Section 8632.5 Of Chapter 1.5. Adoption Facilitators From California Family Law Code >> Division 13. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 1.5.
8632.5
. (a) The department shall establish and adopt regulations
for a statewide registration and enforcement process for adoption
facilitators. The department shall also establish and adopt
regulations to require adoption facilitators to post a bond as
required by this section.
(b) The department may adapt the process it uses to register
adoption service providers in order to provide a similar registration
process for adoption facilitators. The process used by the
department shall include a procedure for determining the status of
bond compliance by adoption facilitators, a means for accepting or
denying organizations seeking inclusion in the adoption facilitator
registry, a means for removing adoption facilitators from the
adoption facilitator registry, and an appeals process for those
entities denied inclusion in or removed from the adoption facilitator
registry. The department may deny or revoke inclusion in the
registry for adoption facilitators to an applicant who does not
possess a criminal record clearance or exemption issued by the
department pursuant to Section 1522 of the Health and Safety Code and
the criminal record clearance regulations applicable to personnel of
private adoption agencies. Criminal record clearances and exemptions
granted to adoption facilitators are not transferable.
(c) Upon the establishment by the department of a registration
process, all adoption facilitators that operate independently from a
licensed public or private adoption agency or an adoption attorney in
this state shall be required to register with the department.
(d) An adoption facilitator, when posting a bond, shall also file
with the department a disclosure form containing the adoption
facilitator's name, date of birth, residence address, business
address, residence telephone number, business telephone number, and
the number of adoptions facilitated for the previous year. Along with
the disclosure form, the adoption facilitator shall provide all of
the following information to the department:
(1) Proof that the facilitator and any member of the staff who
provides direct adoption services has completed two years of college
courses, with at least half of the units and hours focusing on social
work or a related field.
(2) Proof that the facilitator and any member of the staff who
provides direct adoption services has a minimum of three years of
experience employed by a public or private adoption agency licensed
by the department, a registered adoption facilitator, or an adoption
attorney who assists in bringing adopting persons and placing parents
together for the purpose of adoption placement.
(A) An adoption facilitator and any member of the staff subject to
this paragraph may waive the educational and experience requirements
by satisfying all of the following requirements:
(i) He or she has over five years of work experience providing
direct adoption services for a licensed adoption agency.
(ii) He or she has not been found liable of malfeasance in
connection with providing adoption services.
(iii) He or she provides three separate letters of support
attesting to his or her ethics and work providing direct adoption
services from any of the following:
(I) A licensed public or private adoption agency.
(II) A member of the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers.
(III) The State Department of Social Services.
(B) An adoption facilitator who is registered with the department
may also register staff members under the designation of "trainee." A
trainee may provide direct adoption services without meeting the
requirements of this paragraph. Any trainee registered with the
department shall be directly supervised by an individual who meets
all registration requirements.
(3) A valid business license.
(4) A valid, current, government-issued identification to
determine the adoption facilitator's identity, such as a California
driver's license, identification card, passport, or other form of
identification that is acceptable to the department.
(5) Fingerprint images for a background check to be used by the
department for the purposes described in this section.
(e) The State Department of Social Services may submit fingerprint
images of adoption facilitators to the Department of Justice for the
purpose of obtaining criminal offender record information regarding
state- and federal-level convictions and arrests, including arrests
for which the Department of Justice establishes that the person is
free on bail or on his or her recognizance pending trial or appeal.
(1) The Department of Justice shall forward to the Federal Bureau
of Investigation requests for federal summary criminal history
information received pursuant to this section. The Department of
Justice shall review the information returned from the Federal Bureau
of Investigation and compile and disseminate a response to the
department.
(2) The Department of Justice shall provide a response to the
department pursuant to subdivision (m) of Section 11105 of the Penal
Code.
(3) The department shall request from the Department of Justice
subsequent arrest notification service, as provided pursuant to
Section 11105.2 of the Penal Code.
(4) The Department of Justice shall charge a fee sufficient to
cover the cost of processing the request described in this section.
(5) The department may only release an applicant's criminal record
information search response as provided in subparagraph (G) of
paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 1522 of the Health and
Safety Code.
(f) The department may impose a fee upon applicants for each set
of classifiable fingerprint cards that it processes pursuant to
paragraph (5) of subdivision (d).
(g) The department shall post on its Internet Web site the
registration and bond requirements required by this chapter and a
list of adoption facilitators in compliance with the registration and
bond requirements of this chapter. The department shall ensure that
the information is current and shall update the information at least
once every 30 days.
(h) The department shall develop the disclosure form required
pursuant to subdivision (d) and shall make it available to any
adoption facilitator posting a bond.
(i) The department may charge adoption facilitators an annual
filing fee to recover all costs associated with the requirements of
this section and that fee shall be set by regulation.
(j) The department may create an Adoption Facilitator Account for
deposit of fees received from registrants.
(k) On or before January 1, 2008, the department shall make
recommendations for the registry program to the Legislature,
including a recommendation on how to implement a department program
to accept and compile complaints against registered adoption
facilitators and to provide public access to those complaints, by
specific facilitator, through the department's Internet Web site.
(l) The adoption facilitator registry established pursuant to this
section shall become operative on the first day of the first month
following an appropriation from the Adoption Facilitator Account to
the State Department of Social Services for the startup costs and the
costs of administration of the adoption facilitator registry.