BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 687 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 12, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY Mike Feuer, Chair AB 687 (Fletcher) - As Introduced: February 17, 2011 As Proposed to be Amended SUBJECT : ADOPTION KEY ISSUE : SHOULD VARIOUS CHANGES BE MADE TO STREAMLINE THE PROCESS FOR ADOPTIVE FAMILIES? FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal. SYNOPSIS This is the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers' (ACAL) annual adoption bill. According to the author, this bill is necessary to resolve technical issues, such as making various code sections consistent, and other more substantive issues that streamline adoption procedures. Over the years, procedures to identify and locate presumed or alleged fathers and then seek their consent to, or waiver of notice about, termination of parental rights prior to adoption have been amended in attempt to streamline the process and make it more efficient. This bill seeks to make those changes consistent throughout the code and to help ensure that fathers are identified and notified. This bill also provides a time limit for issuing a new birth certificate in the case of an adoption and provides for an expedited process, if necessary. Further, this bill increases venue options for adult adoptions. Finally, this bill requires the court to consider the child's best interests in an action to set aside an adoption. The bill is supported by the Family Law Section of the State Bar. There is no opposition to these changes. SUMMARY : Makes changes to adoption processes and adoptive placement considerations. Specifically, this bill : 1)In an effort to identify the natural father in an adoption proceeding, allows the licensed adoption agency doing the adoption investigation to make an attempt to identify the natural father. Requires that the inquiry include the names and whereabouts of every man presumed or alleged to be the AB 687 Page 2 father of the child. Requires the agency that completes the inquiry to file a written report of its findings with the court. 2)Allows private adoption agencies to perform the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children administration services for any interstate placement of nondependent children. 3)Allows a court to enter an adoption order nunc pro tunc (back dated) where it will serve public policy and the best interests of the adoptee. 4)Allows a consent to a step-parent adoption to be signed in front of an authorized representative of an licensed adoption agency. Requires that the consent be filed when signed or simultaneously with the adoption request. 5)Requires the court, in any action to set aside an order of adoption, to consider the child's best interests. Clarifies that this does not apply to adoptions of children with developmental disabilities or mental illness identified prior to the adoption. 6)Provides venue options for filing a petition for adult adoption, including the county where the proposed adult adoptee resides or was born or the county where the adoption agency that placed the adoptee when he or she was a minor is located. 7)Requires the State Registrar to issue a new birth certificate within 120 days of receipt from the court of a court report of adoption or within 90 days of an expedited request. Provides that the fee for an expedited birth certificate is $150. 8)Provides that the policy of the state includes that voluntary and safe alternatives to foster care be encouraged and supported. 9)Provides that a foster care license or certificate is not required for placement of a nondependent child who is relinquished for adoption to a licensed adoption agency, provided the child is placed with prospective adoptive parents who have an approved adoption home study, as specified. 10) Makes other technical changes. AB 687 Page 3 EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires, in a proceeding to terminate parental rights as part of an adoption proceeding, that efforts be made to identify the natural father and report that information to the court. (Family Code Section 7663. All further statutory references are to the Family Code.) 2)Allows the court to dispense with a hearing to terminate parental rights and may instead issue an ex parte order terminating those rights in the following situations: a) The identity or whereabouts of the father are unknown. b) The alleged father has validly executed a waiver of the right to notice, or a waiver or denial of paternity. c) The alleged father has been served with written notice of his alleged paternity and the proposed adoption, and has failed to bring an action to determine the existence of a parent-child relationship, as required. (Section 7667.) 3)Specifies how consent shall be obtained for a step-parent adoption. (Section 9003.) 4)Provides an action to set aside an adoption order on any ground, except fraud, must be brought within one year. An action based on fraud must be brought with three years. (Section 9213.) 5)Allows for a petition for adoption of an adult to be filed only in the county in which either the prospective adoptive parent or the proposed adoptee resides. (Section 9321.) 6)Requires the State Registrar to issue a new birth certificate after an adoption. (Health & Safety Code Section 102635.) 7)States the intent of the Legislature that foster care should be temporary and that children have a right to normal home life free from abuse. (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 396.) COMMENTS : This is the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers' annual adoption bill. According to the author, this bill is necessary to resolve technical issues and other more substantive issues in order to streamline adoption procedures. Writes the AB 687 Page 4 author: This bill is latest in a series of annual efforts to clean up the adoption sections of the Family Code. For the past 10 years, ACAL has sponsored this annual legislation all of which have been signed into law. Drafts are circulated to all the relevant stakeholders as well as to the committee counsels prior to introduction. If amendments cannot be worked out, then the provision is dropped from the bill. This year, the bill focuses on improving the comprehensibility of Section 7660 et seq relating to the procedures for terminating the parental rights of non-presumed or alleged fathers for the purposes of adoptions. Revisions over the years necessitate reconciling the provisions within this section of the law as well as with other sections of the Family Code. Budget strains motivates the change . . . to allow private adoption agencies to perform ÝInterstate Compact on the Placement of Children] services for non-dependent children in order to free up CDSS staff time to actually administer the adoptions under this section. Currently private adoption agencies are licensed to do this work for agency adoptions. The change in Section 6 Ýrelieves] more family budgets by permitting a foster child to agree to an adoption on or after their 18th birthday. This will permit families to take advantage of health care benefits as well as provide more permanency as child adoptions. This authority is permissive. . . . The rest of the sections seek to streamline procedures related to adoptions in order to save the state or county resources by permitting adoption agencies to do more functions or to permit adoptive parents to pay higher fees to expedite the receipt of a new birth certificate. This bill makes the process easier to find presumed or alleged fathers and seek their consent to adoption . Over the years, procedures to identify and locate presumed or alleged fathers and then seek their consent to, or waiver of notice about, termination of parental rights prior to adoption have been amended in various ways in attempt to streamline the process and make it more effective. This bill makes several changes to clarify the process and make the various code sections AB 687 Page 5 consistent. In particular, this bill requires the agency that completes an investigation of the name and whereabouts of every possible presumed or alleged father to file that report with the court. The bill also allows private adoption agencies to perform step-parent adoption investigations. Provides a time limit for issuing a new birth certificate in the case of an adoption and provides for an expedited process, if necessary . According to the author, after an adoption is completed, adoptive families are now waiting 14 to 24 months for their child's new birth certificate. This bill requires the State Registrar to issue a new birth certificate within 120 days of the receipt of the court report of adoption. In cases where four months is too long to wait, this bill provides an expedited process, for a fee of $150, with issuance of the new birth certificate required within 90 days of receipt of the court adoption report. This bill increases venue options for adult adoptions . Adult adoptions are often used to help provide children who have emancipated out of the foster care system with permanent families. However, once children have emancipated out of foster care, the adoption petition cannot be filed in the county where the child was in foster care. Current law allows for a petition for adoption of an adult to be filed only in the county in which either the prospective adoptive parent or the proposed adoptee resides. This bill would expand the venue list to include where the adult adoptee resides or was born or the county where the adoption agency that placed the adoptee when he or she was a minor is located. This bill allows a court to issue an adoption order nunc pro tunc if necessary for the best interests of the child . Adoption of minors and adults differ in key aspects. In particular, an adult adoption is a legal contract that can be changed, and it does not offer the same permanency as adoption of a minor does. Permanency is particularly important for foster children who emancipate out of foster care without that support and stability. Health insurance rules may also prevent parents from providing health insurance to a child who is adopted as an adult, even if the child is 18 at adoption. This bill allows a court to enter an adoption order nunc pro AB 687 Page 6 tunc, allowing the court to back date the order, where it will serve public policy and the best interests of the child. This allows the courts the ability to do justice, particularly for former foster children who emancipate out of the system without permanency. In an action to set aside an adoption, this bill requires the court to consider the child's best interests . Existing law provides, except in specified cases, that an action to set aside an adoption must be brought within one year for any reason except fraud (for which the set aside period is three years). The statute is silent as to what the court must consider when determining whether to grant the petition. This bill requires the court to consider the adopted child's best interests when determining whether to set aside the adoption. This will ensure that the court considers the child's interests, in addition to the interests of the adults involved. Proposed Amendments : The author proposes three amendments two technical and one more substantive. The more substantive amendment limits when a consent to a step-parent adoption must be filed in court. The current draft of the bill allows the consent to be filed when signed or simultaneously with the adoption request, or as soon there after as reasonably possible. In order to ensure that the consent is filed timely, the author rightly proposes to require that the consent be filed either when signed or simultaneously with the adoption request. The proposed amendments are: On page 6, line 11, after the second "adoption" insert: service provider On page 6, lines 29-30, delete "or as soon thereafter as reasonable possible" On page 6, line 37, delete "county" and insert: country REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support Academy of California Adoption Lawyers (sponsor) Family Law Section of the State Bar AB 687 Page 7 Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334