---
type: "Bill"
title: "Adoption by stepparent; background check."
description: "Requires a circuit court, when determining whether an investigation by the director of the local department of social services should be required before a final order is entered to approve as an adoptive parent the spouse of a child's birth or adoptive parent, to consider the results of a national criminal history background check conducted on the prospective adoptive parent. The provisions of the bill expire on July 1, 2020."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 227"
citation: "Virginia HB 227 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts of Record", "Criminal Procedure", "Welfare (Social Services)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Christopher P. Stolle"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 24
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-12-29"
last_action: "2018-02-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b129384d-f0b0-45af-b59d-6e51f805278e"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB227"
source_hash: "21865497364112dc57dd42ff90b2277c9d3001ecff7d4b32facf7c1600029b98"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 227 (2018) — Adoption by stepparent; background check.

Requires a circuit court, when determining whether an investigation by the director of the local department of social services should be required before a final order is entered to approve as an adoptive parent the spouse of a child's birth or adoptive parent, to consider the results of a national criminal history background check conducted on the prospective adoptive parent. The provisions of the bill expire on July 1, 2020.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0009)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+CHAP0009)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB227ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB227ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102229D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB227)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 18102229D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB227E)
5. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 18106639D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB227S1)

## Votes

- Read third time and passed House — **97–1** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with substitute — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate substitute agreed to by House 18106639D-S1 — **97–1** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with substitute — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with amendment — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **10–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Christopher P. Stolle — primary (person)
- Joseph C. Lindsey — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-12-29** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102229D `introduction`
- **2017-12-29** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-15** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-01-23** Passed by for the day
- **2018-01-24** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-01-24** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2018-01-24** Engrossed by House as amended HB227E
- **2018-01-24** Printed as engrossed 18102229D-E
- **2018-01-25** Read third time and passed House (97-Y 1-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-01-26** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-01-26** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-06** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-06** Reading of substitute waived
- **2018-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 18106639D-S1
- **2018-02-06** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB227S1
- **2018-02-07** Placed on Calendar
- **2018-02-08** Senate substitute agreed to by House 18106639D-S1 (97-Y 1-N)
- **2018-02-12** Enrolled
- **2018-02-12** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-14** Signed by President
- **2018-02-15** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/15/17
- **2018-02-15** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 22, 2018
- **2018-02-22** Approved by Governor-Chapter 9 (effective 7/1/18) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b129384d-f0b0-45af-b59d-6e51f805278e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).