13.27 Court Report

Legal Authority

Central office staff notifies the recruitment and certification (R&C) worker or private child placing (PCP) provider to prepare the court report upon receipt of the adoption petition from the Circuit court clerk. ¹
The R&C worker or PCP provider writes the report to the court, keeping in mind the purposes of the report as stated below: ²

To summarize the information on the child, the birth family and the adoptive family;
To inform the Circuit court judge whether the content of the adoption petition is true;
To advise whether the adoptive family is suitable for the child and the child is suitable for adoption; and
To advise whether the adoption is in the best interest of the child.

Prepares the report to the court;
Attaches copies of pages four (4) and six (6) of DPP-191 Information to be Obtained from Placing Parent, on each of the birth parents and the DPP-192 Biological Parent Consent Form, completed by any parent voluntarily terminating parental rights or any alleged father admitting paternity;
Forwards the original and one (1) copy of the court report and attachments to the supervisor, and retains the remaining copy for the local file; and
Prepares a cover letter in quadruplicate addressed to the Circuit court judge, post-dated five (5) working days, for the appropriate FSOS's signature.

The SSW completes the DPP-191 when unable to obtain completed DPP-191’s and DPP-192’s from one (1) or more birth parents or has been unable to obtain the information and:

Documents the absence of the forms in the cover letter;
States the reasons and cites the statute number KRS 199.520(4)(a) for the DPP-191 and KRS 199.572(1) for DPP-192; and
Provides the FSOS with the name and address of the petitioner’s attorney.

Original cover letter and court report to the appropriate circuit judge;
One (1) signed copy of the cover letter to the worker;
One (1) signed copy of the cover letter and court report to staff in central office; and
One (1) signed copy of the cover letter to the attorney for the petitioners.

The R&C supervisor submits a consent to adopt with the court report for agency and private child care adoptions of children committed to the Cabinet.

In a DCBS agency placement the worker is responsible for making a report to the court within ninety (90) days after the placement or ninety (90) days after the petition has been filed, whichever is later.
The PCP provider prepares an original and two (2) copies of the court report and submits to the SSW.