Post–Adoption Bill Abandoned

Special Report - July 31, 2007
A bill that would weaken the rights and legal standing of adoptive parents was abandoned in a State Senate committee last week after it appeared that the committee might defeat the bill. A modified version of SB 90—Post-Adoption Contacts, sponsored by Sen. Ellie Kinnaird (D-Orange), was discussed in the Senate Mental Health/Youth Services Committee on July 24.

Under current law, the biological parents of an adopted child and the adoptive parents of the child may enter into a voluntary arrangement outlining the forms of contact or communication that may take place between the parties. Consistent with North Carolina law, the adoptive parents have complete authority over these post-adoption contacts agreements and may alter or end them at any time. The original version of SB 90, which was assigned to the Senate Judiciary 1 Committee, would have formalized these contact agreements and made them legally binding, thus granting biological family members legal standing to sue the adoptive parents in order to enforce the agreement.

With the session drawing to a close and the Judiciary 1 Committee failing to take up the bill for consideration, Sen. Kinnaird asked that SB 90 be moved to the Mental Health/Youth Services Committee, which she chairs. On July 24, Sen. Kinnaird presented a substitute version of SB 90 to the Mental Health/Youth Services Committee, which limited the scope of the bill to apply only to adoption cases in which the adopted child was removed from their biological parents because of abuse or neglect.

North Carolina Family Policy Council, director of government relations, John Rustin, joined representatives of the North Carolina Bar Association and the State Department of Social Services in testifying against this bill. “This proposal, if enacted, would blur the legal rights of adoptive parents and could expose the adoptive family to ongoing disruption and discord,” Rustin said. He also suggested to the committee that it seemed illogical to give new legal rights for binding post-adoption contacts to biological parents whose parental rights have been terminated because they had abused or neglected the adopted child.

After a full hour of committee debate and testimony, Sen. Kinnaird withdrew the bill from consideration by the committee.

Copyright © 2007. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.