HB0243 Summary

• Amends the Adoption Act to allow a married person to pursue an intercountry adoption proceeding individually without their spouse as a party, if the spouse provides written consent

• Requires the adopting person to meet standard eligibility criteria: no legal disability, 6 months continuous Illinois residency (or 90 days if military), and the spouse must not have been living separate and apart for 12 months or longer

• Mandates the Department of Children and Family Services treat intercountry adoptions meeting these requirements with the same authority and procedures as standard domestic adoptions

• Maintains existing requirement that spouses jointly adopt in domestic cases, with the intercountry exception creating a policy exception solely for international adoptions

• Takes effect immediately upon becoming law