AN ACT TO AMEND VARIOUS PROVISIONS UNDER THE LAWS GOVERNING ADOPTIONS AND JUVENILES. Enacted June 25, 2018. Effective October 1, 2018.
Bill Summaries: H776 ADOPTION AND JUVENILE LAW CHANGES. (NEW)
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Bill H 776 (2017-2018)Summary date: Jun 26 2018 - View Summary
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Bill H 776 (2017-2018)Summary date: Jun 12 2018 - View Summary
Senate committee substitute makes the following changes to the 1st edition.
Further amends GS 48-3-605 to allow a parent or adoptee who has not reached the age of 18 to be identified via affidavit by a licensed professional social worker.
Deletes proposed Part II which made changes to GS 48-2-205, concerning the recognition of adoption decrees from other jurisdictions, and to GS 48-2-301, concerning readoption. Deletes Part V which amended GS 48-2-402 concerning service by publication. Makes conforming changes by renumbering the remaining bill sections.
Amends GS 48-3-303(g) by correcting the reference to replacement assessments to preplacement assessments.
Adds Part VIII amending GS 131D-10.9B by amending the strategies that the Permanency Innovation Fund must support by deleting the family finding. Changes the name of the Child Specific Adoption Recruitment Services to the Child Focused Recruitment Services and adds that these services include enhanced family engagement practices to discover and engage relatives of children living in public foster care. Amends the Permanency Training Services strategy so that it is defined as services delivered by Children's Home Society of North Carolina to enhance (was, to assess) the readiness of county departments of social services to implement the permanency strategies under the strategy above and provide training services to support service delivery.
Adds Part IX amending GS 7B-101(1) to include as abused juveniles any juvenile less than 18 years old who is found to be a minor victim of human trafficking. Also amends GS 7B-101(15) by adding to the definition of neglected juvenile a juvenile less than 18 years of age who is found to be a minor victim of human trafficking. Makes conforming changes. Enacts new GS 14-43.15 providing that any minor victim of the specified human trafficking, involuntarily servitude, and sexual servitude statutes must be alleged to be abused and neglected and the provisions of GS Chapter 7B Subchapter I apply.
Changes the act's effective date from October 1, 2017, to October 1, 2018.
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Bill H 776 (2017-2018)Summary date: Apr 12 2017 - View Summary
Amends GS 48-3-605 (Execution of consent: procedures). Amends the provision authorizing minor parents who have not reached the age of 18 to be identified by an affidavit to additionally apply that provision to adoptees who have not reached the age of 18. Requires a social worker providing the affidavit to be employed by an agency or a county department of social services. Authorizes an affidavit by an adult who has known the minor for more than two years, in the event that no other listed person to whom the minor does not object is available.
Amends GS 48-2-205 (Recognition of adoption decrees from other jurisdictions). Requires two persons (currently, a man and a woman) who adopted a child in a foreign country while married to one another to readopt jointly. Provides for adoption by one person, where two persons adopted a minor child in a foreign country while married to one another and one of them has died.
Amends GS 48-2-301 (Petition for adoption; who may file). Provides that two persons (currently, a man and a woman) who jointly adopted a minor child in a foreign country. Provides for the survivor of two persons who jointly adopted a minor child in a foreign country while married to each other to file to readopt in the names of both persons.
Amends GS 48-3-606 (Content of consent; mandatory provisions) and GS 48-3-703 (Content of relinquishment; mandatory provisions). Authorizes the consent to adoption and relinquishment to designate the minor's name as "Baby [Last Name of Biological Mother]" or a similar designation.
Amends GS 48-3-607 (Consequences of consent) and GS 48-3-705 (Consequences of relinquishment). Authorizes prospective adoptive parents with whom a minor has been placed in an independent adoption and who have filed a petition for adoption of the minor, and agencies or county departments of social services to whom a minor has been relinquished, to apply ex parte to a clerk of superior court for an order finding that the child has been placed with the petitioner and confirming that the petitioner has legal and physical custody of the minor for the purposes of obtaining a certified copy of the child's birth certificate, a Social Security number, or federal and State benefits for the minor, after the time within which the relinquishing parent or guardian may revoke the relinquishment has expired.
Amends GS 48-2-206 (Prebirth determination of right to consent) to provide that if the identity or whereabouts of a biological father cannot be ascertained and the biological father is served by publication, then the 30-day notice requirements otherwise required by this statute do not apply, and the biological father has 40 days from the date of first publication to answer in accordance with this statute.
Makes a conforming change to GS 7B-1105.
Amends GS 48-2-402 (Manner of service). Provides that the statute does not require an agency or other proper person to file a petition to terminate the parental rights of unknown, known, or possible parents who have been notified by publication, when the parent or guardian placing a child for adoption and the adopting parent have consented to the release of identifying information under GS 48-9-109(2).
Amends GS 48-3-303 (Content and timing of preplacement assessment). Provides that the most recent amended or updated preplacement assessment that meets the requirements of this statute and GS 48-3-301 constitutes the preplacement assessment for the purpose of meeting any requirement of GS Chapter 48 that a copy of the preplacement assessment be delivered to a court or a placing parent, guardian, or agency.
Effective October 1, 2017.