Montana Code 42-7-101. Fees related to placement for adoption by parent
42-7-101. Fees related to placement for adoption by parent. (1) Reasonable adoption fees may be paid by the adoptive parent for the actual cost of services. The cost of services must relate to:
Terms Used In Montana Code 42-7-101
- 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
- Adoptive parent: means an adult who has become the mother or father of a child through the legal process of adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Birth parent: means the woman who gave birth to the child or the father of genetic origin of the child. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Child: means any person under 18 years of age. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Direct parental placement adoption: means an adoption in which the parent of the child places the child with a prospective adoptive parent personally known and selected by the parent independent of an agency. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Parent: means the birth or adoptive mother or the birth, adoptive, or legal father whose parental rights have not been terminated. 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
- Placing parent: means a parent who is voluntarily making a child available for adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- 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
- Relinquishment: means the informed and voluntary release in writing of all parental rights with respect to a child by a parent to an agency or individual. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203
(a)a petition for adoption;
(b)placement of a child;
(c)medical care or services, including cost-sharing amounts for medically necessary prenatal and postnatal outpatient mental health services;
(d)prenatal care;
(e)foster care;
(f)a preplacement evaluation;
(g)counseling related to providing information necessary to make an informed decision to voluntarily relinquish a child;
(h)travel or temporary living costs for the birth mother;
(i)legal fees incurred for services on behalf of the placing parent;
(j)the reasonable costs incurred by a placing parent in a direct parental placement adoption to document the disclosures of medical and social history required by 42-3-101; and
(k)other reasonable costs related to adoption that do not include education, vehicles, salary or wages, vacations, or permanent housing for the birth parent.
(2)A birth parent or a provider of a service listed in subsection (1) may receive or accept a payment authorized by subsection (1). The payment may not be made contingent on the placement of a child for adoption or upon relinquishment of and consent to adoption of the child. If the adoption is not completed, a person who is authorized by subsection (1) to make a specific payment is not liable for that payment unless the person has agreed in a signed writing with a birth parent or a provider of a service to make the payment regardless of the outcome of the proceeding for adoption.