(1)If the court terminates the
parent-child legal relationship of both parents or of the only living parent, the court,
after taking into account the religious background of the child, shall order
guardianship of the person and legal custody transferred to:
(a)The county department of human or social services; or
(b)A licensed child placement agency; or
(c)A relative of the child; or
(d)An individual determined to be of good moral character through a
process that includes the assessment made pursuant to section 19-5-206 (2)(g), if
such individual shall have had the child living in his or her home for six months or
more, including a foster parent or a designated adoptive parent.
(2)(a) The court shall consider, but shall not be bound by, a request that
custody of the child
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(1) If the court terminates the
parent-child legal relationship of both parents or of the only living parent, the court,
after taking into account the religious background of the child, shall order
guardianship of the person and legal custody transferred to:
(a) The county department of human or social services; or
(b) A licensed child placement agency; or
(c) A relative of the child; or
(d) An individual determined to be of good moral character through a
process that includes the assessment made pursuant to section 19-5-206 (2)(g), if
such individual shall have had the child living in his or her home for six months or
more, including a foster parent or a designated adoptive parent.
(2) (a) The court shall consider, but shall not be bound by, a request that
custody of the child, with the option of applying for adoption, be placed in a
grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, or sister of the child or a foster parent. When
ordering legal custody of the child, the court shall give preference to a
grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, or sister of the child when such relative has made
a timely request therefor and the court determines that such placement is in the
best interests of the child. Such request must be submitted to the court prior to
commencement of the hearing on the petition for relinquishment. If such legal
custody is granted, guardianship of the child shall remain with the parent, if the
legal parent-child relationship has not been terminated, or the guardianship shall
be transferred pursuant to subsection (1) of this section. Nothing in this section
shall be construed to require the birth parents or the child placement agency with
custody of the child to notify said relatives described in this subsection (2) of the
pending relinquishment of parental rights. This subsection (2) shall not apply in
cases where the birth parents have designated an adoptive family for the child or
the birth parents have designated that legal custody of the child shall not be in a
person described in this subsection (2) and where the child has not been in legal
custody of a relative requesting guardianship or custody as described in this
section or the child has not been in the physical custody of such relative for more
than six months.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (2), in
cases in which a parent is seeking to relinquish his or her parent-child legal
relationship with more than one child of a sibling group at one time, if the county
department or child placement agency locates an appropriate, capable, willing, and
available joint placement for all of the children in the sibling group, the court shall
presume that placement of the entire sibling group in the joint placement is in the
best interests of the children. Such presumption may be rebutted by a
preponderance of the evidence that placement of the entire sibling group in the
joint placement is not in the best interests of a child or of the children.
(3) No person shall be precluded from adopting a child solely because that
person has been a child's foster parent.
(4) The order of relinquishment shall set forth all pertinent facts brought at
the hearing, and, in addition, it shall state that the court is satisfied that the counsel
and guidance provided for in section 19-5-103 (1) and (5) has been offered the
relinquishing parent or parents and any child for whom the court has ordered
counseling.
(5) (a) A final order of relinquishment must divest the relinquishing parent or
parents of all legal rights and obligations they may have with respect to the child
relinquished, but it shall not modify the child's status as an heir at law, which
ceases only upon a subsequent final decree of adoption; except that the
relinquishing parent's or parents' obligation to pay for services received by the child
through the department, or other support received, must be terminated upon a
subsequent final decree of adoption or by order of the court at the time of
relinquishment. The order of relinquishment must release the relinquished child
from all legal obligations with respect to the relinquishing parent or parents.
(b) Pursuant to section 19-5-103 (13), if the petition for relinquishment
includes documentation of a parent's conviction for sexual assault or for a
conviction of an act in which the underlying factual basis was sexual assault and
the child to be relinquished was conceived as a result of the crime, or if the court
finds, based on a preponderance of the evidence, that the relinquishing parent is a
victim of a sexual assault that resulted in the conception of the child to be
relinquished, then notwithstanding any law to the contrary, if the court grants a
final order of relinquishment, the court's final order of relinquishment must divest
the relinquishing parent of all legal obligations they may have with respect to the
child relinquished, including child support, at the time of relinquishment.
(6) If one parent files a petition for the relinquishment of a child and the
agency or person having custody of the child files a petition to terminate the rights
of the other parent pursuant to section 19-5-105, the court shall set a hearing, as
expeditiously as possible, on the relinquishment petition. A court may enter an
order of relinquishment for the purpose of adoption prior to the relinquishment or
termination of the other parent's parental rights. Except as otherwise provided in
subsection (7) of this section, an order of relinquishment is final and irrevocable.
(7) (a) A relinquishment may be revoked only if, within ninety-one days after
the entry of the relinquishment order, the relinquishing parent establishes by clear
and convincing evidence that such relinquishment was obtained by fraud or duress.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection (7), a relinquishment
may not be revoked on the basis that the relinquishment or termination of the other
parent's parental rights was not obtained because the relinquishing parent knew,
but did not disclose, the name or whereabouts of such other parent.
(8) If the relinquishment by an individual is revoked pursuant to subsection
(7) of this section and no grounds exist under section 19-5-105 or under part 6 of
article 3 of this title for terminating the parental rights of that individual, the court
shall dismiss any proceeding for adoption and shall provide for the care and
custody of the child according to the child's best interests.
(9) The fact that the relinquishing parent or parents are minors shall in no
way affect the validity of the final order of relinquishment.