BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1701|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1701
Author: Patterson (R), et al.
Amended: 8/5/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Jackson, Anderson, Corbett, Lara, Leno, Monning, Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Family law: adoption
SOURCE : Academy of California Adoption Lawyers
DIGEST : This bill makes several changes to adoption processes
and adoptive placement considerations.
ANALYSIS :
1. Existing law authorizes, among others, a childs natural
parent to bring an action to declare the existence or
nonexistence of a presumed parent and child relationship.
Existing law requires the court to join to that action
specified parties, including prospective adoptive parents who
have physical custody of a child, who have not been joined as
parties without the necessity of a motion for joinder.
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This bill authorizes a child's natural mother to bring that
action and also requires the court to join to that action
additional specified parties who have not been joined as
parties, including a licensed California adoption agency to
which the mother proposes to relinquish the child for
adoption.
2. Existing law provides for the adoption of unmarried minors
and prohibits a married person, not lawfully separated from
the person's spouse, from adopting a child without the
consent of the spouse if the spouse is capable of giving that
consent.
This bill additionally provides that the consent of the
spouse shall not establish any parental rights or
responsibilities on the part of the consenting spouse unless
he/she has consented to adopt the child in writing, filed
with the court and is named in the final decree as an
adoptive parent of the child. This bill authorizes the court
to dispense with a spouse's consent in certain circumstances
and, if consent has been dispensed, prohibits the spouse from
being named as an adoptive parent in the final decree.
3. Existing law generally provides that a child having a
presumed father shall not be adopted without the consent of
the child's birth parents, if living. However, if one birth
parent has been awarded custody by judicial order, or has
custody by agreement of both parents, and the other birth
parent for a period of one year willfully fails to
communicate with, and to pay for, the care, support, and
education of the child when able to do so, then the birth
parent having sole custody may consent to the adoption, after
the birth parent who does not have custody has been served
with a specified citation. Failure of a birth parent to pay
for the care, support, and education of the child for the
one-year period or the failure of a birth parent to
communicate with the child for the period of one year is
prima facie evidence that the failure was willful and without
lawful excuse.
This bill authorizes the court to issue a temporary custody
order if the birth mother of a child for whom there is not a
presumed father leaves the child in certain circumstances,
including in the physical care of a licensed private adoption
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agency, and fails to sign a placement agreement, consent, or
relinquishment for adoption. This bill authorizes the
temporary custody order to be voided upon the birth mother's
request to have the child returned to her care and custody.
4. Existing law requires, if a mother relinquishes for or
consents to, or proposes to relinquish for or consent to, the
adoption of a child, or if a child otherwise becomes the
subject of an adoption proceeding, one of several specified
persons to file a petition to terminate the parental rights
of the alleged father, except as specified. Existing law
permits an interested person to file a petition for an order
or judgment declaring a child free from the custody and
control of either or both parents.
This bill permits a single petition to be filed to terminate
the parental rights of the alleged father or fathers of two
or more biological siblings or to terminate the parental
rights of two or more alleged fathers of the same child.
This bill also permits a single petition to be filed to free
a child, or more than one child if the children are
biological siblings, from the custody and control of both
parents. This bill authorizes a court to grant one of these
joint petitions, in whole or in part, and specifies that the
court retains the discretion to bifurcate a case in which a
joint petition was filed. This bill requires a court to
bifurcate a case in which a joint petition was filed whenever
it is necessary to protect the interests of a party or a
child who is the subject of the proceeding.
5. Existing law authorizes the court to waive the personal
appearance of a prospective adoptive parent and permit
him/her to appear at an adoption proceeding through an
attorney if there is clear and convincing evidence that it is
impossible or impracticable for the prospective adoptive
parent to appear at the adoption proceeding.
This bill authorizes the court to permit a prospective
adoptive parent to appear by telephone, videoconference, or
other remote electronic means that the court deems
reasonable, prudent, and reliable.
6. Existing law governs independent adoptions, which are defined
to mean adoptions in which neither the Department of Social
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Services (DSS) nor an agency licensed by DSS is a party to or
joins in the adoption petition, and sets forth the procedures
for completing an independent adoption. Existing law also
requires, as a part of the independent adoption procedures,
DSS or the delegated county adoption agency to investigate
the proposed independent adoption and submit a report to the
court of the facts disclosed by its inquiry with a
recommendation regarding the granting of the adoption
petition.
This bill provides that when DSS or a delegated county
adoption agency is investigating a proposed adoption, it is
not required to reinvestigate matters addressed in a valid
preplacement evaluation or a valid private agency adoption
home study, if no new information has been discovered and no
new event has occurred subsequent to the approval of the
evaluation or home study that creates a reasonable belief
that further investigation is necessary, except that DSS must
complete all background clearances required by law.
7. Existing law requires DSS or a delegated county adoption
agency to interview the petitioners within 45 working days
after the filing of the adoption petition and to interview
all persons from whom consent is required and whose addresses
are known, as soon as 50% of the fee has been paid. Existing
law requires the agency, at the interview, to give the
placing parent an opportunity to sign either a statement
revoking consent, or a waiver of the right to revoke consent.
In order to facilitate the interview, existing law requires
the petitioner, at the time the petition is filed, to file,
among other things, a copy of the petition and 50% of the
fee, with DSS or with the delegated county adoption agency
responsible for the investigation of the adoption.
This bill instead requires DSS or delegated county adoption
agency to interview the petitioners within 45 working days
after receiving 50% of the fee together with a stamped file
copy of the adoption petition, and to interview all persons
from whom consent is required and whose addresses are known.
This bill provides that DSS is not required to provide the
placing parent an opportunity to sign a statement revoking
consent, or a waiver of the right to revoke consent, if the
parent has already signed a waiver of the right to revoke
consent, or if the time period allowed to revoke consent has
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expired and requires the petitioner, within five days of
filing the petition, to provide the department or delegated
county adoption agency, among other things, a stamped file
copy of the petition together with 50% of the fee and a copy
of any valid preplacement evaluation or any valid private
agency adoption home study.
8. Existing law requires the court, in an independent adoption,
if a birth parent who did not place a child for adoption has
refused to give the required consent, or a birth parent
revokes consent, or, before the time when a revocable consent
becomes permanent, a birth parent requests the return of the
child, to order the child restored to the care and custody of
the birth parent.
This bill instead requires, in these circumstances, the child
to be restored to the care and custody of his/her birth
parent, unless the court orders otherwise.
9. Existing law authorizes a parent who is a minor to relinquish
his/her child to DSS, county adoption agency, or licensed
adoption agency and sign a consent for the adoption.
Existing law provides that the relinquishment and consent are
not subject to revocation by reason of minority.
This bill provides that the relinquishment and consent are
not subject to revocation because the parent or guardian of
the minor parent was not served with notice of the
relinquishment or consent, unless the minor parent previously
provided written authorization to serve his/her parent or
guardian with those notices.
10.Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile
court, which may adjudge certain children to be dependents of
the juvenile court under certain circumstances. Existing law
authorizes, in all cases in which a minor is adjudged a
dependent child of the juvenile court under those
circumstances, the court to limit the control to be exercised
over the dependent child by any parent or guardian. Existing
law provides that those provisions do not limit the ability
of a parent to voluntarily relinquish his/her child to DSS or
to a county adoption agency at any time while the child is a
dependent child of the juvenile court, if DSS or county
adoption agency is willing to accept the relinquishment.
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This bill provides that those provisions do not limit the
ability of the parent of a dependent child to voluntarily
relinquish that child to a licensed private adoption agency.
This bill requires the juvenile court, when a child who is
the subject of a petition, to declare him/her a dependent
child of the juvenile court, or a child who has been adjudged
a dependent child of the juvenile court, has been
relinquished to a licensed private adoption agency, after
notice and a hearing, to determine whether the relinquishment
should be approved or denied. This bill authorizes the court
to dispense with notice and a hearing and issue an ex parte
order approving the relinquishment if the relinquishment is
accompanied by the written agreement of all parties. This
bill requires notification of a parent relinquishing a child
to a licensed private adoption agency that the relinquishment
is subject to court approval. This bill also requires, when
a child who is the subject of a petition, to declare him/her
a dependent child of the juvenile court, or a child who has
been adjudged a dependent child of the juvenile court, has
been relinquished to DSS or a county adoption agency, DSS or
the county adoption agency to file notice of the
relinquishment with the court and all parties and their
counsel.
This bill makes other clarifying and technical changes.
Background
Every year, the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers 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.
Prior legislation
AB 848 (Patterson, Chapter 743, Statutes of 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.
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AB 687 (Fletcher, Chapter 462, Statutes of 2011) streamlined the
process for determining parent-child relationships, and made
other technical and substantive changes to adoption laws.
AB 2020 (Fletcher, Chapter 588, Statutes of 2010) among other
things, streamlined the process for determining parent-child
relationships and made other substantive and technical changes
to adoption laws.
SB 1726 (Scott, Chapter 534, Statutes of 2008) made several
substantive and technical changes to adoption law, including
providing that consolidated guardianship and adoption cases
shall be heard and decided by the court in which the adoption is
pending.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/6/14)
Academy of California Adoption Lawyers (source)
Angels of Grace
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
Infant of Prague
Valley Teen Ranch
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/6/14)
Concerned United Birth Parents
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. P�rez, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mansoor, Vacancy
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AL:d 8/6/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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