Massachusetts Statutes

§ 5B — Adoptive custody; factors considered; request for religious designation

Massachusetts § 5B
JurisdictionMassachusetts
Part IIREAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS
Title IIIDOMESTIC RELATIONS
Ch. 210ADOPTION OF CHILDREN AND CHANGE OF NAMES

This text of Massachusetts § 5B (Adoptive custody; factors considered; request for religious designation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 210, § 5B (2026).

Text

Section 5B. In making orders for adoption, the judge shall consider the need of the child for loving and responsible parental care and all factors relevant to the physical, mental and moral health of the child.If, at the time of surrender of the child for adoptive custody, the parent or parents of said child requested a religious designation for the child, the court may grant a petition for adoption of the child only to a person or persons of the religious designation so requested, unless a placement for adoptive custody based on such request would not have been in the best interests of the child. If a request for religious designation is not given effect, such reasons in support of such determination shall be made a part of the records of the proceedings.

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Bluebook (online)
Massachusetts § 5B, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/statute/ma/210/5B.