§ 115-d. Petition for certification. 1. Except as provided for in\nsubdivision eight of this section, a person or persons petitioning for\ncertification as a qualified adoptive parent or parents shall upon a\nform, promulgated by the chief administrator of the courts, provide to\nthe court:\n (a) the applicant's name or applicants' names, residential address and\ntelephone number;\n (b) a statement by the applicant or applicants that they are seeking\ncertification by the court as a person or persons qualified to take\nphysical custody of an infant prior to or contemporaneous with the\nfiling of a private-placement adoption petition;\n (c) a statement by the applicant or applicants as to whether such\napplicant or applicants have been the subject of an indicated report of\nchild abuse or maltreatment, pursuant to title six of article six of the\nsocial services law; and\n (d) a statement that a pre-placement investigation will be undertaken\nby a disinterested person, as such term is defined in subdivision four\nof this section, and that a written report of such investigation will be\nfurnished directly to the court by such disinterested person with a copy\nof such report to be delivered simultaneously to the applicant or\napplicants. Such disinterested person shall certify to the court that he\nor she is a disinterested person and has no interest in the outcome of\nthe party's or parties' application. Such disinterested person shall\nfurther disclose to the court any fee paid or to be paid to such person\nfor services rendered in connection with the pre-placement\ninvestigation.\n Such petition shall also require information regarding:\n (i) the marital and family status and history of the adoptive parent\nor parents;\n (ii) the physical and mental health of the adoptive parent or parents;\n (iii) the property owned by and the income of adoptive parent or\nparents;\n (iv) whether the adoptive parent or either of the adoptive parents has\never been a respondent in any proceeding concerning allegedly abused,\nneglected, abandoned or delinquent children; and\n (v) whether the applicant or applicants have made any prior\napplication for certification as a qualified adoptive parent or parents\nand, if so, the disposition of such application for certification.\n 2. In any case where the applicant or applicants do not intend to\ncause a pre-placement investigation to be undertaken pursuant to the\nprovisions of paragraph (d) of subdivision one of this section, such\napplicant or applicants shall request the court to appoint a\ndisinterested person to conduct such pre-placement investigation. The\ninvestigative written report shall be submitted to the judge or\nsurrogate within thirty days, unless for good cause shown the judge or\nsurrogate shall grant a reasonable extension of such period.\n 3. Such applicant or applicants shall be financially responsible for\nthe costs of any pre-placement investigation conducted pursuant to\nsubdivision one or two of this section.\n 3-a. (a) The court shall submit fingerprint cards and order a report\nfrom the division of criminal justice services setting forth any\nexisting criminal history record of the applicant for certification as a\nqualified adoptive parent.\n (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a\npetition for certification as a qualified adoptive parent shall be\ndenied where a criminal history record of the applicant reveals a\nconviction for (i) a felony conviction at any time involving: (1) child\nabuse or neglect; (2) spousal abuse; (3) a crime against a child,\nincluding child pornography; or (4) a crime involving violence,\nincluding rape, sexual assault, or homicide, other than a crime\ninvolving physical assault or battery; or (ii) a felony conviction\nwithin the past five years for physical assault, battery, or a\ndrug-related offense.\n (c) For the purposes of this subdivision, "spousal abuse" is an\noffense defined in section 120.05,
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