§ 372-f. Statewide adoption service. 1. There shall be established by
the department either directly or through purchase a statewide adoption
service which shall serve all authorized agencies in the state as a
means of recruiting adoptive families for children who have been legally
freed for adoption but have remained in foster care for a period of
three months or more. Such period in foster care shall include any
period of foster care immediately preceding the date on which the child
was legally freed for adoption. The service shall provide descriptions
and photographs of such children, and shall also provide any other
information deemed useful in the recruitment of adoptive families for
each such child. The service shall be updated monthly.

2. The service may be organized on a regional basis, but shall be
provided to all authorized child caring agencies and in accordance with
the regulations of the department, to all appropriate citizen groups and
other organizations and associations interested in children's services.

3. The department shall promulgate regulations governing the
operations of the adoption service.

4. (a) Except as set forth in paragraph (b) of this subdivision, each
authorized agency shall refer to the adoption service, accompanied by a
photograph and description, as shall be required by departmental
regulations, each child in its care who has been legally freed for
adoption and who has been in foster care for the period specified in
subdivision one of this section and for whom no adoptive home has been
found. If the child is fourteen years or older and will not consent to
his or her adoption, such child need not be listed on the service. Such
children's names shall be forwarded to the department by the authorized
agency, with reference to the specific reason by which the child was not
placed on the service. The department shall establish procedures for
periodic review of the status of such children. If the department
determines that adoption would be appropriate for a child not listed
with the service, the agency shall forthwith list the child. Each
authorized agency may voluntarily refer any child who has been legally
freed for adoption. In addition, upon referral of a child by an
authorized agency, the department may determine that the listing of a
child with the service is not in the child's best interest where: the
child has been placed with a relative within the third degree of
consanguinity of the parents of the child and the child does not have a
permanency goal of adoption, or the child is not emotionally prepared
for an adoptive placement. Any child who is not listed based on one of
these factors and who is not placed in an adoptive placement within six
months of referral to the department must be listed with the service at
the end of the six month period in accordance with regulations of the
department except where the child is placed with a relative within the
third degree of consanguinity of the parents of the child, in which case
the department may determine that the listing continues to be contrary
to the child's best interests. The department shall establish procedures
for the periodic review of the status of such children.

(b) An authorized agency shall not refer to the adoption service a
child in its care who has been legally freed for adoption when the child
has been placed with a foster parent who has expressed, in writing, an
interest in adopting the child; provided, however, that such child shall
be referred to the adoption service in accordance with paragraph (a) of
this subdivision where the foster parent has withdrawn interest in
adopting the child or has been disapproved as an adoptive resource for
the child. An authorized agency shall not refer to the adoption service
a child in its care who has been legally freed for adoption where the
agency has identified two or more potential placements for the child;
provided, however, that such child shall be referred to the adoption
service in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subdivision when such
child has not been placed into an adoptive home within nine months of
having been freed for adoption.