Rep. Norm Thurston — Voting Record

Bill

Number

S.B. 121 (2017GS)

Sponsor

Sen. Hillyard, L.

Final action

Governor Signed 3/17/2017

Outcome

Became law — signed by Gov. Gary R. Herbert

Summary

What it does

• This bill:
• replaces "professional counselor" with "clinical mental health counselor"; and
• makes technical changes.

Every vote on this bill

Bill text

ADOPTION ACT AMENDMENTS
GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Lyle W. Hillyard
House Sponsor: 
Val K. Potter
Cosponsor:
Ralph Okerlund
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill modifies the Utah Adoption Act relating to professional counselors.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
▸ replaces "professional counselor" with "clinical mental health counselor"; and
▸ makes technical changes.
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-6-128
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2013, Chapter 458
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 
78B-6-138
(2), 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
] 
an individual
 who has legally adopted an
adoptee.
(6) "Adult" means [
a person
] 
an individual
 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
] 
an adoptee's
 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
] 
that
 contains the following
information 
on an adoptee's birth parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents
:
(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 
that is
 in the possession of the
office[
, which
] 
and that
 contains the name and address of a pre-existing parent or 
an
 adult
adoptee, or other specific information that by itself or in reasonable conjunction with other
information may be used to identify [
that person
] 
a pre-existing parent or an adult adoptee
,
including information on a birth certificate or in an adoption document.
(18) "Licensed counselor" means [
a person
] 
an individual
 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
] 
clinical mental health 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
] 
an individual
 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
] 
an individual
 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
] 
a
 child's parent; and
(b) in the case of a child defined as an "Indian 
child
" 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
] 
man
 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-6-128
 is amended to read:
78B-6-128.
Preplacement adoptive evaluations -- Exceptions.
(1) (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a child may not be placed in an
adoptive home until a preplacement adoptive evaluation, assessing the prospective adoptive
parent and the prospective adoptive home, has been conducted in accordance with the
requirements of this section.
(b) Except as provided in Section 
78B-6-131
, the court may, at any time, authorize
temporary placement of a child in a potential adoptive home pending completion of a
preplacement adoptive evaluation described in this section.
(c) Subsection (1)(a) does not apply if a pre-existing parent has legal custody of the
child to be adopted and the prospective adoptive parent is related to that child or the
pre-existing parent as a stepparent, sibling by half or whole blood or by adoption, grandparent,
aunt, uncle, or first cousin, unless the evaluation is otherwise requested by the court. The
prospective adoptive parent described in this Subsection (1)(c) shall obtain the information
described in Subsections (2)(a) and (b)[
,
] and file that documentation with the court prior to
finalization of the adoption.
(d) The required preplacement adoptive evaluation must be completed or updated
within the 12-month period immediately preceding the placement of a child with the
prospective adoptive parent. If the prospective adoptive parent has previously received custody
of a child for the purpose of adoption, the preplacement adoptive evaluation must be completed
or updated within the 12-month period immediately preceding the placement of a child with the
prospective adoptive parent and after the placement of the previous child with the prospective
adoptive parent.
(2) The preplacement adoptive evaluation shall include:
(a) criminal history record information regarding each prospective adoptive parent and
any other adult living in the prospective home, prepared no earlier than 18 months immediately
preceding placement of the child in accordance with the following:
(i) if the child is in state custody, each prospective adoptive parent and any other adult
living in the prospective home shall:
(A) submit fingerprints for a Federal Bureau of Investigation national criminal history
record check through the Criminal and Technical Services Division of the Department of
Public Safety in accordance with the provisions of Section 
62A-2-120
; or
(B) submit to a fingerprint based Federal Bureau of Investigation national criminal
history record check through a law enforcement agency in another state, district, or territory of
the United States; or
(ii) subject to Subsection (3), if the child is not in state custody, each prospective
adoptive parent and any other adult living in the prospective home shall:
(A) submit fingerprints for a Federal Bureau of Investigation national criminal history
records check as a personal records check; or
(B) complete a criminal records check, if available, for each state and country where
the prospective adoptive parent and any adult living in the prospective adoptive home resided
during the five years immediately preceding the day on which the adoption petition is to be
finalized;
(b) a report containing all information regarding reports and investigations of child
abuse, neglect, and dependency, with respect to each prospective adoptive parent and any other
adult living in the prospective home, obtained no earlier than 18 months immediately preceding
the day on which the child is placed in the prospective home, pursuant to waivers executed by
each prospective adoptive parent and any other adult living in the prospective home, that:
(i) if the prospective adoptive parent or the adult living in the prospective adoptive
parent's home is a resident of Utah, is prepared by the Department of Human Services from the
records of the Department of Human Services; or
(ii) if the prospective adoptive parent or the adult living in the prospective adoptive
parent's home is not a resident of Utah, prepared by the Department of Human Services, or a
similar agency in another state, district, or territory of the United States, where each
prospective adoptive parent and any other adult living in the prospective home resided in the
five years immediately preceding the day on which the child is placed in the prospective
adoptive home;
(c) in accordance with Subsection (6), an evaluation conducted by:
(i) an expert in family relations approved by the court;
(ii) a certified social worker;
(iii) a clinical social worker;
(iv) a marriage and family therapist;
(v) a psychologist;
(vi) a social service worker, if supervised by a certified or clinical social worker; or
(vii) a [
professional counselor
] 
clinical mental health counselor
; and
(d) in accordance with Subsection (7), if the child to be adopted is a child who is in the
custody of any public child welfare agency, and is a child who has a special need as defined in
Section 
62A-4a-902
, the preplacement evaluation shall be conducted by the Department of
Human Services or a child-placing agency that has entered into a contract with the department
to conduct the preplacement evaluations for children with special needs.
(3) For purposes of Subsection (2)(a)(ii):
(a) if the adoption is being handled by a human services program, as defined in Section
62A-2-101
:
(i) the criminal history check described in Subsection (2)(a)(ii)(A) shall be submitted
through the Criminal Investigations and Technical Services Division of the Department of
Public Safety, in accordance with the provisions of Section 
62A-2-120
; and
(ii) subject to Subsection (4), the criminal history check described in Subsection
(2)(a)(ii)(B) shall be submitted in a manner acceptable to the court that will:
(A) preserve the chain of custody of the results; and
(B) not permit tampering with the results by a prospective adoptive parent or other
interested party; and
(b) if the adoption is being handled by a private attorney, and not a human services
program, the criminal history checks described in Subsection (2)(a)(ii) shall be:
(i) submitted in accordance with procedures established by the Criminal Investigations
and Technical Services Division of the Department of Public Safety; or
(ii) subject to Subsection (4), submitted in a manner acceptable to the court that will:
(A) preserve the chain of custody of the results; and
(B) not permit tampering with the results by a prospective adoptive parent or other
interested party.
(4) In order to comply with Subsection (3)(a)(ii) or (b)(ii), the manner in which the
criminal history check is submitted shall be approved by the court.
(5) Except as provided in Subsection 
78B-6-131
(2), in addition to the other
requirements of this section, before a child in state custody is placed with a prospective foster
parent or a prospective adoptive parent, the Department of Human Services shall comply with
Section 
78B-6-131
.
(6) (a) [
A person
] 
An individual
 described in Subsection (2)(c) shall be licensed to
practice under the laws of:
(i) this state; or
(ii) the state, district, or territory of the United States where the prospective adoptive
parent or other person living in the prospective adoptive home resides.
(b) The evaluation described in Subsection (2)(c) shall be in a form approved by the
Department of Human Services.
(c) Neither the Department of Human Services nor any of its divisions may proscribe
who qualifies as an expert in family relations or who may conduct evaluations under
Subsection (2)(c).
(7) Any fee assessed by the evaluating agency described in Subsection (2)(d) is the
responsibility of the adopting parent or parents.
(8) The person [
or agency
] conducting the preplacement adoptive evaluation shall, in
connection with the evaluation, provide the prospective adoptive parent or parents with
literature approved by the Division of Child and Family Services relating to adoption, including
information relating to:
(a) the adoption process;
(b) developmental issues that may require early intervention; and
(c) community resources that are available to the prospective adoptive parent or
parents.
(9) A copy of the preplacement adoptive evaluation shall be filed with the court.