North Carolina § 131D-10 - 7. Penalties.

§ 131D-10. 7. Penalties.

Any person who establishes or provides foster care for children or who receives and places children in residential child-care facilities, family foster homes or adoptive homes without a license shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall only be punishable by a fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for the first offense and not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each subsequent offense. Each day of a continuing violation after conviction shall be considered a separate offense. History (1983, c. 637, s. 2; 1993, c. 539, s. 955; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).) Opinions of Attorney General Meaning of "Places Children." - This section must be read in conjunction with Chapter 48 of the General Statutes which, among other things, prescribes procedures for adoptions; it is clear that placement for adoption has a much broader meaning than mere physical receipt or placement. See opinion of Attorney General to Mr. James B. Wood, President, Johnston Memorial Hospital, 59 N.C.A.G. 27 (1989). The words "place" or "placement," when used in the context of adoptions, refer to greater involvement in the adoption process than the physical delivery of a child to his adoptive parents. See opinion of Attorney General to Mr. James B. Wood, President, Johnson Memorial Hospital, 59 N.C.A.G. 27 (1989). Hospital's Discharge of Infant to Adoptive Parents. - Reading this section in the context of the chapter on licensing and inspection of child placing agencies leads to the conclusion that this section was not intended to address the situation in which a hospital employee, with no involvement in the arrangement of adoption, simply delivers an infant to adoptive parents. In addition, the language "in . . . adoptive homes" goes beyond what a hospital employee does when he releases a new born child to an adoptive parent; consequently, a hospital's discharge of an infant to adoptive parents does not constitute a violation of this section. See opinion of Attorney General to Mr. James B. Wood, President, Johnston Memorial Hospital, 59 N.C.A.G. 27 (1989).