Section 3490.123. Responsibilities of prospective adoptive parents, prospective foster parents, foster family care agencies and adoption investigators

(a) A prospective adoptive parent or a prospective foster parent shall submit a request for verification on forms provided by the Department. The request for verification shall include a check or money order for the fee charged by the Department, payable to the Department of Human Services, which will not exceed $10.

(b) In the course of causing an investigation to be made under 23 Pa.C.S. § 2535(a) (relating to investigation), an agency or person designated by the court to conduct the investigation shall require prospective adoptive parents to submit the information in section 6344 of the CPSL (relating to information relating to prospective child-care personnel) for review under subsection (d).

(c) In the course of approving a prospective foster parent, a foster family care agency shall require a prospective foster parent to submit the information in section 6344 of the CPSL for review by the foster family care agency under subsection (d).

(d) A prospective adoptive parent or prospective foster parent may not be approved by a foster family care agency, an adoption agency, or a person designated by the court under 23 Pa.C.S. § 2535(a) when any of the following circumstances exist:

(1) The parent has been named as a perpetrator of a founded report of child abuse committed within 5 years or less prior to the request for verification.

(2) The parent has been convicted of a crime under section 6344 of the CPSL or an equivalent out-of-State crime as determined by the Department.

(3) The report of criminal history record information or the report of child abuse record information was obtained more than 1 year prior to the date of application to the agency for approval or 1 year prior to the date of commencement of the investigation under 23 Pa.C.S. § 2535(a).

(e) A prospective adoptive parent or prospective foster parent who is not a resident of this Commonwealth is required to obtain a report of criminal history from the Federal Bureau of Investigation according to procedures established by the Department and on forms provided by ChildLine.

The provisions of this § 3490.123 adopted December 27, 1985, effective January 1, 1986, 15 Pa.B. 4629; amended April 27, 1990, effective April 28, 1990 and apply retroactively to January 5, 1988, 20 Pa.B. 2286; amended July 2, 1999, effective July 3, 1999, 29 Pa.B. 3513. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (211749) to (211750).

Notation

Cross References

This section cited in 55 Pa. Code § 3490.121 (relating to definitions).