2009 Iowa Code
Title 6 - Human Services
Subtitle 5 - Juveniles
CHAPTER 232 - JUVENILE JUSTICE
232.119 - ADOPTION EXCHANGE ESTABLISHED.

        232.119  ADOPTION EXCHANGE ESTABLISHED.
         1.  The purpose of this section is to facilitate the placement of
      all children in Iowa who are legally available for adoption through
      the establishment of an adoption exchange to help find adoptive homes
      for these children.
         2.  An adoption information exchange is established within the
      department to be operated by the department or by an individual or
      agency under contract with the department.
         a.  All special needs children under state guardianship shall
      be registered on the adoption exchange within sixty days of the
      termination of parental rights pursuant to section 232.117 or 600A.9
      and assignment of guardianship to the director.
         b.  Prospective adoptive families requesting a special needs
      child shall be registered on the adoption exchange upon receipt of an
      approved home study.
         3.  To register a child on the Iowa exchange, the department
      adoption worker or the private agency worker shall register the
      pertinent information concerning the child on the exchange.  A photo
      of the child and other necessary information shall be forwarded to
      the department to be included in the photo-listing book which shall
      be updated regularly.  The department adoption worker or the private
      agency worker who places a child on the exchange shall update the
      registration information within ten working days after a change in
      the information occurs.
         4.  The exchange shall include a matching service for children
      registered or listed in the adoption photo-listing book and
      prospective adoptive families listed on the exchange.  The department
      shall register a child with the national electronic exchange and
      electronic photo-listing system if the child has not been placed for
      adoption after three months on the exchange established pursuant to
      this section.
         5.  A request to defer registering the child on the exchange shall
      be submitted in writing and shall be granted if any of the following
      conditions exist:
         a.  The child is in an adoptive placement.
         b.  The child's foster parents or another person with a
      significant relationship is being considered as the adoptive family.

         c.  A diagnostic study or testing is necessary to clarify the
      child's needs and to provide an adequate description of the child's
      needs.
         d.  At the time of the request, the child is receiving medical
      care, mental health treatment, or other treatment and the child's
      care or treatment provider has determined that meeting prospective
      adoptive parents is not in the child's best interest.
         e.  The child is fourteen years of age or older and will not
      consent to an adoption plan and the consequences of not being adopted
      have been explained to the child.
         6.  The following requirements apply to a request to defer
      registering a child on the adoption exchange under subsection 5:
         a.  For a deferral granted by the exchange pursuant to
      subsection 5, paragraph "a", "b", or "e", the child's
      guardian shall address the child's deferral status in the report
      filed with the court and the court shall review the deferral status
      in the six-month review hearings held pursuant to section 232.117,
      subsection 7.
         b.  In addition to the requirements of paragraph "a", a
      deferral granted by the exchange pursuant to subsection 5, paragraph
      "b", shall be limited to not more than a one-time, ninety-day
      period unless the termination of parental rights order is appealed or
      the child is placed in a hospital or other institutional placement.
      However, if the foster parents or another person with a significant
      relationship continues to be considered the child's prospective
      adoptive family, additional extensions of the deferral request under
      subsection 5, paragraph "b", may be granted until sixty days
      after the date of the final decision regarding the appeal or until
      the date the child is discharged from a hospital or other
      institutional placement.
         c.  A deferral granted by the exchange pursuant to subsection
      5, paragraph "c", shall be limited to not more than a one-time,
      ninety-day period.
         d.  A deferral granted by the exchange pursuant to subsection
      5, paragraph "d", shall be limited to not more than a one-time,
      one-hundred-twenty-day period.  

         87 Acts, ch 159, §8; 91 Acts, ch 232, §9, 10; 93 Acts, ch 22, §1;
      95 Acts, ch 182, § 12; 98 Acts, ch 1190, §26