354

Whenever significant emotional ties have been established between a child and his or her foster parents, and the foster parents seek to adopt the child, the child shall be certified as eligible for a subsidy conditioned upon his or her adoption under applicable Virgin Islands adoption procedures by the foster parents.\nIn all other cases, after reasonable efforts have been made and no appropriate adoptive family without the use of subsidy has been found for a child, the Department of Human Services shall certify the child as eligible for a subsidy in the event of adoption.\nIf the child is the dependent of a voluntary licensed child-placing agency, that agency shall present to the Department of Human Services (1) evidence of significant emotional ties between the child and his or her foster parents or (2) evidence or inability to place the child for adoption due to any of the conditions specified in section 352 of this chapter. In the latter case, the agency shall present evidence that reasonable efforts have been made to place the child without subsidy, such as recruitment of potential parents, use of adoption resource exchanges, and referral to appropriate specialized adoption

at reasonable efforts have been made to place the child without subsidy, such as recruitment of potential parents, use of adoption resource exchanges, and referral to appropriate specialized adoption agencies.