BILL ANALYSIS
SB 302
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Date of Hearing: August 17, 2005
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Judy Chu, Chair
SB 302 (Scott) - As Amended: August 15, 2005
Policy Committee: Judiciary
Vote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill makes changes to adoption law to expedite certain
adoptions. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes an adoption agency to bring an action to establish
a child's paternity in the county where the adoption agency is
located.
2)Establishes that a presumed father's consent is not needed to
proceed with an adoption if the presumed fatherhood status was
established after the mother's relinquishment, the termination
of parental rights, or the consent to adoption.
3)Authorizes signing of consent-to-adopt forms by either or both
of the parents before a notary public and requires the notary
public to file the forms with the court clerk where the
petition is filed.
4)Authorizes the court to order the publication of the notice to
terminate parental rights when one or both parents are
unknown.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible costs to courts and adoption agencies to continue
finalizing adoptions.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill, sponsored by the Academy of California
Adoption Lawyers, clarifies adoption processes regarding
SB 302
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paternity, presumed parentage, consent to adopt forms, and
certain published notices. These changes will expedite
adoption processes for some families.
Adoption laws are designed to protect the best interests of a
child while also considering the needs of the biological and
adoptive families. As a result, there are many sources of
delay that can extend the time to adoption finalization. Some
delays are deliberate to provide adoption or child welfare
workers time to locate family members or prospective adoptive
families. Other delays can be shortened by increasing the
convenience of processes. This bill makes changes in this area
to allow for time reductions and ease of implementation for
certain adoptions.
2)The Adoptions Program . The Department of Social Services (DSS)
administers a statewide program of services to parents who
wish to place children for adoption and to families who wish
to adopt children. Adoptions services are provided through
state district offices, 28 county adoptions agencies, and a
variety of private agencies.
Counties may choose to operate the Adoptions Program or turn the
program over to the state for administration. According to
child welfare data analysis conducted by UC Berkeley, 7,000
adoptions were finalized in California in calendar year 2004.
Many thousands of children are eligible for adoption in any
given year.
3)Related Legislation . SB 1512 (Scott), Chapter 260, Statutes of
2002, SB 182 (Scott), Chapter 251, Statutes of 2003, and SB
1357 (Scott), Chapter 858, Statutes of 2004 were other bills
that clarified adoption processes in order to increase
adoption expediency.
Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081