BILL NUMBER: AB 2130	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member DeVore

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2006

   An act to add Section 8717.5 to the Family Code, and to add
Section 366.24 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to the
placement of children.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2130, as introduced, DeVore  Placement of children: values.
   Existing law authorizes the juvenile court to terminate parental
rights with respect to certain dependent children and to take
specified action with respect to those children, including placing a
child for adoption or appointing a legal guardian for a child.
Existing law also governs the adoption of children who have been
placed for adoption by a licensed county adoption agency or the State
Department of Social Services.
   This bill would, with respect to a dependent child for whom
parental rights have been terminated or a child who has been placed
for adoption by a licensed county adoption agency or the State
Department of Social Services, require a court to consider the
religious, cultural, moral, and ethnic values of the child or of his
or her birth parents, if those values are known or ascertainable by
the exercise of reasonable care before placing the child for adoption
or appointing a legal guardian for the child.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 8717.5 is added to the Family Code, to read:
   8717.5.  Prior to granting a petition to adopt a child who has
been placed for adoption by a licensed county adoption agency or the
department, the court shall consider the religious, cultural, moral,
and ethnic values of the child or of his or her birth parents, if
those values are known or ascertainable by the exercise of reasonable
care.
  SEC. 2.  Section 366.24 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   366.24.  If the court terminates parental rights to a child
pursuant to Section 366.26, then prior to appointing a legal guardian
for that child or placing the child for adoption, the court shall
consider the religious, cultural, moral, and ethnic values of the
child or of his or her birth parents, if those values are known or
ascertainable by the exercise of reasonable care.