The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 15A : Adoption Act

Chapter 003 : General Procedure for Adoption

Subchapter 004 : Notice of Pendency of Proceeding

• § 3-401. Service of notice

  (a) Unless notice has been waived, notice of a proceeding for adoption of a minor shall be served, within 30 days after a petition for adoption is filed, upon:

  (1) a person whose consent to the adoption is required under section 2-401 of this title, but notice need not be served upon a person whose parental relationship to the minor or whose status as a guardian has been terminated;

  (2) an agency whose consent to the adoption is required under section 2-401;

  (3) a person whom the petitioner knows is claiming to be or who is named as the father or possible father of the minor adoptee and whose paternity of the minor has not been judicially determined, but notice need not be served upon a man who has executed a verified statement, as described in subdivision 2-402(a)(3) of this title, denying paternity or disclaiming any interest in the minor;

  (4) a person other than the petitioner who has legal or physical custody of the minor adoptee or who has a right of communication or visitation with the minor under an existing court order issued by a court in this or another state;

  (5) the spouse of the petitioner if the spouse has not joined in the petition; and

  (6) a grandparent of a minor adoptee if the grandparent’s child is a deceased parent of the minor and, before death, the deceased parent had not executed a consent or relinquishment or the deceased parent’s parental relationship to the minor had not been terminated.

  (b) The court shall require notice of a proceeding for adoption of a minor to be served upon any person the court finds, at any time during the proceeding, is:

  (1) a person described in subsection (a) of this section who has not been given notice;

  (2) a person who has revoked a consent or relinquishment pursuant to subsection 2-408(a) or 2-409(a) of this title or is attempting to have a consent or relinquishment set aside pursuant to subsection 2-408(b) or 2-409(b) of this title; or

  (3) a person who, on the basis of a previous relationship with the minor adoptee, a parent, an alleged parent, or the petitioner, can provide information that is relevant to the proposed adoption and that the court in its discretion wants to hear.

  (c) If, at any time in the proceeding, it appears to the court that there is an alleged father of the adoptee who has not been given notice, the court shall require notice of the proceeding to be given to him.

  (d) The court shall send a duplicate copy of the petition to the Department. The Department shall determine whether or not the petitioners have been the subject of a substantiated complaint filed with the Department, and shall report its findings to the court within 14 days of receiving the petition. If a substantiated complaint has been filed with the Department, the Department shall include a copy of the investigative report that relates to the complaint with the findings it files with the court. (Added 1995, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)