HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 6219

As Amended by the House

BYSenate Committee on Children & Family Services (originally sponsored by Senators Kreidler and Kiskaddon)

Changing the review standard for consent to adoption.

House Committe on Human Services

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (9)

      Signed by Representatives Brekke, Chair; Scott, Vice Chair; Anderson, Leonard, Moyer, Padden, H. Sommers, Sutherland and Winsley.

House Staff:John B. Welsh, Jr.  (786-7133)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 6, 1988

BACKGROUND:

The adoption chapter requires a preplacement report to be filed with the court when prospective adoptive parents petition for adoption.  The agency with temporary custody of the child must consent or refuse consent to the adoption, based on the preplacement report.

Prospective adoptive parents are allowed to have additional reports by experts completed if they disagree with the report of the custodial agency, but the court may bypass consent of the agency only if the adoption is in the best interests of the child and the court finds that the agency's refusal to consent is "arbitrary and capricious".

Even if the family can prove to the court that the best interests of the child would be served by granting the adoption petition, the arbitrary and capricious standard is nearly impossible to prove.  As a result, a court is usually precluded from overturning an adoption agency decision regardless of the best interests of a child.

Since the 1940's, adoption has been characterized as a closed proceeding with original birth records sealed, and closed door courtroom proceedings excluding even the child in certain circumstances.  Secrecy has pervaded the process in order to prevent the adoptive parents from undergoing unwanted intrusion from the birth parents, to protect the child whom it was felt could not cope with the information, and to allow the birth parents to continue on with their lives.

Recent research has shown that there may be benefits to a more flexible arrangement on a case- by-case basis particularly when necessary for medical reasons such as bone marrow transplants or other situations where the genetic background of an individual is required.

The Washington State Code Review Panel recommended that allowance be made in statute for open adoptions at the court's discretion in order to have flexibility in instances where an open adoption would serve the best interests of the child. This discretion would apply to prospective adoptions only.

SUMMARY:

The court is no longer required to find that a custodial adoption agency acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when refusing to consent to an adoption.  The court may dispense with the consent requirement if it finds an adoption is in the best interest of the child.

The court may order that an adoption be open when it is in the best interests of the child to have information about it's natural parents and when the best interests of that child will not be affected by the natural parents knowing information about the child.  All parties to the proceedings, including birth parents, must agree to the open adoption.

Any party to the adoption proceeding may file a proposed adoption contract which shall be included in the adoption order at the court's discretion. The contract shall include a method of initiating contact between the parties, the nature of any agreement between the parties, and a statement regarding the child's right to refuse contact.  An adoption shall not be set aside due to violation of the contract. A stipulation that all parties to the adoption contract agree to its terms shall be included in the contract.  All parties shall sign the agreement.

The parties to an adoption hearing may disclose information regarding the hearing in accordance with the adoption contract issued in open adoptions.  The records of adoption proceedings may be inspected in accordance with an open adoption order.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Senator Bill Kiskaddon.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    If a judge finds that the best interests of a child would be served by an adoption, the prior consent of the agency having temporary custody should not be necessary. The clear, cogent and convincing standard of evidence for a judicial determination of the best interests of the child is enough to guard against an erroneous adoption.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.