(a) Who must attend. The petitioner or petitioners, any legal parent married to a petitioner, and any individual age 10 or over who is the subject of the adoption proceedings shall personally appear at the hearing, unless excused by the court. Where the petitioner is related by blood to the child sought to be adopted, a natural and legal parent or the legal adoptive parent or parents who consented to the adoption shall personally appear at the hearing if such person is residing within the circuit of the court hearing the petition, unless excused by the court. (b) Procedures at the hearing. (1) When a petitioner does not know the identity of one or both of the child's parents, the petitioner shall be excluded from that portion of the hearing at which is presented the evidence concerning the child and the child's parentage and background. After submission of such evidence, the petitioners may then be brought before the court to testify on the petitioners' background and suitability to be the adoptive parents for the child. (2) When all petitioners know the identity of the child's parents, their background and reasons for giving the child up for adoption, all evidence may be submitted to the court at the same hearing. Amended July 1, 1982, effective 7/1/1982; further amended October 11, 1999, effective 1/1/2000.