New Proposed Utah Adoption Bills UPDATED

One is to reduce adoption fraud. The other is to give more control to adoption agencies. Guess which one Larry Jenkins’  supporters are proposing?

Reduce Adoption Fraud

Senate Bill 183 will be introduced on Tuesday, February 19, 2013. See the text at this pdf.

The highlighted provisions are as follows:

“This bill: requires the Office of Licensing to prohibit an adoption agency or an employee of an adoption agency from making a fraudulent representation or action in connection with an adoption; states that a fraudulent representation or action by an adoption agency or an employee of an adoption agency in connection with an adoption is grounds for the Office of Licensing to deny, place conditions on, suspend, or revoke the agency’s license, pursuant to Section 62A-2-112; provides for an award of attorney fees and costs to a prevailing party in an action alleging fraudulent representation or action in connection with an adoption; and makes technical changes.”

Bill would allow sanctions for adoption fraud by agencies, birth moms  [The Salt Lake Tribune 2/18/13 by Brooke Adams] says “It also directs courts to give more weight to due-process rights than bonding when a child is fraudulently placed with adoptive parents — as a 4th District judge recently did when he ordered Terry Achane’s nearly 2-year-old daughter, placed at birth without the then-married father’s knowledge, be returned to him.

The bill also would require the office to set minimum ethical standards for adoption agencies and allow a prevailing party to seek attorney fees and other costs.

Scott Wiser, who represented Achane in his successful legal fight, said the bill is “an excellent proposal to deter some of the deceptive tactics we’ve seen some birth mothers and private agencies resort to in order to cut otherwise fit, loving fathers out of their children’s lives.”

“An adoption done within legal and ethical parameters is a beautiful thing, but an adoption tainted by fraud becomes a nightmare for everyone involved,” Wiser said. “Hopefully, the threat of monetary damages and licensing revocations will deter those who would otherwise be tempted to resort to deception to facilitate an adoption, and will provide recourse to birth fathers and would-be adoptive parents harmed because of a third-party’s shenanigans.”

Robles said she picked up the bill from Christine Watkins of Price, who ran a similar bill last year but lost re-election to her House seat.”

Not Enough

“Joshua Peterman, an attorney who has represented numerous birth fathers in adoption disputes, called Robles’ bill “a step in the right direction” but still puts the burden on a father to act even when fraud occurs.

“It still doesn’t solve the problem of adoption agencies using fraud as a mechanism to facilitate adoptions,” Peterman said. “I guarantee that there is not a single father who has lost a child to one of these rogue agencies who would agree that monetary damages are an adequate remedy. … It is simply unconscionable that we have a system where a father who is ready and able to assume his role as a parent is prevented from doing so by an archaic statutory scheme, drafted by agency lobbyists, that makes it virtually impossible for him to do so.”

He believes a more effective approach would be for lawmakers to get rid of the provision in Utah’s adoption law that allows fraud.

Peterman added that the fraudulent conduct often impacts prospective parents as well.

“I have had instances where the adoptive parents have reached out to me following a case and provided information that the adoption agency had lied to them as well,” he said. “It’s all about money for some of these agencies.””

More Control to Individual Agency/Modification of Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC)

Senate Bill 188 is to be introduced that sounds like a usurpation of ICPC authority. See the text at this link.

Highlighted provisions include the following:

“This bill: authorizes a licensed child-placing agency that has provided services to a birth parent or adoptive parent to determine whether a placement should be made, for purposes of complying with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, unless the child is: a dependent of the court;  in the custody of the Division of Child and Family Services or a comparable agency in another state; or subject to an action filed in juvenile court in this state or a similar court in a different state.”

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “A bill that gives the Utah Office of Licensing authority to implement ethical rules prohibiting an adoption agency from misrepresenting facts or information passed the Senate Judiciary committee Wednesday. The substitute version of SB183 approved Wednesday no longer defines what constitutes fraud or allows aggrieved parties to seek attorneys fees after some adoption advocates and lawmakers objected to those provisions. The Utah Office of Licensing does not officially track complaints, but director Ken Stettler said previously that one-quarter of the 36 adoption agencies in Utah have been the subject of actionable complaints that led to corrective action plans.”

After tweaks, adoption fraud bill passes committee

[The Salt Lake Tribune 2/27/13 by Brooke Adams]

Update 2:“Five of eight adoption related bills made it through the legislative gauntlet during the session.

Under SB31, families who adopt a child with special needs on or after Jan. 13, 2013, are entitled to a refundable tax credit of up to $1,000. SB155 makes post-adoption contracts for children adopted from state custody enforceable. The Office of Licensing will be required by SB183 to implement ethical rules that prohibit adoption agencies or employees from providing false or misleading information. SB282 requires the registrar to look at creating a national putative father registry and requires birth moms to have been in Utah at least 30 days before an unmarried father must comply with certain provisions of the adoption law.

SB232 makes the most substantive changes to the law. In addition to financial support, emotional support will now be part of the criteria for deciding whether a father has abandoned a child being placed for adoption. Adoption petitions may now be filed before a child’s birth. And paternity notices filed by unmarried biological fathers will be official when they are received by the state registrar, addressing a Utah Supreme Court ruling that found a Florida father’s rights were violated when he was deemed too late to intervene in his daughter’s adoption because of a delay in filing his paperwork.

Notable bills that failed: HB148, which would have created a mutual consent voluntary registry for birth parents and adoptees; critics said the bill might result in more abortions. The bill’s fiscal note — $540,400 a year to run and publicize the registry — may have been a bigger deal breaker.”

Utah lawmakers tweak Utah adoption laws

[The Salt Lake Tribune 3/15/13 by Brooke Adams]

Update 3: Governor Herbert signs adoption legislations into law.

Governor signs adoption fraud legislation

[Stamford Advocate 4/2/13 by Associated Press]