Rep. Norm Thurston — Voting Record

Bill

Number

S.B. 54 Second Substitute (2017GS)

Sponsor

Sen. Weiler, T.

Final action

Governor Signed 3/25/2017

Outcome

Became law — signed by Gov. Gary R. Herbert

Summary

What it does

• This bill:
• amends provisions related to a birth mother's declaration regarding potential birth fathers;
• provides that, under certain circumstances, a court may allow a prospective adoptive parent to adopt a child without releasing the pre-existing parent from parental rights and duties;
• provides that any documents filed in connection with a petition for adoption are sealed; and
• permits a child-placing agency to provide certain information, except identifying information, to an adult adoptee.

Every vote on this bill

Bill text

ADOPTION REVISIONS
GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Todd Weiler
House Sponsor: 
Craig Hall
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill amends the Utah Adoption Act.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
▸ amends provisions related to a birth mother's declaration regarding potential birth
fathers;
▸ provides that, under certain circumstances, a court may allow a prospective adoptive
parent to adopt a child without releasing the pre-existing parent from parental rights
and duties;
▸ provides that any documents filed in connection with a petition for adoption are
sealed; and
▸ permits a child-placing agency to provide certain information, except identifying
information, to an adult adoptee.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
78B-6-103
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2015, Chapters 137 and 194
78B-6-110.5
, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2014, Chapter 410
78B-6-138
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2010, Chapter 237
78B-6-141
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2015, Chapters 137 and 322
78B-6-143
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2012, Chapter 340
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 
78B-6-103
 is amended to read:
78B-6-103.
Definitions.
As used in this part:
(1) "Adoptee" means a person who:
(a) is the subject of an adoption proceeding; or
(b) has been legally adopted.
(2) "Adoption" means the judicial act that:
(a) creates the relationship of parent and child where it did not previously exist; and
(b) except as provided in [
Subsection
] 
Subsections
78B-6-138
(2) 
and (4)
, terminates
the parental rights of any other person with respect to the child.
(3) "Adoption document" means an adoption-related document filed with the office, a
petition for adoption, a decree of adoption, an original birth certificate, or evidence submitted
in support of a supplementary birth certificate.
(4) "Adoption service provider" means a:
(a) child-placing agency; or
(b) licensed counselor who has at least one year of experience providing professional
social work services to:
(i) adoptive parents;
(ii) prospective adoptive parents; or
(iii) birth parents.
(5) "Adoptive parent" means a person who has legally adopted an adoptee.
(6) "Adult" means a person who is 18 years of age or older.
(7) "Adult adoptee" means an adoptee who is 18 years of age or older and was adopted
as a minor.
(8) "Adult sibling" means a brother or sister of the adoptee, who is 18 years of age or
older and whose birth mother or father is the same as that of the adoptee.
(9) "Birth mother" means the biological mother of a child.
(10) "Birth parent" means:
(a) a birth mother;
(b) a man whose paternity of a child is established;
(c) a man who:
(i) has been identified as the father of a child by the child's birth mother; and
(ii) has not denied paternity; or
(d) an unmarried biological father.
(11) "Child-placing agency" means an agency licensed to place children for adoption
under Title 62A, Chapter 4a, Part 6, Child Placing.
(12) "Cohabiting" means residing with another person and being involved in a sexual
relationship with that person.
(13) "Division" means the Division of Child and Family Services, within the
Department of Human Services, created in Section 
62A-4a-103
.
(14) "Extra-jurisdictional child-placing agency" means an agency licensed to place
children for adoption by a district, territory, or state of the United States, other than Utah.
(15) "Genetic and social history" means a comprehensive report, when obtainable, on
an adoptee's birth parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, which contains the following
information:
(a) medical history;
(b) health status;
(c) cause of and age at death;
(d) height, weight, and eye and hair color;
(e) ethnic origins;
(f) where appropriate, levels of education and professional achievement; and
(g) religion, if any.
(16) "Health history" means a comprehensive report of the adoptee's health status at the
time of placement for adoption, and medical history, including neonatal, psychological,
physiological, and medical care history.
(17) "Identifying information" means information in the possession of the office, which
contains the name and address of a pre-existing parent or adult adoptee, or other specific
information that by itself or in reasonable conjunction with other information may be used to
identify that person, including information on a birth certificate or in an adoption document.
(18) "Licensed counselor" means a person who is licensed by the state, or another state,
district, or territory of the United States as a:
(a) certified social worker;
(b) clinical social worker;
(c) psychologist;
(d) marriage and family therapist;
(e) professional counselor; or
(f) an equivalent licensed professional of another state, district, or territory of the
United States.
(19) "Man" means a male individual, regardless of age.
(20) "Mature adoptee" means an adoptee who is adopted when the adoptee is an adult.
(21) "Office" means the Office of Vital Records and Statistics within the Department
of Health operating under Title 26, Chapter 2, Utah Vital Statistics Act.
(22) "Parent," for purposes of Section 
78B-6-119
, means any person described in
Subsections 
78B-6-120
(1)(b) through (f) from whom consent for adoption or relinquishment
for adoption is required under Sections 
78B-6-120
 through 
78B-6-122
.
(23) "Potential birth father" means a man who:
(a) is identified by a birth mother as a potential biological father of the birth mother's
child, but whose genetic paternity has not been established; and
(b) was not married to the biological mother of the child described in Subsection
(23)(a) at the time of the child's conception or birth.
(24) "Pre-existing parent" means:
(a) a birth parent; or
(b) a person who, before an adoption decree is entered, is, due to an earlier adoption
decree, legally the parent of the child being adopted.
(25) "Prospective adoptive parent" means a person who seeks to adopt an adoptee.
(26) "Relative" means:
(a) an adult who is a grandparent, great grandparent, aunt, great aunt, uncle, great
uncle, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepparent, first cousin, stepsibling, sibling of a child, or
first cousin of the child's parent; and
(b) in the case of a child defined as an "Indian" under the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25
U.S.C. Sec. 1903, an "extended family member" as defined by that statute.
(27) "Unmarried biological father" means a person who:
(a) is the biological father of a child; and
(b) was not married to the biological mother of the child described in Subsection
(27)(a) at the time of the child's conception or birth.
Section 2. Section 
78B-6-110.5
 is amended to read:
78B-6-110.5.
Out-of-state birth mothers and adoptive parents -- Declaration
regarding potential birth fathers.
The procedural and substantive requirements of this section shall be required only to the
extent that they do not exceed the requirements of the state of conception or the birth mother's
state of residence.
(1) (a) For a child who is six months of age or less at the time the child is placed with
prospective adoptive parents, 
the birth mother shall sign, and the adoptive parents shall file
with the court, a declaration regarding each potential birth father, in accordance with this
section, before or at the time a petition for adoption is filed with the court,
 if, at any point
during the time period beginning at the conception of the child and ending at the time the
mother executes consent to adoption or relinquishment of the child for adoption, 
neither
 the
birth mother [
or
] 
nor
 at least one of the adoptive parents has [
not
] resided in the state for 90
total days or more, as described in Subsection (1)(c)[
, the birth mother shall file with the court
a declaration regarding each potential birth father, in accordance with this section, before or at
the time a petition for adoption is filed with the court
].
(b) The [
birth mother
] 
child-placing agency or prospective adoptive parents
 shall
search the putative father registry of each state where the birth mother believes the child may
have been conceived and each state where the birth mother lived during her pregnancy, if the
state has a putative father registry, to determine whether a potential birth father registered with
the state's putative father registry.
(c) In determining whether the 90-day requirement is satisfied, the following apply:
(i) the 90 days are not required to be consecutive;
(ii) no absence from the state may be for more than seven consecutive days;
(iii) any day on which the individual is absent from the state does not count toward the
total 90-day period; and
(iv) the 90-day period begins and ends during a period that is no more than 120
consecutive days.
(2) The declaration filed under Subsection (1) regarding a potential birth father shall
include, for each potential birth father, the following information:
(a) if known, the potential birth father's name, date of birth, social security number, and
address;
(b) with regard to a state's putative father registry in each state described in Subsection
(1)(b):
(i) whether the state has a putative father registry; and
(ii) for each state that has a putative father registry, with the declaration, a certificate or
written statement from the state's putative father registry that a search of the state's putative
father registry was made and disclosing the results of the search;
(c) whether the potential birth father was notified of:
(i) the birth mother's pregnancy;
(ii) the fact that he is a potential birth father; or
(iii) the fact that the birth mother intends to consent to adoption or relinquishment of
the child for adoption, in Utah;
(d) each state where the birth mother lived during the pregnancy;
(e) if known, the state in which the child was conceived;
(f) whether the birth mother informed the potential birth father that she was traveling to
or planning to reside in Utah;
(g) whether the birth mother has contacted the potential birth father while she was
located in Utah;
(h) whether, and for how long, the potential birth father has ever lived with the child;
(i) whether the potential birth father has given the birth mother money or offered to pay
for any of her expenses during pregnancy or the child's birth;
(j) whether the potential birth father has offered to pay child support;
(k) if known, whether the potential birth father has taken any legal action to establish
paternity of the child, either in Utah or in any other state, and, if known, what action he has
taken; and
(l) whether the birth mother has ever been involved in a domestic violence matter with
the potential birth father.
(3) [
Based
] 
Except as provided in Subsection (5), based
 on the declaration regarding
the potential birth father, the court shall order the birth mother to serve a potential birth father
notice that she intends to consent or has consented to adoption or relinquishment of the child
for adoption, if the court finds that the potential birth father:
(a) has taken sufficient action to demonstrate an interest in the child;
(b) has taken sufficient action to attempt to preserve his legal rights as a birth father,
including by filing a legal action to establish paternity or filing with a state's putative father
registry; or
(c) does not know, and does not have a reason to know, that:
(i) the mother or child are present in Utah;
(ii) the mother intended to give birth to the child in Utah;
(iii) the child was born in Utah; or
(iv) the mother intends to consent to adoption or relinquishment of the child for
adoption in Utah.
(4) Notice under this section shall be made in accordance with Subsections
78B-6-110
(7) through (12).
(5) A court may only order the notice requirements in Subsection (3) to the extent that
they do not exceed the notice requirements of:
(a) the state of conception; or
(b) the birth mother's state of residence.
Section 3. Section 
78B-6-138
 is amended to read:
78B-6-138.
Pre-existing parent's rights and duties dissolved.
(1) A pre-existing parent of an adopted child is released from all parental 
rights and
duties toward and all responsibilities for the adopted child, including residual 
parental
 rights
and duties as defined in Section 
78A-6-105
, and has no further 
parental
 rights 
or duties
 with
regard to that 
adopted
 child at the earlier of:
(a) the time the pre-existing parent's parental rights are terminated; or
(b) except as provided in Subsection (2), and subject to [
Subsection
] 
Subsections
 (3)
and (4)
, the time the final decree of adoption is entered.
(2) The 
parental
 rights and duties of a pre-existing parent [
described in Subsection (1)
]
who, at the time the child is adopted, is lawfully married to the person adopting the child are
not released [
or terminated
] under Subsection (1)(b).
(3) The 
parental
 rights and duties of a pre-existing parent [
described in Subsection (1)
]
who, at the time the child is adopted, is not lawfully married to the person adopting the child
are [
terminated
] 
released
 [
as provided in
] 
under
 Subsection (1)(b).
(4) (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the court may allow a
prospective adoptive parent to adopt a child without releasing the pre-existing parent from
parental rights and duties under Subsection (1)(b), if:
(i) the pre-existing parent and the prospective adoptive parent were lawfully married at
some time during the child's life;
(ii) the pre-existing parent consents to the prospective adoptive parent's adoption of the
child, or is unable to consent because the pre-existing parent is deceased or incapacitated;
(iii) notice of the adoption proceeding is provided in accordance with Section
78B-6-110
;
(iv) consent to the adoption is provided in accordance with Section 
78B-6-120
; and
(v) the court finds that it is in the best interest of the child to grant the adoption without
releasing the pre-existing parent from parental rights and duties.
(b) This Subsection (4) does not permit a child to have more than two natural parents,
as that term is defined in Section 
78A-6-105
.
Section 4. Section 
78B-6-141
 is amended to read:
78B-6-141.
Court hearings may be closed -- Petition, report, and documents
sealed -- Exceptions.
(1) Notwithstanding Section 
78A-6-114
, court hearings in adoption cases may be
closed to the public upon request of a party to the adoption petition and upon court approval. In
a closed hearing, only the following individuals may be admitted:
(a) a party to the proceeding;
(b) the adoptee;
(c) a representative of an agency having custody of the adoptee;
(d) in a hearing to relinquish parental rights, the individual whose rights are to be
relinquished and invitees of that individual to provide emotional support;
(e) in a hearing on the termination of parental rights, the individual whose rights may
be terminated;
(f) in a hearing on a petition to intervene, the proposed intervenor;
(g) in a hearing to finalize an adoption, invitees of the petitioner; and
(h) other individuals for good cause, upon order of the court.
[
(1)
] 
(2)
 An adoption document [
is
]
, the written report described in Section 
78B-6-135
,
and any other documents filed in connection with a petition for adoption are
 sealed.
[
(2) An adoption document
]
(3) The documents described in Subsection (2)
 may only be open to inspection and
copying [
as follows
]:
(a) in accordance with Subsection [
(4)
] 
(5)
(a), by a party to the adoption proceeding:
(i) while the proceeding is pending; or
(ii) within six months after the day on which the adoption decree is entered;
(b) subject to Subsection [
(4)
] 
(5)
(b), if a court enters an order permitting access to the
documents by [
a person
] 
an individual
 who has appealed the denial of that [
person's
]
individual's
 motion to intervene;
(c) upon order of the court expressly permitting inspection or copying, after good cause
has been shown;
(d) as provided under Section 
78B-6-144
;
(e) when the adoption document becomes public on the one hundredth anniversary of
the date the final decree of adoption was entered;
(f) when the birth certificate becomes public on the one hundredth anniversary of the
date of birth;
(g) to a mature adoptee or a parent who adopted the mature adoptee, without a court
order, unless the final decree of adoption is entered by the juvenile court under Subsection
78B-6-115
(3)(b); or
(h) to an adult adoptee, to the extent permitted under Subsection [
(3)
] 
(4)
.
[
(3)
] 
(4)
 (a) For an adoption finalized on or after January 1, 2016, a birth parent may
elect, on a written consent form provided by the office, to permit identifying information about
the birth parent to be made available for inspection by an adult adoptee.
(b) A birth parent may, at any time, file a written document with the office to:
(i) change the election described in Subsection [
(3)
] 
(4)
(a); or
(ii) elect to make other information about the birth parent, including an updated
medical history, available for inspection by an adult adoptee.
(c) A birth parent may not access any identifying information or an adoption document
under this Subsection [
(3)
] 
(4)
.
[
(4) (a) A person
]
(5) (a) An individual
 who files a motion to intervene in an adoption proceeding:
(i) is not a party to the adoption proceeding, unless the motion to intervene is granted;
and
(ii) may not be granted access to the documents described in Subsection [
(1)
] 
(2)
,
unless the motion to intervene is granted.
(b) An order described in Subsection [
(2)
] 
(3)
(b) shall:
(i) prohibit the [
person
] 
individual
 described in Subsection [
(2)
] 
(3)
(b) from inspecting
a document described in Subsection [
(1)
] 
(2)
 that contains identifying information of the
adoptive or prospective adoptive parent; and
(ii) permit the [
person
] 
individual
 described in Subsection [
(4)
] 
(5)
(b)(i) to review a
copy of a document described in Subsection [
(4)
] 
(5)
(b)(i) after the identifying information
described in Subsection [
(4)
] 
(5)
(b)(i) is redacted from the document.
Section 5. Section 
78B-6-143
 is amended to read:
78B-6-143.
Nonidentifying health history of adoptee filed with office -- Limited
availability.
(1) 
(a)
 Upon finalization of an adoption in this state, the person who proceeded on
behalf of the petitioner for adoption, or a child-placing agency if an agency is involved in the
adoption, shall file a report with the office, in the form established by the office. [
That report
]
(b) The report described in Subsection (1)(a)
 shall include a detailed health history, and
a genetic and social history of the adoptee.
(2) The report [
filed under
] 
described in
 Subsection (1)
(a)
 may not contain 
identifying
information or
 any information [
which
] 
that
 identifies the adoptee's birth parents or members
of their families.
(3) When the report described in Subsection (1)
(a)
 is filed, a duplicate report shall be
provided to the adoptive parents.
(4) The report [
filed with the office under
] 
described in
 Subsection (1)
(a)
 shall only be
available upon request, and upon presentation of positive identification, to the following
persons:
(a) the adoptive parents;
(b) in the event of the death of the adoptive parents, the adoptee's legal guardian;
(c) the adoptee;
(d) in the event of the death of the adoptee, the adoptee's spouse, if the spouse is the
parent or guardian of the adoptee's child;
(e) the adoptee's child or descendant;
(f) the adoptee's birth parent; and
(g) the adoptee's adult sibling.
(5) No 
identifying information or
 information [
which
] 
that
 identifies a birth parent or
[
his
] 
the birth parent's
 family may be disclosed under this section.
(6) The actual cost of providing information under this section shall be paid by the
person requesting the information.
(7) A child-placing agency may provide a copy of the report described in Subsection
(1)(a) and information in the child-placing agency's files, except identifying information, to an
adult adoptee, a birth parent, or an adoptive parent.
(8) Notwithstanding Subsection (7), identifying information may be released to the
extent that the individual who is the subject of the information provides written authorization
of the information's release.