Revises provisions relating to adoption. (BDR 11-356)

Existing law: (1) requires certain persons who work with children or reside in certain homes or facilities that provide services to children to undergo a background investigation; (2) prohibits a person who has been convicted of certain crimes from working or residing in such a home or facility; and (3) requires certain homes and facilities to maintain records of background investigations. (NRS 62B.260-62B.280, 424.031-424.034, 432A.170-432A.1755, 433B.183-433B.187, 449.122-449.125) Existing law defines “child-placing agency” to mean a nonprofit corporation that places children for adoption or permanent free care. (NRS 127.220) Existing regulations: (1) require an applicant for a license to operate a child-placing agency or an employee, volunteer or independent contractor of a child-placing agency to undergo a background investigation; and (2) prohibit the director of adoption of a child-placing agency from allowing a person to provide services to children if the Division of Child and Family Services has, based on the criminal history of the person, deemed the person to be unacceptable to provide services to children. (NAC 127.140) Sections 2 and 3 of this bill: (1) codify such requirements governing child-placing agencies into existing law; and (2) additionally require such background investigations to be conducted every 5 years. Specifically, section 2 requires the Division to: (1) investigate the background and personal history of every initial applicant for a license to operate a child-placing agency and every employee, volunteer or independent contractor of a child-placing agency; and (2) repeat such investigations every 5 years. Section 3 requires an applicant for a license to operate a child-placing agency and every employee, volunteer or independent contractor of the child-placing agency, for the purposes of an investigation pursuant to section 2, to submit to the Division: (1) a complete set of fingerprints; and (2) written permission authorizing the fingerprints to be submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a background check. Section 11 of this bill makes conforming changes to require the Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History to conduct such background checks. Section 2 requires the Division to prescribe by regulation the conditions under which the Division may deem a person to have a substantiated history of maltreating a child that renders the person unacceptable to provide services to children. Section 7 of this bill prohibits a court from entering an order of adoption and declare any order of adoption so entered to be void if the adoption was facilitated by a child-placing agency that has failed to comply with sections 2 and 3. Section 9 of this bill indicates the proper placement of sections 2 and 3 in NRS. Section 10 of this bill makes certain definitions applicable to sections 2 and 3. Existing law requires the Division to maintain the State Register for Adoptions to provide information to identify adults who were adopted and certain relatives of such adults. Existing law authorizes the Division to release certain information from the State Register to adopted persons and their relatives if: (1) the natural parent of the adopted person has consented to the release; and (2) the adopted person has not requested to restrict the release of the information. (NRS 127.007) Section 6 of this bill authorizes the Division to release such information without the written consent of the natural parent if the Division determines that extenuating circumstances exist to justify the release of the information. Existing law authorizes the prospective adoptive parents to attend a court hearing concerning the adoption by telephone instead of in person if: (1) the prospective adoptive parents reside in another state or jurisdiction; (2) the child who is the subject of the hearing is in the custody of an agency which provides child welfare services or a child-placing agency; and (3) a representative of the agency responsible for supervising the child in the state where the child will be placed attends the hearing by telephone. (NRS 127.145) Section 8 of this bill additionally authorizes the prospective adoptive parents and the representative of the agency responsible for supervising the child to attend a court hearing concerning the adoption by any other remote-technology system under such circumstances.