adoption.

A consent to the adoption of an unborn child or a child who is three months old or less at the time the consent is given may be revoked within 21 days following the day on which it is executed, inclusive of weekends and holidays.

A consent to the adoption of any child over age three months may be revoked within seven days following the day on which it is executed, inclusive of weekends and holidays. If the final day of the revocation period falls on a weekend or North Carolina or federal holiday, then the revocation period extends to the next business day.

Where placement occurred before a pre-placement assessment was completed and provided to the birth parent who placed the child for adoption, the revocation period is extended to five business days after that person receives the preplacement assessment, or the remainder of the revocation period, whichever is longer. If a second consent is obtained, it is irrevocable.

A parent or guardian whose consent was obtained by fraud or duress may move to have the decree of adoption set aside and have the consent declared void within six months of the time the fraud or duress is or ought reasonably to have been discovered. A parent or guardian whose consent was necessary but was not obtained may move to have the decree of adoption set aside within six months of the time the omission is or ought reasonably to have been discovered.

The consent of a child over age 12 or of an adult adoptee may be revoked at any time before entry of the final order.

Under the revised Chapter 48, which became effective July 1, 1996, adoptive parents may pay for the "reasonable and actual fees and expenses" listed in G.S. 48-10-103:

• Services of an agency in connection with an adoption;
• Medical, hospital, nursing, pharmaceutical, traveling, or other similar expenses incurred by a mother or her child incident to the pregnancy and birth or any illness of the adoptee;
• Counseling services for a parent or the adoptee;
• Ordinary living expenses of a mother during the pregnancy and for no more than six weeks after the birth;
• Expenses incurred in ascertaining the background information required under G.S. 48-3-205 about an adoptee and the adoptee's biological family;
• Legal services, court costs, and traveling or other administrative expenses connected with an adoption; and
• Preparation of the pre-placement assessment and the report to the court.

Payments may not be made for:

• placement of a child,
• consent for adoption,
• relinquishment of a child to an agency, or
• assisting a parent or guardian in locating a prospective adoptive parent, or transferring custody of a child to an adoptive parent.

Violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor subject to punishment in the court's discretion. Any subsequent violation is a Class H felony and may be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000). An affidavit of accounting identifying all expenditures made in connection with the adoption must be made at least ten days before the entry of the final order.