BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1393
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 16, 2006

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                   Judy Chu, Chair

                   SB 1393 (Florez) - As Amended:  August 7, 2006 

          Policy Committee:                              JudiciaryVote:9 -  
          0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill revises standards for the current requirement to  
          re-adopt children initially adopted from a foreign country and  
          requires that the re-adoption include a home study.   
          Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Provides alternatives for filing the adoption petition if the  
            country of the original adoption has adoption standards that  
            meet or exceed those of California.

          2)Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to certify  
            the adoption standards in foreign countries.

          3)Requires that the readoption petition include a homestudy  
            report conducted by an authorized adoption agency.

          4)Requires the State Registrar to create a new birth certificate  
            upon receipt of a readoption order issued for an intercountry  
            adoption. 

          FISCAL EFFECT  

          Significant costs, in excess of $500,000, for the increased  
          workload for DSS associated with certifying the adoptions  
          standards in foreign countries.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The intent of this bill is to streamline the  
            intercountry adoption process for those families that have  
            adopted children from countries with standards that meet or  








                                                                  SB 1393
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            exceed California's requirements.  

           2)Background  .  Individuals wishing to adopt a child from a  
            foreign adoption agency must first complete an "Application  
            for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition," to be filed  
            with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS),  
            under the Department of Homeland Security. Once the petition  
            is approved, the individual must still receive approval for  
            any foreign child who becomes available for adoption. As with  
            adoption within this country, international adoption can be  
            both costly and time consuming. 

          Current federal laws and international treaties govern most of  
            these adoptions. For those adoptions finalized in other  
            countries, California provides a special procedure by which  
            these children can be "re-adopted" within the state. These  
            provisions include various safeguards to ensure the safety of  
            the adoptive home, including the requirement for at least one  
            post-placement in-home visit, an intercountry adoption report  
            prepared by a licensed adoption agency and an accounting  
            report, showing all payments made by or on behalf of the  
            adoptive parents. 


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081