Use of Advertising and Facilitators in Adoptive Placements - Texas

Use of Advertisement

Citation: Penal Code § 25.09

A person commits an offense if the person advertises in the public media that the person will place, provide, or obtain a child for adoption or any other form of permanent physical custody of the child. This section does not apply to a licensed child-placing agency that is identified in the advertisement as a licensed child-placing agency.

Public media includes newspapers or other periodicals, billboards or other signs, radio or television broadcasts, or communications through the use of the internet or another public computer network.

Use of Intermediaries/Facilitators

Citation: Penal Code § 25.08(a)-(b); Fam. Code § 162.025

A person commits an offense if he or she does any of the following:

• Has custody of a child younger than age 18 and offers to accept, agrees to accept, or accepts a thing of value for the delivery of the child to another for the purposes of adoption
• Offers to give, agrees to give, or gives a thing of value to another for acquiring a child for the purpose of adoption

It is an exception to the application of this section that the thing of value is any of the following:

• A fee or reimbursement paid to a child-placing agency as authorized by law
• A fee paid to an attorney, social worker, mental health professional, or physician for services rendered in the usual course of legal or medical practice or in providing adoption counseling
• A reimbursement of legal or medical expenses incurred by a person for the benefit of the child
• A necessary pregnancy-related expense paid by a child-placing agency for the benefit of the child's parent during the pregnancy or after the birth of the child as permitted by the minimum standards for child-placing agencies

A person who is not the natural or adoptive parent of the child, the legal guardian of the child, or a licensed child-placing agency commits an offense if the person does either of the following:

• Serves as an intermediary between a prospective adoptive parent and an expectant parent or parent of a minor child to identify the parties to each other
• Places a child for adoption

It is not an offense under this section if a professional provides legal or medical services to either of the following:

• A parent who identifies the prospective adoptive parent and places the child for adoption without the assistance of the professional
• A prospective adoptive parent who identifies a parent and receives placement of a child for adoption without the assistance of the professional