89 Ill. Adm. Code 401.600
Advertisement
Section
401.600 Advertisement
a)
No person, group of persons,
agency, association, organization, corporation, institution, center, or group
may advertise or cause to be published any advertisement offering, soliciting,
or promising to perform adoption services as defined in
Section 401.40 of this Part,
unless
the agency is licensed or operating under a permit issued by the Department as
a child care facility or child welfare agency.
b)
Violators of
subsection (a) of this Section
are guilty of a Class A misdemeanor and shall
be subject to a fine not to exceed $10,000 or 9 months imprisonment for each
advertisement, unless that person, group of persons, agency, association,
organization, corporation, institution, center, or group is:
1)
Licensed or operating
under a permit issued by the Department as a child care facility or child
welfare agency; or
2)
An exception to
subsection (a) is
a biological parent or a prospective adoptive parent
acting on his or her own behalf, or a licensed attorney advertising his or her
availability to provide legal services relating to adoption, as permitted by
law.
c)
Every advertisement
published after August 15, 2005 shall include the Department's issued license
number of the facility or agency.
d)
Any licensed child
welfare agency providing adoption services that, after August 15, 2005, causes
to be published an advertisement containing reckless or intentional
misrepresentations concerning adoption services or circumstances material to
the placement of a child for adoption is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor and
shall be subject to a fine not to exceed $10,000 or 9 months imprisonment for
each advertisement.
e)
An out-of-state
agency that is not licensed in Illinois and that has a written interagency
agreement with one or more Illinois licensed child welfare agencies may
advertise under this Section, provided that:
1)
The out-of-state
agency is officially recognized by the United States Internal Revenue Service
as a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (or any successor provision of federal tax law);
2)
The out-of-state
agency provides only international adoption services and is covered by the
international
adoption services and the
Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000
(42 USC
14901 et seq.)
;
3)
The out-of-state
agency displays, in the advertisement, the license number of at least one of
the Illinois licensed child welfare agencies with which it has a written
agreement; and
4)
The advertisements
pertain only to international adoption services.
f)
An advertiser,
publisher, or broadcaster, including, but not limited to, newspapers,
periodicals, telephone book publishers, outdoor advertising signs, radio
stations, or television stations, who knowingly or recklessly advertises or
publishes any advertisement offering, soliciting, or promising to perform
adoption services on behalf of a person, group of persons, agency, association,
organization, corporation, institution, center, or group, not authorized to
advertise under subsection (a) or (d) of this Section, is guilty of a Class A
misdemeanor and is subject to a fine not to exceed $10,000 or 9 months
imprisonment for each advertisement.
g)
The Department shall
maintain a website listing child welfare agencies licensed by the Department
that provide adoption services and other general information for biological
parents and adoptive parents. The website shall include, but not be limited to:
1)
Adoption agency
license numbers, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and website
addresses;
2)
Annual reports
as
referenced in Section 401.530 of this Part;
3)
The Birth Parents
Bill of Rights and the Adoptive Parents Bill of Rights; and
4)
The Department's
agency adoption and information
complaint registry toll-free number.
[225 ILCS 10/12]