2017 Indiana Code
TITLE 35. Criminal Law and Procedure
ARTICLE 46. MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES
CHAPTER 1. Offenses Against the Family
35-46-1-9.5. Adoption deception
Sec. 9.5. A person who is a birth mother, or a woman who holds herself out to be a birth mother, and who knowingly or intentionally benefits from adoption related expenses paid:
(1) when the person knows or should have known that the person is not pregnant;
(2) by or on behalf of a prospective adoptive parent who is unaware that at the same time another prospective adoptive parent is also paying adoption related expenses described under section 9(d) of this chapter in an effort to adopt the same child; or
(3) when the person does not intend to make an adoptive placement;
commits adoption deception, a Level 6 felony. In addition to any other penalty imposed under this section, a court may order the person who commits adoption deception to make restitution to a prospective adoptive parent, attorney, or licensed child placing agency that incurs an expense as a result of the offense.
As added by P.L.200-1999, SEC.33. Amended by P.L.61-2003, SEC.21; P.L.146-2007, SEC.19; P.L.113-2017, SEC.16.
