Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/274

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58 Stat. 194. D. C. Code 32786.

PUBLIC LAW 3 9 2 - J U N E 8, 1954

[68

S TA T,

as specified in this section, which is signed and acknowledged by an officer authorized before law to take acknowledgments, before a representative of a licensed child-placing agency, or before the Commissioners, or unless a relinquishment of parental rights with respect to the adoptee has been recorded and filed as provided in section 6 of the Act of April 22, 1944. (b) Consent to any proposed adoption of an adoptee under twentyone years of age shall be obtained (1) from the adoptee, if he is fourteen years of age or over; and also, (2) in accordance with the provisions of any one of the subparagraphs a through g below, as follows: a. both parents, if they are or were married and are both alive; or b. the living parent of the adoptee, if one of the parents ,^, is dead; or c. the mother in the case of an adoptee born out of wedlock, unless the adoptee has been legitimated according to the laws of any jurisdiction, in which case the consent of the father shall also be required if he is alive; or d. the mother of an adoptee born in wedlock, if the illegiti, macy of the adoptee has been established to the satisfaction of the court; or e. the court appointed guardian of the adoptee; or f. a licensed child-placing agency or the Commissioners in case the parental rights of the parent or parents have been terminated by any court of competent jurisdiction or by a release of parental rights to the Commissioners or licensed child-placing agency, based upon consents obtained in accordance with (2) a through e above and the adoptee has been lawfully placed under the care and custody of such agency or the Commissioners; or g. t:he Commissioners in any situation not herein above provided for. (c) Minority of a natural parent shall not be a bar to such parent's consent to adoption. (d) In the event a parent whose consent is hereinbefore required, after such notice as the court shall direct, cannot be located, or has abandoned the adoptee and voluntarily failed to contribute to the adoptee's support for a period of at least six months next preceding the date of the filing of the petition, the consent of such parent shall not be required. (e) The court may grant a petition for adoption without any of the consents hereinabove specified, if, after a hearing, the court finds that such consent or consents are withheld contrary to the best interests of the child. (f) Persons over twenty-one years of age may be adopted, on the petition of the adopting parent or parents, with the consent of adoptee, provided the court is satisfied that the adoption should be granted. THE PETITION

SEC. 7. Every petition filed for the adoption of a person shall be under oath or affirmation of the petitioner and the titling thereof shall be substantially as follows: "Ex parte in the matter of the petition of for adoption." The petition or the exhibits annexed thereto shall contain the following information:

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