Legal News Headlines

 
Copyright 2008 Dolan Media Newswires

 May 8, 2008

SECTION: NEWS

LENGTH: 642 words

BYLINE: Luige del Puerto

BODY: 

A proposal seeking to streamline the process of adopting children out of the state's foster care system was approved by the Legislature May 7. The legislation rode the support of lawmakers who have adopted or are in the process of adopting children.

The bill (S1411) passed by a vote of 25-3 in the Senate and 41-17 in the House. The next stop is the governor's desk.

The bill, authored by Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor, D-Phoenix, would broaden the set of circumstances that can lead to the termination of parental rights, a complex and often emotional step in the adoption process.

Under the bill, parental rights can be severed if a child under the age of 3 years has received out-of-home care for at least six months and the parent has "substantially neglected or willfully refused" to remedy the situation that led to the child's removal from home, including refusal to participate in reunification services.

It also requires a court to hold a final hearing within 90 days after an adoption petition is received regarding a child less than 3 years old. Right now, such a hearing is required for children less than six months old.

The Legislature also passed an accompanying measure, S1442, which mandates the court to inform parents or guardians of their right to be heard in any proceeding relating to the child.  It also directs the court to notify a relative identified as a possible guardian of the child about their right to be heard in any proceeding relating to the child.

Landrum Taylor and her husband are certified foster and adoptive parents and are in the process of formally adopting a child. The experience has led her to introduce the legislation, lamenting that the current process is long and laborious.

Frustrated by the process, many have opted to pursue private or international adoption, she said. Yet there are many children in the state's foster-care system waiting to be adopted, she said.

"It's a beginning step into the future for those children," she said of the legislation.

Landrum Taylor's core argument is that a child should not to have remain in limbo for a year or more.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Economic Security has said it generally takes about 15 months from the time a child is placed under foster care before moves are made to sever a parental right.

Specific statutes govern the termination of parental rights. After "diligent efforts" to reunify a child in foster care with his or her biological family, DES can move to sever a parental right if the child has been in out-of-home placement for a cumulative period of at least nine months and the parent has willfully or neglectfully failed to remedy the situation.

DES can do the same if, after the child has been in foster care for at least 15 months, the parent has been "unable to remedy" the circumstances that led to the child's removal from home, and there is "substantial likelihood" the parent will not be able to exercise effective parental care and control in the near future.

Under the same laws, DES can move to sever a parental right more quickly than 15 months in specific situations, such as when the parent is unknown and cannot be located after three months.

Senate President Tim Bee, R-Tucson, whose family also adopted their newest member a few weeks ago, supported the legislation, noting that in their case, their adopted daughter was in the system for more than two years.

"This is long overdue," said Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Litchfield Park. "We have a lot of loving people waiting to adopt children out there and this is going to help them. "

There were 9,902 children in out-of-home care in Arizona as of March 2006, according to DES. Nearly half of them were at least 9 years old.

More than 3,400 of the children were placed with relatives. Of the total number, about half had goals to return to their families. But some 2,300 wait for adoption.

 

 

LOAD-DATE: May 9, 2008