Section 11a – Adoption Services Offered by Certain Persons or Agencies; Penalty
Section 11A. Any person or entity other than a duly authorized agent or employee of the department of children and families or a child care or placement agency licensed under the provisions of chapter 15D, who causes to be published in the commonwealth an advertisement or notice of children offered or wanted for adoption, or […]
Section 12 – Petitions for Change of Name
Section 12. A petition for the change of name of a person may be heard by the probate court in the county where the petitioner resides. The change of name of a person shall be granted unless such change is inconsistent with public interests.
Section 13 – Notice and Certificate; Decree; Entry; Conditions Precedent
Section 13. The court shall, before decreeing a change of name, request a report from the commissioner of probation on the person filing the petition and, except for good cause shown, require public notice of the petition to be given and any person may be heard thereon, and, upon entry of a decree, the name […]
Section 5b – Adoptive Custody; Factors Considered; Request for Religious Designation
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 […]
Section 14 – Annual Return of Changes of Name
Section 14. Each register of probate shall annually, in December, make a return to the commissioner of public health and the commissioner of probation of all changes of name made in his court.
Section 5c – Inspection of Pleadings, Reports, etc.; Docket Book
Section 5C. All petitions for adoption, all reports submitted thereunder and all pleadings, papers or documents filed in connection therewith, docket entries in the permanent docket and record books shall not be available for inspection, unless a judge of probate of the county where such records are kept, for good cause shown, shall otherwise order. […]
Section 5d – Release of Information Concerning Adoption
Section 5D. (a) A placement agency, as defined in section 1A of chapter 15D, holding records relating to an adopted person, the biological parents of an adopted person or the adoptive parents of an adopted person shall: (1) release to such adopted person, if he has reached the age of eighteen years, upon his written […]
Section 5e – Department of Children and Families Adoption Report
Section 5E. The department of children and families shall submit a report detailing the number and nature, as defined jointly by department and the University of Massachusetts center for adoption research and policy in Worcester, of adoptions processed by the department during each calendar quarter to be filed with said center on the first day […]
Section 6 – Decree of Court; Force and Effect; Private Hearings
Section 6. If the court is satisfied of the identity and relations of the persons, and that the petitioner is of sufficient ability to bring up the child and provide suitable support and education for it, and that the child should be adopted, it shall make a decree, by which, except as regards succession to […]
Section 6a – Certificates of Adoption
Section 6A. The court shall forthwith, following the making of a decree of adoption, issue to the petitioner, or petitioners, a certificate of adoption setting forth all the facts relating to the adopting parent, or parents, as appearing in the statement required to be filed by section six, the name of, and all other facts […]