Section 29-1608. FEES

 

1608.1 Except as provided in §1608.2 and 1608.3, a child-placing agency shall not charge more than $7,500 in fees for services provided in connection with a domestic adoption. The maximum fee authorized by this subsection may not be charged if the services listed in paragraphs (a) through (c) of this subsection are not provided. Fees may be charged for providing the following services in connection with a domestic adoption:

 

(a) A homestudy assessment of an adoptive parent;

 

(b) A homestudy update;

 

(c) Post-placement supervision of an adoptive parent;

 

(d) Birthparent counseling;

 

(e) Adoptive parent education, orientation, or training;

 

(f) Processing an application for adoption;

 

(g) Referral, administrative, and support services;

 

(h) Foster care and related services provided for sixty (60) days or less;

 

(i) Coordination of Interstate Compact compliance;

 

(j) Preparing an application for an adoption subsidy or other benefits for the child;

 

(k) Placement activities, including providing reports to the court to finalize the adoption and arranging, conducting, or attending meetings:

 

(1) To review social, medical, and foster care information;

 

(2) Between the social worker and the birth parent;

 

(3) Between the social worker and the adoptive parent;

 

(4) Between the social worker and the child; and

 

(l) Post-placement education, support, and social activities for the child and adoptive parent for a period of one (1) year after the date that the adoption is final.

 

1608.2 A child-placing agency may charge an adoptive parent up to $2,500 over and above the $7,500 limit in §1608.1 for the actual costs of the following expenses attendant to a domestic adoption:

 

(a) Customary and reasonable legal fees and costs of the agency;

 

(b) Costs of locating an absent birthparent;

 

(c) Living expenses of the birthmother, including food, shelter, clothing, counseling by an independent mental health professional, or the costs of transportation to obtain medical or adoption related services; and

 

(d) Foster care expenses provided after the first sixty (60) days of foster care.

 

1608.3 Notwithstanding the $7,500 fee limit established by §1608.1, a child-placing agency may charge an adoptive parent for the actual costs of the following expenses which exceed the $7,500 limit in §1608.1 attendant to a domestic adoption:

 

(a) The birthmother’s medical expenses;

 

(b) Legal fees and costs in connection with contested adoption proceedings;

 

(c) Expenses incurred by the child-placing agency in connection with a disruption and alternative placement of a child prior to the adoption or readoption; and

 

(d) Expenses involved in obtaining documents required to complete the homestudy assessment.

 

1608.4 A child-placing agency shall not charge more than $7,500 in fees for services provided in connection with an international adoption. The maximum fee authorized by this subsection shall not be charged if the services listed in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection are not provided. The child-placing agency may charge fees for providing the following services in connection with an international adoption:

 

(a) A homestudy assessment of an adoptive parent;

 

(b) Post-placement supervision of an adoptive parent;

 

(c) A homestudy update;

 

(d) Education, orientation, and training services for an adoptive parent;

 

(e) Processing an application for adoption;

 

(f) Referral, administrative, and support services;

 

(g) Coordination of Interstate Compact compliance;

 

(h) Providing information on compliance with U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services requirements for international adoptions;

 

(i) Consultations with parents about the international adoption climate, including policies, protocol, laws, and rules, exploration of adoptive parents’ feelings about adopting a child of a different race or national origin, and the adoptive parents’ capacity to accept limited medical and social background information on the child and the implications of the background information;

 

(j) Placement activities, including reports to the court to finalize an adoption or readoption; and

 

(k) Post-placement education, support, and social activities for the child and adoptive parent to a period of one (1) year after the date that the adoption is final.

 

1608.5 A child-placing agency may charge for the following actual expenses attendant to an international adoption over and above the $7,500 limit established by §1608.4, except that additional fees shall not be charged unless the child-placing agency pays the fee on behalf of the adoptive parent or directly provides the service subject to the fee:

 

(a) Fees charged by the foreign source, including the government, a child-placing agency, attorney, orphanage, or other person who provides adoptive services;

 

(b) Fees for overseas foster care;

 

(c) Translation and authentication fees;

 

(d) Costs of travel to and from the foreign country and lodging in the foreign country;

 

(e) Escort fees;

 

(f) Passport and immigration fees;

 

(g) Expenses incurred by the agency in connection with a disruption and alternative placement of a child prior to an adoption or readoption; and

 

(h) Expenses involved in obtaining documents required to complete the homestudy assessment.

 

1608.6 A child-placing agency shall not charge more than $100 in fees per request for providing non-identifying information from a closed adoption file. No child-placing agency shall refuse to provide non-identifying information to a person who requests the information solely because the person is unable to pay the fee for the information.

 

1608.7 A child-placing agency shall not charge more than $500 in fees for services provided in connection with an adoptee-birth parent search or reunion, except that the child-placing agency may charge for actual costs incurred in conducting the search.

 

1608.8 If the services of an independent search consultant or other non-agency investigative personnel are used in connection with an adoptee-birth parent search or reunion, the child-placing agency may charge the person who requests the search consultant’s services a reasonable fee for the costs of the search consultant’s services, if the fee was agreed upon in writing in advance.

 

1608.9 The child-placing agency shall have a written policy that describes the relationship between fees and services provided and the conditions under which fees are charged, waived, or refunded. Each child-placing agency shall inform the public of the existence of its written policy on fees and shall make the policy available for public inspection.

 

1608.10 Each child-placing agency shall provide each client with a written estimate of the cost of services to be provided, contracted for, or arranged by the agency, prior to delivery of the services.

 

1608.11 Each child-placing agency shall require each client who is paying for agency services to sign a copy of the written estimate of the cost of services as described in §1608.10 and the written policy as described in §1608.9. The agency shall maintain the signed copy of these documents or combined document in the client’s file.

 

1608.12 A child-placing agency shall not solicit or accept money or any item of value or services from any client or any representative of the client on behalf of the child-placing agency beyond the established fees for services provided in connection with placing a child for adoption.

 

1608.13 A child-placing agency shall not solicit or accept any donation of any type or form for any purpose from any prospective adoptive parent during the period that begins on the date that the prospective adoptive parent applies to the child-placing agency to adopt and ends on the date that the final decree of adoption is entered.

 

1608.14 If a Relinquishment of Parental Rights to a child born in the United States is transferred to a child-placing agency licensed in the District of Columbia pursuant to D.C. Code, 2001 Ed. §4-1406(e), the adoptive family shall pay the child-placing agency no more than the difference between any payment made to a child-placing agency in another jurisdiction and the limit on fees established by this section.

 

1608.15 At the time that the child-placing agency prepares the report and recommendation to the D.C. Superior Court to approve or disapprove the adoption, the child-placing agency shall require the prospective adoptive parent to execute an affidavit that sets forth each fee and expense of $500 or more paid to any individual or organization by the prospective parent for any one service or combination of services, including the amount, purpose of payment, and name and address of the recipient of the payment.

 

 

source

Final Rulemaking published at 37 DCR 3033 (May 11, 1990); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 44 DCR 60 (January 3, 1997).