Michigan House Passes Seven-Adoption Bill Package UPDATED

Originally, there was a five-bill package with three bills  amending adoption rules and two bills enhancing foster parents’ rights, but now it is being touted as a 7-bill package with all  bills  amending adoption rules in favor of adoptive parents.

“The Michigan House has voted to give biological parents a deadline to change their mind after putting up a child for adoption.

Legislation approved 100-9 Tuesday would give parents five days to reverse course and file a petition with a judge saying they want to keep their child. There currently is no time limit on when they can change their mind.

Parents would have to wait 24 hours after a child’s birth to consent to an adoption.

Others measures in a seven-bill package headed to the Senate would shorten the supervisory period for families adopting an infant from 6 months to 3 months and require the state to operate an online registry so men can be notified of the proposed adoption of their child.”

Michigan House changes adoptions law, sets time limit

[The Morning Sun 6/4/13 by Associated Press]

The original bill only gave 72 hours to revoke consent.

“Under one of the measures, birth mothers would have 72 hours to revoke their consent for the adoption. Under current law, there is no limit for when a mother can revoke her consent.

Republican Rep. Mike Shirkey of Clarklake says in a statement that current law makes it tedious and time consuming for families to adopt.

Another measure would shorten the supervisory period for some adopting families. For families that adopt children under one year of age, the supervisory period would drop from six months to three months. It would remain six months for families that adopt older children.”

Bill would make adoption process easier in Michigan

[The Detroit Free Press 5/2/13 by Associated Press]

HB 4646-passed

See the text here. This amends the current law to give 5 days to revoke consent (excluding weekends and holidays). Current rules had no time limit.

HB 4647-passed

See the text here. This cuts the time for finalization to 3 months from 6 months. While it gives the clause of up to 18 months, this is clearly written to benefit the adoptive parent.

HB4648-passed

See the text  here. This is about the putative father registering in a “timely manner.” Because at the time of the filing of this bill, there wasn’t a registry, they had to add bills to the original five-bill package.

HB 4649 and HB 4650-neither passed

These were part of the original 5-bill package and enhance Foster Parents’ Rights. These bills  have NOT been passed by the House yet.

Text of 4649.

Text of 4650 .

Added Bills HB 4659, 4660, 4661, and 4662-all passed

These four bills amend the putative-father-request-to-the-court method into an online registry. The putative father must register within 5 days after birth of the child (excluding weekends and holidays). These bills are part of the ” seven-bill package” .

See the text of 4659 here.

See the text of 4660 here.

See the text  of 4661 here.

See the text of 4662 here.

 

Claudia Corrigan D’Arcy gives a great analysis of the original five bills in this post.

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:”Governor Snyder is getting ready to formally sign a set of adoption bills during a special ceremony on Tuesday, and one Charlevoix woman gets to be a part of it.

Shelia Davis is the founder and director of Heaven Sent Adoption Services in Charlevoix.  Two years ago she was contacted by State Representatives who asked her for her opinions on ways the adoption process could be improved.

“Two years ago going through all those phone calls and stuff you just don’t know what’s going to come from that,” said Davis.

Davis has two daughters and one son that are adopted.  Her clients’ experiences and her own are why she is so passionate about being a part of the three adoption bills that will become law in October 2014.  She says they will make things easier for birth mothers and the families who are looking to adopt.

“I just think it’s going to help these moms to move forward and that’s really important,” said Davis.  “And then the families securing that adoption placement are not worrying, “Could something happen? What if this, what if that?” Just that relaxation that they can have and parenting and moving forward.”

House Bills 4646, 4647, 4648 are now Public Acts.  All three target multiple areas in the adoption process between mother, father, and the adoptive parents.  They essentially speed things up for everyone involved and can reduce the chance of having the birth mother change her mind about the adoption.

Amy Paulus and her husband Michael already have three children of their own.  But for the last three years they’ve been looking to add a son or daughter to their family.

“I know for us it makes us feel a lot better,” said Paulus.  “We have three children already and to bring a baby into the family and then to say, “I’m sorry we have to give them back,” is really a frightening thought.  We don’t want them to bond with a child and them then to lose it.  That would be very difficult.”

Paulus says they were nervous to adopt in Michigan because previous laws left things up in the air for months after the baby was born.  She and her husband are happy that won’t be the case anymore.

“It will make it a lot easier for us if a situation opens up here in our home state,” said Paulus.”

Local adoption specialist plays roll in adoption reform [Up North Live 4/28/14 by Megan Morelli]