Terms Used In Iowa Code 600.15

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
600.15 Foreign and international adoptions.
1. A decree establishing a parent-child relationship by adoption which is issued pursuant to due process of law by a juvenile court or court of any other jurisdiction within or outside the United States shall be recognized in this state.
2. For an adoption based on a decree issued by a foreign jurisdiction within the United States, an investigator shall conduct a postplacement investigation and issue a postplacement report as provided in § 600.8.
3. a. For an adoption based on a decree issued by a jurisdiction outside the United States, an investigator shall conduct a postplacement investigation that consists of a minimum of three face-to-face visits with the minor person and the adoptive parents during the first year after the placement, with the first such visit to be conducted within sixty days of the placement of the minor person in the adoptive home. Additional visits shall be conducted if required by the jurisdiction that issued the decree.
b. The postplacement investigation and report under this subsection shall include documentation that any unique needs of the minor person are being appropriately met through the placement.
[C77, 79, 81, §600.15]
87 Acts, ch 140, §1 – 3; 98 Acts, ch 1064, §2; 99 Acts, ch 138, §4; 2000 Acts, ch 1145, §18;
2001 Acts, ch 24, §67, 74; 2002 Acts, ch 1040, §4, 5; 2014 Acts, ch 1029, §3
Referred to in §144.25A