republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-2215.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Adoption assistance; children with special needs.	Moves the requirement that a child be a citizen or legal resident of the United States from the definition of "child with special needs" to the eligibility criteria for the adoptive parents of such child to receive adoption assistance. The bill modifies the exception to the eligibility requirement that efforts be made to place the child in an adoptive home without the provision of adoption assistance to include consideration of the child's best interest due to factors such as the child's development of significant emotional ties with his foster parents while in their care, provided that the foster parents wish to adopt the child. Under current law, the exception is limited to situations in which the child has developed emotional ties with his foster parents and the foster parents wish to adopt the child. The bill modifies other requirements for a child with special needs to receive certain types of adoption assistance and for a child who is between the ages of 18 and 21 to receive adoption assistance. The bill also provides that a representative of the Department of Social Services shall negotiate all adoption assistance agreements with both existing and prospective adoptive parents on behalf of local departments of social services.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2017	HB 2215	Virginia HB 2215 (2017)	bill	Minors Welfare (Social Services)	enacted	David J. Toscano	3	15	6	2017-01-11	2017-02-23	openstates	ocd-bill/8b0efb7e-1623-4672-9bea-35c0394c03d2	http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB2215	98ce18c68c5a50a7fff360859411598377915bec9047af206d03d418b03dd608	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia HB 2215 (2017) — Adoption assistance; children with special needs.

Moves the requirement that a child be a citizen or legal resident of the United States from the definition of "child with special needs" to the eligibility criteria for the adoptive parents of such child to receive adoption assistance. The bill modifies the exception to the eligibility requirement that efforts be made to place the child in an adoptive home without the provision of adoption assistance to include consideration of the child's best interest due to factors such as the child's development of significant emotional ties with his foster parents while in their care, provided that the foster parents wish to adopt the child. Under current law, the exception is limited to situations in which the child has developed emotional ties with his foster parents and the foster parents wish to adopt the child. The bill modifies other requirements for a child with special needs to receive certain types of adoption assistance and for a child who is between the ages of 18 and 21 to receive adoption assistance. The bill also provides that a representative of the Department of Social Services shall negotiate all adoption assistance agreements with both existing and prospective adoptive parents on behalf of local departments of social services.

Version chain

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

1. Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0199) (committee substitute) — source
2. House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2215ER) (committee substitute) — source
3. House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101365D (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Constitutional reading dispensed — 39–0 (pass) · legislature
• Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions — 22–0 (pass) · legislature
• Passed Senate — 40–0 (pass) · legislature
• Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — 97–0 (pass) · legislature
• Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services — 15–0 (pass) · legislature
• Subcommittee recommends reporting — 5–0 (pass) · legislature

Sponsors

• David J. Toscano — primary (person)
• John J. Bell — cosponsor (person)
• R. Steven Landes — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-01-11 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101365D introduction
• 2017-01-11 Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions referral-committee
• 2017-01-17 Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #3 referral-committee
• 2017-02-03 Read first time reading-1
• 2017-02-06 Read second time and engrossed reading-2
• 2017-02-07 Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2017-02-08 Constitutional reading dispensed
• 2017-02-08 Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services referral-committee
• 2017-02-14 Read third time reading-3
• 2017-02-16 Enrolled
• 2017-02-16 Signed by Speaker
• 2017-02-17 Signed by President
• 2017-02-17 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/17/17
• 2017-02-17 Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 24, 2017
• 2017-02-23 Approved by Governor-Chapter 199 (effective 7/1/17) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/8b0efb7e-1623-4672-9bea-35c0394c03d2. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).