232.158A  Legal risk placement.
  1.  Notwithstanding any provision of the interstate compact on the placement of children under section 232.158 to the contrary, the department shall permit the legal risk placement of a child under the interstate compact on the placement of children if the prospective adoptive parent provides a legal risk statement, in writing, acknowledging all of the following:
  a.  That the placement is a legal risk placement.
  b.  That the court of the party state of the sending agency retains jurisdiction over the child for purposes of the termination of the parental rights of the biological parents.
  c.  That if termination of parental rights cannot be accomplished in accordance with applicable laws, the child shall be promptly returned to the party state of the sending agency to be returned to the child’s biological parent or placed as deemed appropriate by a court of the party state of the sending agency.
  d.  That the prospective adoptive parent assumes full legal, financial, and other risks associated with the legal risk placement and that the prospective adoptive parent agrees to hold the department harmless for any disruption or failure of the placement.
  e.  That the prospective adoptive parent shall provide support and medical and other appropriate care to the child pending the termination of parental rights of the biological parents and shall assume liability for all costs associated with the return of the child to the party state of the sending agency if the placement is disrupted or fails.
  2.  Any written legal risk statement utilized in establishing a legal risk placement shall, at a minimum, state all of the information required under subsection 1, shall be signed by any prospective adoptive parent, and shall be notarized. The legal risk statement shall also contain the following notice printed in clearly legible type:
  If termination of parental rights is not accomplished and return of the child to the biological parent is required, the prospective adoptive parents are encouraged to seek mental health counseling to address any resulting psychological or family problems.
  3.  For the purposes of this section, “legal risk placement” means the placement of a child, who is to be adopted, with a prospective adoptive parent prior to the termination of parental rights of the biological parents, under which the prospective adoptive parent assumes the risk that if the parental rights of the biological parents are not terminated the child shall be returned to the biological parents or placed as deemed appropriate by a court of the party state of the sending agency, and under which the prospective adoptive parent assumes other risks and liabilities specified in a written agreement.
2001 Acts, ch 57, §1; 2018 Acts, ch 1041, §63; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §633, 634
Referred to in §232.166, 232.167
Subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph 1 amended
Subsection 1, paragraph d amended