Chapter 210

Section 1. A person of full age may petition the probate court in the county where he resides for leave to adopt as his child another person younger than himself, unless such other person is his or her wife or husband. A minor may likewise petition, or join in the petition of his…

Section 10. If the child has been previously adopted, all the legal consequences of the former decree shall, upon a subsequent adoption, determine, except so far as any interest in property may have vested in the adopted child, and a decree to that effect shall be entered on the …

Section 11. The supreme judicial court may allow a parent, who, upon a petition for adoption, had no notice of the proceedings before the decree and had neither waived notice in accordance with section two nor been the subject of a decree dispensing with need for notice in accord…

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 …

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. 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…

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 2. A decree of adoption shall not be made, except as provided in this chapter, without the written consent of the child to be adopted, if above the age of twelve; of the child's spouse, if any; of the lawful parents, who may be previous adoptive parents, or surviving pare…

Section 2A. No decree of adoption shall be entered for the adoption of a child below the age of fourteen until one of the following conditions has been met:— (A) The child sought to be adopted has been placed with the petitioners for adoption by the department of children and fam…

Section 2B. Every decree of adoption entered by the court shall include the words ''This adoption is final and irrevocable.''

Section 3. (a) Whenever a petition for adoption is filed by a person having the care or custody of a child, the consent of the persons named in section 2, other than that of the child, shall not be required if:— (i) the person to be adopted is 18 years of age or older; or (ii) th…

Section 3B. When deciding whether to approve or reject a registration of interest for pre-adoptive or adoptive placement, the department shall conduct a review of any misdemeanor offense discovered through a criminal offender record information search conducted pursuant to sectio…

Section 4. If the written consent required by section two is not submitted to the court with the petition, the court shall, except where the court under section three has determined that such consent and notice is not required, order notice by personal service upon the parties of…

Section 4A. Whenever the mother of a child born out of wedlock has surrendered the child in accordance with section two, or whenever the right of such mother to withhold consent for adoption has been terminated in accordance with section three, notice of such surrender or termina…

Section 5. If, after such notice, a person whose consent is required does not appear and object to the adoption, the court may act upon the petition without his consent, subject to his right of appeal, or it may appoint a guardian ad litem with power to give or withhold consent.

Section 5A. Upon the filing of a petition for adoption of a child under the age of fourteen, notice shall be given to the department of children and families which shall make appropriate inquiry to determine the condition and antecedents of the child for the purpose of ascertaini…

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 p…

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 wh…

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 ag…

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 ea…

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, exc…

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 s…

Section 6B. In the event that either of the petitioning adopting parents to a petition for adoption, which has been filed with the probate court, should die prior to the entry of a decree of adoption, the probate court may enter a decree within three months following the date of …

Section 6C. (a) Prior to the entry of an adoption decree, prospective adoptive parents and a birth parent may enter into an agreement for post-adoption contact or communication between or among a minor to be adopted, the prospective adoptive parents and the birth parents. Such ag…

Section 6D. A party to a court-approved agreement for post-adoption contact or communication may seek to enforce the agreement by commencing a civil action for specific performance. A court order for specific performance of the terms of a post-adoption contact agreement shall be …

Section 6E. Nothing contained in sections 6C and 6D shall be construed to abrogate the right of an adoptive parent to make decisions on behalf of his child.

Section 9. A person adopted in another state or country, in accordance with the laws thereof, shall upon proof of such fact be entitled in this commonwealth to the same rights of succession to property by grant, trust settlement, entail, devise, bequest, or by intestacy as he wou…