S.B. No. 49
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the offense of the unauthorized placement of a child
1-2 for adoption.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 162, Family Code, as added
1-5 by H.B. No. 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session,
1-6 1995, is amended by adding Section 162.025 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 162.025. PLACEMENT BY UNAUTHORIZED PERSON; OFFENSE. A
1-8 person who is not the natural or adoptive parent of the child, the
1-9 legal guardian of the child, or a child-placing agency licensed
1-10 under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code, commits an offense if the
1-11 person:
1-12 (1) serves as an intermediary between a prospective
1-13 adoptive parent and an expectant parent or parent of a minor child
1-14 to identify the parties to each other or facilitates the placement
1-15 of the child for adoption; or
1-16 (2) places a child for adoption.
1-17 (b) It is not an offense under this section if a
1-18 professional provides legal or medical services to:
1-19 (1) a parent who identifies the prospective adoptive
1-20 parent and places the child for adoption without the assistance of
1-21 the professional; or
1-22 (2) a prospective adoptive parent who identifies a
1-23 parent and receives placement of a child for adoption without the
2-1 assistance of the professional.
2-2 (c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
2-3 SECTION 2. Section 42.076, Human Resources Code, is amended
2-4 by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
2-5 (d) It is not an offense under this section if a professional
2-6 provides legal or medical services to:
2-7 (1) a parent who identifies the prospective adoptive
2-8 parent and places the child for adoption without the assistance of
2-9 the professional; or
2-10 (2) a prospective adoptive parent who identifies a
2-11 parent and receives placement of a child for adoption without
2-12 assistance of the professional.
2-13 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
2-14 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-19 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-20 passage, and it is so enacted.