Chapter 48, Chapter 48

(a) A child custody determination issued by a court of another state may be registered in this state, with or without a simultaneous request for enforcement, by sending to the appropriate court in this state: (1) A letter or other document requesting registration; (2) Two copies,…

(a) A court of this state may grant any relief normally available under the law of this state to enforce a registered child custody determination made by a court of another state. (b) A court of this state shall recognize and enforce, but may not modify, except in accordance with…

If a proceeding for enforcement under this article is commenced in a court of this state and the court determines that a proceeding to modify the determination is pending in a court of another state having jurisdiction to modify the determination under part (2) of this article, t…

(a) A petition under this article must be verified. Certified copies of all orders sought to be enforced and of any order confirming registration must be attached to the petition. A copy of a certified copy of an order may be attached instead of the original. (b) A petition for e…

Except as otherwise provided in section 20-311, the petition and order must be served, by any method authorized by the law of this state, upon respondent and any person who has physical custody of the child.

(a) Unless the court issues a temporary emergency order pursuant to section 20-204, upon a finding that a petitioner is entitled to immediate physical custody of the child, the court shall order that the petitioner may take immediate physical custody of the child unless the respo…

(a) Upon the filing of a petition seeking enforcement of a child custody determination, the petitioner may file a verified application for the issuance of a warrant to take physical custody of the child if the child is imminently likely to suffer serious physical harm or be remov…

(a) The court shall award the prevailing party, including a state, necessary and reasonable expenses incurred by or on behalf of the party, including costs, communication expenses, attorney's fees, investigative fees, expenses for witnesses, travel expenses and child care during …

A court of this state shall accord full faith and credit to an order issued by another state and consistent with this chapter which enforces a child custody determination by a court of another state unless the order has been vacated, stayed or modified by a court having jurisdict…

An appeal may be taken from a final order in a proceeding under this article in accordance with expedited appellate procedures in other civil cases. Unless the court enters a temporary emergency order under section 20-204, the enforcing court may not stay an order enforcing a chi…

(a) In a case arising under this chapter or involving the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the prosecutor or other appropriate public official may take any lawful action, including resort to a proceeding under this article or any other avail…

At the request of a prosecutor or other appropriate public official acting under section 20-315, a law-enforcement officer may take any lawful action reasonably necessary to locate a child or a party and assist a prosecutor or appropriate public official with responsibilities und…

If the respondent is not the prevailing party, the court may assess against the respondent all direct expenses and costs incurred by the prosecutor or other appropriate public official and law-enforcement officers under section 20-315 or 20-316.

In applying and construing this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it.

If any provision of this article or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this article which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provision…

This article takes effect on July 1, 2000.

A motion or other request for relief made in a child custody proceeding or to enforce a child custody determination which was commenced before July 1, 2000, is governed by the law in effect at the time the motion or other request was made.

For the purposes of this article the words or terms defined in this article, and any variation of those words or terms required by the context, have the meanings ascribed to them in this article. These definitions are applicable unless a different meaning clearly appears from the…

"Abandonment" means any conduct by the birth mother, legal father, determined father, outsider father, unknown father or putative father that demonstrates a settled purpose to forego all duties and relinquish all parental claims to the child.

"Adoptive parents" or "adoptive mother" or "adoptive father" means those persons who, after adoption, are the mother and father of the child.

"Agency" means a public or private entity, including the Department of Human Services, that is authorized by law to place children for adoption.

"Birth father" means the biological father of the child.

"Birth mother" means the biological mother of the child.

"Birth parents" mean both the biological father and the biological mother of the child.

"Consent" means the voluntary surrender to an individual, not an agency, by a minor child's parent or guardian, for purposes of the child's adoption, of the rights of the parent or guardian with respect to the child, including the legal and physical custody of the child.

"Determined father" means, before adoption, a person: (1) In whom paternity has been established pursuant to the provisions of article 24-101, et seq., and section 16-5-12, whether by adjudication or acknowledgment as set forth therein; or (2) who has been otherwise judicially de…

"Legal father" means, before adoption, the male person having the legal relationship of parent to a child: (1) Who is married to its mother at the time of conception; or (2) who is married to its mother at the time of birth of the child; or (3) who is the biological father of the…

"Marital child" means a child born or conceived during marriage.

"Nonmarital child" means a child not born or conceived during marriage.

"Outsider father" means the biological father of a child born to or conceived by the mother while she is married to another man who is not the biological father of the child.

"Putative father" means, before adoption, any man named by the mother as a possible biological father of the child pursuant to the provisions of section 22-502, who is not a legal or determined father.

"Relinquishment" means the voluntary surrender to an agency by a minor child's parent or guardian, for purposes of the child's adoption, of the rights of the parent or guardian with respect to the child, including the legal and physical custody of the child.

"Stepparent adoption" means an adoption in which the petitioner for adoption is married to one of the birth parents of the child or to an adoptive parent of the child.

"Unknown father" means a biological father whose identity the biological mother swears is unknown to her before adoption, pursuant to the provisions of section 22-502.

Any person not married or any person, with his or her spouse’s consent, or any husband and wife jointly, may petition a circuit court of the county wherein such person or persons reside for a decree of adoption of any minor child or person who may be adopted by the petitioner or …

(a) Subject to the limitations hereinafter set forth, consent to or relinquishment for adoption of a minor child is required of: (1) The parents or surviving parent of a marital child, whether adult or infant; (2) The outsider father of a marital child who has been adjudicated to…

(a) No consent or relinquishment may be executed before the expiration of seventy-two hours after the birth of the child to be adopted. (b) A consent or relinquishment executed by a parent or guardian as required by the provisions of section 22-301 must be signed and acknowledged…

(a) A consent or relinquishment as required by the provisions of section 22-301 must be written in plain English or, if the person executing the consent or relinquishment does not understand English, in the person's primary language. The form of the consent or relinquishment shal…

If a person who has executed a consent to or relinquishment for adoption is under eighteen years of age at the time of the filing of the petition, and such infant parent is a resident of the state, the consent or relinquishment shall be specifically reviewed and approved by the c…

(a) Parental consent or relinquishment, whether given by an adult or minor, may be revoked only if: (1) The person who executed the consent or relinquishment and the prospective adoptive parent named or described in the consent or the lawyer for said adoptive parent, or the agenc…

(a) Abandonment of a child over the age of six months shall be presumed when the birth parent: (1) Fails to financially support the child within the means of the birth parent; and (2) Fails to visit or otherwise communicate with the child when he or she knows where the child resi…

Whenever a person delivers a child for adoption the person first receiving such child and the prospective adopting parent or parents shall be entitled to receive from such person a written recital of all known circumstances surrounding the birth, medical and family medical histor…

The petition for adoption may be filed at any time after the child who is the subject of the adoption is born, the adoptive placement determined and all consents or relinquishments that can be obtained have been executed. The hearing on the petition may be held only after the chi…

(a) The petition shall be verified and set forth: (1) The name, age, and place of residence of the petitioner or petitioners, and of the child, and the name by which the child is known; (2) Whether such child is possessed of any property and a full description of the property, if…

(a) Unless notice has been waived, notice of a proceeding for adoption of a child must be served, within twenty days after a petition for adoption is filed, upon: (1) Any person whose consent to the adoption is required pursuant to the provisions of section 22-301, but notice nee…

(a) Notice shall be served on each person as required under the provisions of section 22-601, in accordance with rule 4 of the West Virginia rules of civil procedure, except as otherwise provided in this article. (b) The notice shall inform the person, in plain language, that his…

(a) In the case of an unknown father, the court shall inspect the affidavit submitted pursuant to the provisions of section 22-502, consider any additional evidence that the court, in its discretion, determines should be produced, and determine whether said father can be identifi…

(a) When the cause has matured for hearing but not sooner than six months after the child has resided continuously in the home of the petitioner or petitioners, the court shall decree the adoption if: (1) It determines that no person retains parental rights in such child except t…

(a) The order of adoption shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose, and the clerk shall receive the same fees as in other cases. All records of proceedings in adoption cases and all papers and records relating to such proceedings shall be kept in the office of the clerk …

(a) Upon the entry of such order of adoption, any person previously entitled to parental rights, any parent or parents by any previous legal adoption, and the lineal or collateral kindred of any such person, parent or parents, except any such person or parent who is the husband o…