Montana Code 42-3-206. Distribution of evaluation — retention — immunity for evaluator
42-3-206. Distribution of evaluation — retention — immunity for evaluator. (1) The evaluator shall furnish a copy of the evaluation to a department, agency, or other person authorized to place a child for adoption and, upon payment by the person evaluated of the cost of the evaluation services, to the person evaluated.
Terms Used In Montana Code 42-3-206
- Adoption: means the act of creating the legal relationship between parent and child when it does not exist genetically. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Agency: means a child placement agency licensed by the state of Montana pursuant to Title 52, chapter 8, that is expressly empowered to place children preliminary to a possible adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Child: means any person under 18 years of age. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Department: means the department of public health and human services, provided for in 2-15-2201. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Preplacement evaluation: means the home study process conducted by the department or a licensed child-placing agency that:
(a)assists a prospective adoptive parent or family to assess its own readiness to adopt; and
(b)assesses whether the prospective adoptive parent or family and home meet applicable standards. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Records: means all documents, exhibits, and data pertaining to an adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
(2)An evaluator shall retain the original of a completed or incomplete preplacement evaluation and a list of each source for each item of information in the evaluation. An evaluator who ceases to do business in Montana shall give the evaluator’s records to the department for retention.
(3)An evaluator, except a department evaluator, who conducted an evaluation in good faith is not subject to civil liability for anything contained in the evaluation.