O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 15-11-322 (2019)

Continuing court review when child not adopted

✓ O.C.G.A.: 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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If a petition seeking the adoption of a child whose parents have had their parental rights terminated or surrendered is not filed within six months after the date of the disposition order, the court shall then, and at least every six months thereafter so long as such child remains unadopted, review the circumstances of such child to determine what efforts have been made to assure that such child will be adopted. The court shall:

(1) Make written findings regarding whether reasonable efforts have been made to move such child to permanency;

(2) Evaluate whether, in light of any change in circumstances, the permanency plan for such child remains appropriate; and

(3) Enter such orders as it deems necessary to further adoption or if appropriate, other permanency options, including, but not limited to, another placement.

History

Code 1981, § 15-11-322, enacted by Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 1-1/HB 242; Ga. L. 2014, p. 780, § 1-23/SB 364.

Annotations

Cross references. - Time limitations

upon orders of disposition - commitment to Division of Youth Services, Uniform Rules for the Juvenile Courts of Georgia, Rule 15.2.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under pre-2000 Code Sections 15-11-54 and 15-11-90, and pre-2014 Code Section 15-11-103, which were subsequently repealed but were succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section. See the Editor’s notes at the beginning of the chapter. Court cannot invest itself with authority to choose an adopting family, relying upon the provisions dealing with ‘‘other suitable measures for the care and welfare of the child.’’ Department of Hu-

man Resources v. Ledbetter, 153 Ga. App. 416, 265 S.E.2d 337 (1980) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-54). Consent of placement agency necessary for adoption. - Former statute, which provided for the placing of children with an agency upon termination of parental rights, also mandated that consent of the agency was necessary for adoption. Drummond v. Fulton County Dep’t of Family & Children Servs., 237 Ga. 449, 228 S.E.2d 839 (1976), cert. denied, 432 U.S. 905, 97 S. Ct. 2949, 53 L. Ed. 2d 1077 (1977) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-54).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case (1 in the last 5 years), 2025–2025 · leading case: In the Interest of M. J. E. B., a Child (Ga. Ct. App. 2025).
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In the Interest of M. J. E. B., a Child (Ga. Ct. App. 2025). · cites it 6× “When, as here, an adoption petition has not been filed within six months of the termination order,2 OCGA § 15-11-322 directs the juvenile court to regularly “review the circumstances of such child to determine what efforts have been made to assure that such child will be adopted.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.