Senate Bill No. 41
(By Senators Schoonover, Anderson, Bailey,
Blatnik, Boley, Burdette, Mr. President, Chafin,
Claypole, Craigo, Dalton, Dittmar, Grubb,
Helmick, Holliday, Humphreys, Jones, Lucht,
Macnaughtan, Manchin, Miller, Minard, Plymale,
Ross, Sharpe, Tomblin, Wagner, Wehrle, Walker,
Whitlow, Wiedebusch, Withers, Yoder, Wooton
and Chernenko)
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[Introduced January 17, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section sixteen, article four,
chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
prohibiting the sale or purchase of a child; and creating
criminal penalties and exceptions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section sixteen, article four, chapter forty-eight of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. ADOPTION.
§48-4-16. Prohibition of purchase or sale of child; penalty;
definitions; exceptions.
(a) Any person or agency who knowingly offers, gives, or
agrees to give to another person money, property, service, or
other thing of value in consideration for the recipient's
locating, providing, or procuring a minor child for
any purpose
which entails a transfer of the legal or physical custody of said
child, including, but not limited to, adoption or placement,
shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor felony and subject to fine and
imprisonment as provided herein.
(b) Any person who knowingly receives, accepts, or offers to
accept money, property, service, or other thing of value to
locate, provide, or procure a minor child for any purpose which
entails a transfer of the legal or physical custody of said
child, including, but not limited to, adoption or placement,
shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor felony and subject to fine and
imprisonment as provided herein.
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section
shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor felony and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor
more than two thousand dollars, or may be imprisoned in the
county jail penitentiary for not
less than five years and not
more than
twelve months eighteen years or both fined and
imprisoned.
(d) A child whose parent, guardian, or custodian has sold or
attempted to sell said child in violation of the provisions ofthis article may be deemed an abused child as defined by section
three, article one, chapter forty-nine of this code. The court
may place such a child in the custody of the department of
human
services health and human resources or with such other
responsible person as the best interests of the child dictate.
(e) This section does not prohibit the payment or receipt of
the following:
(1) Fees paid for reasonable and customary services provided
by the department of
human services health and human resources or
any licensed or duly authorized adoption or child-placing agency.
(2) Reasonable and customary legal, medical, hospital, or
other expenses incurred in connection with legal adoption
proceedings.
(3) Fees and expenses included in any agreement in which a
woman agrees to become a surrogate mother.
(4) Any fees or charges authorized by law or approved by a
court in a proceeding relating to the placement of a minor child
for adoption.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the felony
offense of selling or purchasing of a minor child.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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