BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, Chair
2015-2016 Regular Session
AB 2872 (Patterson)
Version: June 6, 2016
Hearing Date: June 21, 2016
Fiscal: Yes
Urgency: No
NR
SUBJECT
Children
DESCRIPTION
This bill would make various changes related to adoption law
including:
clarifying who may conduct, and what fees are associated with,
a stepparent adoption investigation;
requiring hospital personnel to complete a Health Facility
Minor Release Report and provide copies to specified parties
upon request by a parent; and
permitting a statutorily authorized or court-appointed
investigator who is conducting specified investigations
relating to children, including stepparent adoptions, to
inspect a juvenile case file.
BACKGROUND
Every year, the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers (ACAL)
seeks to clarify or modify provisions in the Family and related
codes which they have identified as having either technical
errors or as being the basis for conflicting court rulings that
could potentially prolong the adoption process. Accordingly,
this bill, sponsored by ACAL, would make various changes related
to adoption.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
1.Existing law establishes a procedure for a stepparent to adopt
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a stepchild and requires a probation officer, qualified court
investigator, licensed clinical social worker, licensed
marriage and family therapist, or licensed adoption agency to
conduct investigation of the proposed stepparent adoption to
be prepared, as specified, but does not require a homestudy,
unless the court orders otherwise. (Fam. Code Sec. 9000 et
seq.)
This bill would clarify that the investigation required as
part of a stepparent adoption may be at the request of the
adoption petitioner, in which case the petitioner is not
required to pay any investigation fees to the court.
This bill would provide that if the petitioner does not
request that a licensed social worker or therapist or a
private adoption agency complete the investigation, the court
may collect an investigation fee and assign a probation
officer, court investigator or, if so authorized by the county
board of supervisors, the county welfare department to
complete the investigation.
2.Existing law provides that a peace officer may, without
warrant, take a minor who is in the hospital into temporary
custody if release of the minor to a prospective adoptive
parent or a representative of a licensed adoption agency poses
an immediate danger to the child's health or safety. (Welf. &
Inst. Code Sec. 305.6 (a).)
Existing law provides, that notwithstanding the provision
above, that a peace officer may not, without a warrant, take
into custody a newborn who is in the hospital if, among other
things, all of the following apply:
the newborn or birth mother tested positive for illegal
drugs;
the newborn is the subject of a proposed adoption;
an Health Facility Minor Release (HFMR) Report has been
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completed by the hospital and signed as required. Provides
that the HFMR Report does not constitute consent to
adoption or relinquishment of parental rights and that the
birth parents may reclaim the child at any time, as
provided;
release of the newborn to a prospective adoptive parent
or an authorized representative of a licensed adoption
agency does not pose an immediate danger to the child; and
the prospective adoptive parents or the representative
of a licensed adoption agency have provided the peace
officer in the hospital seeking to take custody of the
newborn with, among other things, a fully executed HFMR
Report. (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 305.6 (b).)
This bill would require, at the request of a parent of a
newborn, that appropriate hospital personnel complete a HFMR
Report, which allows a hospital to release a minor to someone
other than the parents, and provide copies of the report as
specified. This bill would provide that hospital personnel
may not refuse to complete the report, even if the newborn is
ineligible for release at that time.
1.Existing law limits access to juvenile case files, as defined,
to specified individuals and officials, including the child's
parent or guardian, attorneys for the parties, court and state
personnel, including law enforcement and child protective
services, and school district officials. Existing law allows
a court-appointed investigator when acting within the scope of
his or her duties in a guardianship case to inspect a juvenile
court case file, and prohibits any party authorized to inspect
a dependency court case file from disseminating the file or
its contents unless otherwise permitted. (Welf. & Inst. Code
Sec. 827.)
This bill would provide that a statutorily-authorized or
court-appointed investigator, who is conducting an
investigation (1) as part of a stepparent adoption, (2) as
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part of a court procedure to terminate parental rights in
order to identify alleged fathers and presumed parents, or (3)
as part of a court procedure to free a child from parental
custody and control, is authorized to inspect a juvenile court
case file, provided that the investigator is acting within the
scope of his or her investigative duties for an active case.
COMMENT
1.Stated need for the bill
According to the author:
This bill promotes the welfare of children, the efficiency and
statewide uniformity of court processes, and the fiscal
well-being of state and local public entities, by remediating
the problems set forth below.
Section 1 - Modify Section 9001 to confirm and clarify the
intent and purpose of previous amendments, so that petitioners
in step-parent adoptions are allowed to fully utilize the
existing, authorized alternatives for completing the mandatory
investigation.
Section 2 - Amend Section 305.6 to require hospital personnel
to complete the necessary forms upon request. Delete
references to the non-existent "notice" and add a reference to
confirm the existing practice of including the notice language
in the statutorily-mandated form.
Section 3 - Amend Section 827 to ensure that court-appointed
or statutorily-authorized investigators have access to
juvenile court files for the limited purpose of completing
designated investigations on behalf of the court.
2.Clarifies the stepparent adoption process
Adoption of a child by a stepparent generally is a more simple
and streamlined process than that of a typical adoption. While
an investigation is required, a homestudy is generally not.
Specified individuals, including probation officers, court
investigators, licensed clinical social workers, licensed
marriage therapists, and sometimes the county welfare agency,
can conduct a stepparent investigation. The court may not make
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an order of adoption until after a report and recommendation on
the stepparent adoption has been filed and considered by the
court. The investigation is intended to assure the court that
the adoption is in the child's best interest.
According to the sponsor, some counties are either requiring
that a county employee do the investigation or requiring an
investigative fee in all cases, even when a private investigator
is used. This bill would clarify that if a petitioner
instigates an investigation that is performed by a licensed
clinical social worker, a licensed marriage and family
therapist, or a private adoption agency, the court may not
charge an investigation fee. If the petitioner does not elect
to have a private entity perform the investigation, the court
may then collect an investigation fee and may assign either a
probation officer, a court investigator or, if so authorized by
the county in which the adoption is pending, the county welfare
department. This should help ensure that a fee is only charged
by the court when a public entity is conducting the
investigation.
3.Modifies the process by which a birth parent releases her
child to prospective adoptive parents
In 2002, a law was enacted to prevent child protective services
agencies from unnecessarily taking drug-exposed newborns from
the hospital into the foster care system when an adoption plan
was in place. (AB 2279, La Suer, Ch. 920, Stats. 2002.)
Several pieces of legislation, most recently AB 973 (A.
Strickland, Ch. 440, Stats. 2010), tried to correct
implementation difficulties with the original bill, which
required that the newborn be the subject of an adoption
petition, which is a document that is generally not available
until after the mother and child have been discharged from the
hospital. The revised process allows the newborn to be released
upon completion of a Health Facility Minor Release (HFMR)
Report, developed by the Department of Social Services, which
must be signed by a parent and the prospective adoptive parent
or representative of a licensed adoption agency. The HFMR Report
includes information about adoption and child abandonment, and
must be completed, in part, by hospital personnel.
According to the bill's sponsor, hospital personnel are not
always cooperative in completing the HFMR Report. If the
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hospital refuses to complete the Report, it may become
impossible for prospective adoptive parents to take temporary
custody of a baby at the hospital and keep the child out of the
foster care system. Accordingly, this would require that
hospital personnel complete the report, even if the newborn is
not yet ready for release. This may help ensure that, when the
newborn is ready for release, the prospective adoptive parent
may take the child home and avoid an unnecessary placement in
foster care.
4.Expands the investigators who may inspect a juvenile case
file.
Juvenile court case files are closed to the public and may only
be inspected by a limited group of individuals, including court
personnel, attorneys in the case, and the juvenile's parents.
Included in that list is a court-appointed investigator who is
actively participating in guardianship cases and acting within
the scope of his or her duties. This bill would expand that
list to allow a statutorily-authorized or court-appointed
investigator who is investigating a stepparent adoption,
attempting to find a parent for purposes of adoption, or
investigating matters for purposes of emancipation of a child to
inspect a juvenile court case file, provided the investigator is
acting within the scope of his or her investigative duties for
an active case. In each of these instances, the investigator
likely cannot fully complete the investigation without reviewing
the juvenile court case file. This bill would allow for such
review, but it is narrowly drafted to ensure that the review can
only be made of the relevant case file when the investigator is
acting within the scope of his or her duties relevant to that
case.
Support : None Known
Opposition : None Known
HISTORY
Source : Academy of California Adoption Lawyers
Related Pending Legislation : None Known
Prior Legislation :
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AB 1049 (Patterson, Ch. 91, Stats. 2015) made several changes to
adoption law including that a person's offer or refusal to sign
a voluntary declaration of paternity shall not be determinative
as to the issue of legal parentage.
AB 1701 (Patterson, Ch. 763, Stats. 2014) made several changes
to adoption processes and adoptive placement considerations
including allowing a single petition to terminate parental
rights to be filed for two or more siblings, or for a child with
two or more alleged fathers.
AB 848 (Patterson, Ch. 743, Stats. 2013) made several changes to
adoption processes and adoptive placement considerations
including clarifying when a birth parent's waiver of the right
to revoke consent to an adoption is void or able to be
rescinded, and that an abbreviated home study assessment may
only be used for specified individuals.
AB 687 (Fletcher, Ch. 462, Stats. 2011) streamlined the process
for determining parent-child relationships, and made other
technical and substantive changes to adoption laws.
AB 2020 (Fletcher, Ch. 588, Stats. 2010) among other things,
streamlined the process for determining parent-child
relationships and made other substantive and technical changes
to adoption laws.
Prior Vote :
Assembly Floor (Ayes 79, Noes 0)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (Ayes 19, Noes 0)
Assembly Judiciary Committee (Ayes 10, Noes 0)
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