Utah Admin. Code R501-7-4 - Administrative Ethics and Responsibilities

(1) Child placing adoption agencies shall:

(a) identify and strictly adhere to accurate accounting practices, including all fee requirements of this rule;

(b) always act in the best interest of a child;

(i) best interest determinations are made by considering a number of factors related to the child's circumstances including age and developmental needs and the parent or caregiver's circumstances and capacity to parent the child to adulthood and shall consider the preexisting parent(s)' wishes when parental rights are voluntarily relinquished;

(c) provide services and adhere to ethical practices that support and comply with all client rights and responsibilities;

(d) develop and comply with processes that are free from fraud, duress or undue influence and avoid and mitigate conflicts of interest in order to preserve the protections of clients to include:

(i) not give preferential treatment to its board members, employees, volunteers, agents, consultants, independent contractors, donors, or their respective families with regard to child placing decisions;

(ii) not accepting or soliciting donations from an adoptive family that is under consideration for placement of a child or pending finalization of an adoption;

(A) generalized mass solicitation through newsletters or the media shall not constitute a violation under this rule;

(iii) not coercing or incentivizing pre-existing parent(s) to make a plan of adoption or to relinquish their parental rights;

(iv) not permitting its employees, volunteers, agents, consultants, or independent contractors to provide adoption services to both the pre-existing parent(s) and the adoptive parent(s) unless all parties are made aware of potential conflicts of interest and sign a voluntary consent;

(v) inform clients that they are free to select independent attorneys and other non-child placing adoption services;

(A) client bears the responsibility to select a competent provider and their choice may affect costs incurred;

(vi) not referring any individual to services in which the agency's board members, volunteers, employees, agents, consultants, independent contractors, or their respective families are engaged, without first disclosing potential conflicts of interest and informing said individuals that they are free to select independent adoption service providers; and

(vii) require members of the governing body to disclose, in writing, to the chairperson of the governing body and the Office of Licensing, any direct or indirect financial interest in the agency;

(e) manage and share information while still preserving confidentiality when required. This includes:

(i) documenting information shared with potential adoptive parent(s) regarding unknown pre-existing parent(s), Indian Child Welfare Act, and any known information that could potentially disrupt an adoptive placement;

(ii) respond to requests for information from clients and former clients within 30 days and document all requests for information or actual sharing of information to/from birth families, adoptees, adoptive families, and others;

(iii) provide non-identifying information in client files that can allowably be shared, and shall comply with previous releases and established policies;

(iv) the agency shall refer clients to the Mutual-Consent Voluntary Adoption Registry through Department of Health Vital Records if adult adoptees or birth family members want to reunite; and

(v) in more urgent circumstances that could have serious implication to any client or prior client, the agency will utilize prior contact and emergency contact information, as well as engage in simple social media and search engine inquiries to locate and communicate with former clients;

(vi) agencies may engage in a fee based more extensive service to search if desired;

(vii) the agency may share information with third party search providers only if consent has been given by the affected party;

(viii) not misrepresent or withhold any facts or allowable adoptive parent(s) or child/pre-existing parent(s) information relating to its services, involved individuals, or the applicable law;

(f) accept and utilize third party assessments, evaluations, references, home studies or pre-placement evaluations only if received directly from the document's author;

(g) preserve the confidentiality and content of client files;

(h) with respect to adoption services an agency shall refer to or utilize only agencies, entities or individuals that are authorized to provide the service by the laws of this state or the jurisdiction in which that agency, entity or individual performs the service;

(i) provide at least 30 days' prior written notice to the Office of Licensing that the agency is:

(i) dissolving or ceasing to provide child placing services; or

(ii) implementing significant changes in adoption services provided, such as adding or eliminating intercountry adoption.

(j) Provide copies of all documents signed by clients directly to those clients upon request.

(2) In addition to policy and procedure requirements outlined in R501-2, agencies shall develop and adhere to the following adoption-related policies and procedures:

(a) a process regarding how to transfer a relinquishment to another agency in compliance with 78B-6-124 (7);

(b) a process to identify a high needs child as defined in 62A-4a-601, and once identified comply with 62A-4a-609 including disclosure and training to adoptive parent(s);

(c) a process for the temporary placement of children awaiting adoptive placement for over 30-days;

(d) a process and standards for the evaluation and approval or denial of an adoptive home study or pre-placement evaluation;

(e) process and standards for the evaluation and approval or denial of applications from prospective adoptive parent(s);

(f) a written plan for contact, file maintenance, and record retrieval in the event that the agency ceases to provide child placement adoption services;

(i) this plan may involve a secondary licensed or file retention entity;

(g) a process for identifying the pre-existing parent(s)' utilization of alternative payment sources including any public assistance that may defray adoptive parent(s) costs;

(h) policy identifying what is allowable child/pre-existing parent(s) information to be shared with potential adoptive parent(s), including the development of releases of information as needed;

(i) policy identifying what is allowable adoptive parent(s) information to be shared with pre-existing parent(s) including the development of releases of information as needed;

(j) process for refunds to include a process for refunding to adoptive parents monies they paid in excess of actual expenses or disclosed agency fees.; and

(k) written policy to be provided to the adoptive parent(s) outlining how the match is determined, its relationship to any fees, and how it is managed by the agency.

Notes

Utah Admin. Code R501-7-4

Amended by Utah State Bulletin Number 2018-11, effective 5/2/2018 Amended by Utah State Bulletin Number 2019-5, effective 2/12/2019