Fiscal Summary

NOT SIGNIFICANT

Bill Summary

This bill makes technical clarifications and the following substantive changes and additions to present law concerning adoption and placement of children:

(1) Under present law, one of the bases for which parental rights may be terminated in order to make a child available for adoption is abandonment. There are multiple elements used to determine whether a parent has abandoned a child, one of which is the amount of time that the parent failed to visit, support, or make reasonable payments toward the support of the child. Generally, such element is met when a parent fails to do any of the foregoing for four consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of a proceeding, pleading, petition, or any amended petition to terminate the parent's parental rights. This bill specifies that such element of abandonment will be met when a parent fails to visit, support, or make reasonable payments toward the support of the child for four consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of an "amended or supplemental pleading" instead of an "amended petition". This bill also provides that, if the original pleading is amended or supplemented to allege a new or additional period of abandonment occurring after an original pleading, then each period of abandonment constitutes an additional ground for the court's consideration. For purposes of calculating each period of abandonment, the filing date of the new or additional period is the filing date of the amended or supplemental pleading containing the allegation;

(2) Upon receipt of a surrender or upon filing a parental consent for an adoption by a person other than a related person, and if no home study had been completed or updated within six months prior to the surrender or the filing of a parental consent, and no court report based upon the home study has been filed with the court, present law requires the court to direct that a home study be conducted and filed. This bill removes the requirement that the court direct a home study be conducted upon receipt of a surrender, making such requirement applicable only upon filing a parental consent for an adoption by a person other than a related person;

(3) Present law requires that petition to terminate parental rights state, among other things, that the putative father registry has been consulted or will be consulted within 10 days of filing, unless the biological father has been identified through DNA testing and that identification is set out in the petition. This bill specifies that such 10-day period is 10 working days, which is the same as present law requires for adoption petitions;

(4) Present law specifies various information that must be included in an adoption petition, including that, if the petitioner was born in another state and that state has a putative father registry, the registry has been consulted or will be consulted within 10 working days of filing. A copy of the response to the inquiry must be provided to the court immediately upon receipt by the petitioner. This bill adds that, in addition to being provided immediately upon receipt, the response from the other state's putative father registry must be provided prior to finalization of the adoption unless waived by the court;

(5) When a child who is the subject of an adoption is 14 years of age or older at any time before the granting of the petition, the adoption court must receive the child's consent to the adoption. Present law further provides that, if the child is mentally disabled, the court must appoint a guardian ad litem to give or withhold consent for the child to the adoption. This bill clarifies that appointment of a guardian ad litem for a child who is mentally disabled is only required if the child is 14 years of age or more at any time before the granting of the petition;

(6) After a final order of adoption is entered, present law prohibits entry of an order requiring visitation or other contact between an adopted person and a biological parent or other biologically related person unless the order is entered pursuant to a written contract. This bill specifies that such restriction applies an order requiring contact between an adoptee and a "related person" instead of a "biologically related person";

(7) Under present law, one means of proving the existence of severe child abuse is when there is specific brutality, abuse, or neglect toward a child that in the opinion of qualified experts has caused or will reasonably be expected to produce severe psychosis, severe neurotic disorder, severe depression, severe developmental delay or intellectual disability, or severe impairment of the child's ability to function adequately in the child's environment. This bill clarifies that the opinion of only one qualified expert can establish causation for severe child abuse;

(8) Upon the final hearing concerning an emergency ex parte order removing a child from the custody of the prospective adoptive parents, DCS, or a licensed child-placing agency, present law authorizes the court to enter an order removing the child from the prospective adoptive parents or other custodian or guardian of the child, and award temporary legal custody giving any person, DCS, a licensed child-placing agency, or a child-caring agency, the care and custody of the child, or may enter a guardianship or partial guardianship order, all subject to the rights of any remaining parent or guardian. This bill specifies that the court with jurisdiction over the surrender may only issue such an order if no other court is presently exercising adoption jurisdiction;

(9) Present law generally requires that putative fathers who are on the putative father registry be given notice of an adoption proceeding and have their parental rights terminated before an adoption order is entered. Present law specifies that the notice and termination requirements do not eliminate the requirement to terminate the parental rights of any person if such person meets all of the requirements of a legal or biological parent, even if such person is not registered. This bill deletes the words "or biological", thereby making the foregoing requirement applicable to "legal parents" only; and

(10) This bill specifies that conviction in another state for an offense that, if committed in Tennessee, would be grounds for initiation of termination of parental rights, does constitute grounds to initiate termination in Tennessee.