Tex. Family Code § 162.403
This is the official text of Tex. Family Code § 162.403, part of Texas’s Family Code — governs marriage, divorce, child custody and support, and adoption.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
§ 162.403. ESTABLISHMENT OF VOLUNTARY ADOPTION REGISTRIES.
Official statutory text
(a) The vital statistics unit shall establish and maintain a mutual consent voluntary adoption registry.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), an agency authorized by the department to place children for adoption and an association comprised exclusively of those agencies may establish a mutual consent voluntary adoption registry. An agency may contract with any other agency authorized by the department to place children for adoption or with an association comprised exclusively of those agencies to perform registry services on its behalf.
(c) An authorized agency that did not directly or by contract provide registry services as required by this subchapter on January 1, 1984, may not provide its own registry service. The vital statistics unit shall operate through the central registry those services for agencies not permitted to provide a registry under this section.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), an agency authorized by the department to place children for adoption and an association comprised exclusively of those agencies may establish a mutual consent voluntary adoption registry. An agency may contract with any other agency authorized by the department to place children for adoption or with an association comprised exclusively of those agencies to perform registry services on its behalf.
(c) An authorized agency that did not directly or by contract provide registry services as required by this subchapter on January 1, 1984, may not provide its own registry service. The vital statistics unit shall operate through the central registry those services for agencies not permitted to provide a registry under this section.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Dealing with a family matter in Texas?
See all Texas Family lawyers
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.