(a) The department shall establish and adopt regulations for a statewide registration and enforcement process for adoption facilitators. The department shall also establish and adopt regulations to require adoption facilitators to post a bond as required by this section.
(b) The department may adapt the process it uses to register adoption service providers in order to provide a similar registration process for adoption facilitators. The process used by the department shall include a procedure for determining the status of bond compliance by adoption facilitators, a means for accepting or denying organizations seeking inclusion in the adoption facilitator registry, a means for removing adoption facilitators from the adoption facilitator registry, and an appeals process for those entities denied inclusion in or removed from the adoption facilitator registry. The department may deny or revoke inclusion in the registry for adoption facilitators to an applicant who does not possess a criminal record clearance or exemption issued by the department pursuant to Section 1522 of the Health and Safety Code and the criminal record clearance regulations applicable to personnel of private adoption agencies. Criminal record clearances and exemptions granted to adoption facilitators are not transferable.
(c) Upon the establishment by the department of a registration process, all adoption facilitators that operate independently from a licensed public or private adoption agency or an adoption attorney in this state shall be required to register with the department.
(d) An adoption facilitator, when posting a bond, shall also file with the department a disclosure form containing the adoption facilitator’s name, date of birth, residence address, business address, residence telephone number, business telephone number, and the number of adoptions facilitated for the previous year. Along with the disclosure form, the adoption facilitator shall provide all of the following information to the department:
(1) Proof that the facilitator and any member of the staff who provides direct adoption services has completed two years of college courses, with at least half of the units and hours focusing on social work or a related field.
(2) Proof that the facilitator and any member of the staff who provides direct adoption services has a minimum of three years of experience employed by a public or private adoption agency licensed by the department, a registered adoption facilitator, or an adoption attorney who assists in bringing adopting persons and placing parents together for the purpose of adoption placement.
(A) An adoption facilitator and any member of the staff subject to this paragraph may waive the educational and experience requirements by satisfying all of the following requirements:
(i) The person has over five years of work experience providing direct adoption services for a licensed adoption agency.
(ii) The person has not been found liable of malfeasance in connection with providing adoption services.
(iii) The person provides three separate letters of support attesting to their ethics and work providing direct adoption services from any of the following:
(I) A licensed public or private adoption agency.
(II) A member of the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers.
(III) The State Department of Social Services.
(B) An adoption facilitator who is registered with the department may also register staff members under the designation of “trainee.” A trainee may provide direct adoption services without meeting the requirements of this paragraph. A trainee registered with the department shall be directly supervised by an individual who meets all registration requirements.
(3) A valid business license.
(4) A valid, current, government-issued identification to determine the adoption facilitator’s identity, such as a California driver’s license, identification card, passport, or other form of identification that is acceptable to the department.
(5) Fingerprint images for a background check to be used by the department for the purposes described in this section.
(e) The State Department of Social Services may submit fingerprint images of adoption facilitators to the Department of Justice for the purpose of obtaining criminal offender record information regarding state- and federal-level convictions and arrests, including arrests for which the Department of Justice establishes that the person is free on bail or on their own recognizance pending trial or appeal.
(1) The Department of Justice shall forward to the Federal Bureau of Investigation requests for federal summary criminal history information received pursuant to this section. The Department of Justice shall review the information returned from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and compile and disseminate a response to the department.
(2) The Department of Justice shall provide a response to the department pursuant to subdivision (m) of Section 11105 of the Penal Code.
(3) The department shall request from the Department of Justice subsequent arrest notification service, as provided pursuant to Section 11105.2 of the Penal Code.
(4) The Department of Justice shall charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing the request described in this section.
(5) The department may only release an applicant’s criminal record information search response as provided in subparagraph (G) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 1522 of the Health and Safety Code.
(f) The department may impose a fee upon applicants for each set of classifiable fingerprint cards that it processes pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (d).
(g) The department shall post on its internet website the registration and bond requirements required by this chapter and a list of adoption facilitators in compliance with the registration and bond requirements of this chapter. The department shall ensure that the information is current and shall update the information at least once every 30 days.
(h) The department shall develop the disclosure form required pursuant to subdivision (d) and shall make it available to any adoption facilitator posting a bond.
(i) The department may charge adoption facilitators an annual filing fee to recover all costs associated with the requirements of this section and that fee shall be set by regulation.
(j) The department may create an Adoption Facilitator Account for deposit of fees received from registrants.
(k) On or before January 1, 2008, the department shall make recommendations for the registry program to the Legislature, including a recommendation on how to implement a department program to accept and compile complaints against registered adoption facilitators and to provide public access to those complaints, by specific facilitator, through the department’s internet website.
(l) The adoption facilitator registry established pursuant to this section shall become operative on the first day of the first month following an appropriation from the Adoption Facilitator Account to the State Department of Social Services for the startup costs and the costs of administration of the adoption facilitator registry.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 115, Sec. 118. (AB 1817) Effective January 1, 2020.)