Nevada SB 303

The legislation can be found here.

“State Senator Scott Hammond will introduce a law that may help a foster family keep their foster daughter from going back to her biological family suspected of abuse.

J.D. Smith and his wife took their story to Hammond, who will try to get the bill passed in the State Senate. It mandates the court take into account how long a child’s been in foster care, the attachment they’ve formed with their foster parent, and how much psychological harm could come to them if they were removed.

“The fact that they’ve attached and bonded, if we go and remove that attachment and bond, we could have these children have high psychological damage,” said Clark County Deputy District Attorney, Brigid J. Duffy.

The Smith’s 5-year-old foster daughter, who’s being called “Emma”, was ordered back to her biological family by the Nevada Supreme Court back in February. Smith and his family have appealed and now are waiting on that decision.

“She understands she’s waiting on a judge to make a decision,” said Smith. “She comes screaming in your room at 7:00 in the morning, jumps on the bed, gives you a big hug and says, “my daddy”. I take each one of those moments, and cherish them, because I don’t know if this morning was the last morning I’m ever going to experience that.”

At just weeks old, investigators found baby Emma in the care of her birth parents with a skull fracture and brain bleeds. They said the injuries were not accidental and placed responsibility on her birth parents. The courts never fully connected the abuse to them, but they did remove her from the home. She has lived with the Smith family ever since.

Nevada law recognizes the courts should move forward with terminating birth parent rights after a child’s been out of the home for more than a year, but most often that doesn’t happen. SB 303 would aim to change that.

“The reality is children are out of the home for years before we get to a final decision on a determination of parental rights bill,” said Duffy.

Clark County Department of Family Services Director, Lisa Ruiz-Lee says a better balance of determining factors would be a good idea.

“What we would like to see is a better balance between parental fault, and children’s best interest,” said Ruiz-Lee.

Smith feels that the bill would not only affect his family, but it would help other families as well.

“I want lawmakers to look at this,” said Smith. “I want them to understand that this is something that is a horrible atrocity in our system today. It affects kids every day, but it doesn’t have to. It’s something we can change; it’s something they can change.””

State Senator proposes bill to keep foster family intact[8 news now 3/18/15 by Lauren Rozyla]

REFORM Puzzle Piece