Policy & Law : State Model Legislation

State Model Legislation

NCFA promotes the following state laws as model legislation, which promotes the best interests of children, birthmothers, and adoptive parents:

Putative Father Registry Laws

Effective putative father laws, such as Utah's, promote sound adoption policy by ensuring the following points:

• The law states expressly that the state has a compelling interest in holding parents accountable for meeting the needs of children, ensuring that a child born outside of marriage has as stable and permanent home as possible, and preventing disruptions of adoptive placements.
• The law establishes that, by virtue of the fact that a father or possible father has engaged in a sexual relationship with a woman, he is on notice that a pregnancy and an adoption plan may result, and has the duty of protecting his own rights and interests.
• The law provides the opportunity for an interested father to protect his rights involving the child and demonstrate his commitment by: (1) providing support for the mother and child during the mother’s pregnancy and after the child’s birth; (2) registering with a putative father registry before the child’s birth, or shortly after the birth; and (3) establishing legal paternity.  If an unmarried father, or possible father, fails to grasp the opportunity to protect his interest in a child, his inchoate interest is lost.
• The law states expressly that the putative father statute is to be strictly applied, in order to prevent courts from allowing unmarried fathers' partial or lack of compliance to interfere with the birthmother’s decision to place the child for adoption.

Other states with sound putative father statutes include Idaho, New York, and Ohio.

Mutual Consent Registry Laws

South Dakota's mutual consent registry law promotes sound adoption policy by allowing for the release of identifying information only if both the birthparent and the adopted person have provided written permission allowing for release. Mutual consent registry laws achieve an equitable balance between the desire of either party to adoption wanting to either achieve contact or exercise the right to privacy.

Preferences regarding openness and contact between birthparents and adopted persons are deeply personal and as varied as the people involved in adoption. When both birthparent and adult adopted person desire to exchange identifying information or have contact, they should be allowed to do so, but both individuals must agree.

Opponents to mutual consent registry laws argue that that they do not "work," claiming that few people use them. But the fact that some who register do not find matches does not mean that the registry does not operate as it should. The more likely explanation is that those who do not register simply choose not to share identifying information or have contact. People who so choose should be allowed to maintain their privacy.

Safe Haven Laws

Safe Haven laws allow desperate birthmothers to relinquish their newborns legally and confidentially with authorized caregivers, in designated locations, rather than abandoning them unsafely or directly harming them. Their purpose is to reduce the number of infant deaths and traumas through unsafe abandonment in such infamous places as dumpsters and toilets. These statutes work by providing the desperate birthmother a non-threatening escape from her crisis, so she will not harm her child. Once legally relinquished, the babies are placed for adoption. Some statutes include adoption-related requirements, which evidence the state’s recognition that Safe Haven laws are an important part of sound adoption policy.

The state of Illinois has passed a model Safe Haven law. Some of its most important features include:

• A finding that the legislature recognizes the need for a statute that allows desperate birthmothers to relinquish their newborns legally and confidentially with authorized caregivers, in designated locations, rather than abandoning them unsafely or directly harming them.
• A finding that it is preferable for a mother to make an adoption plan.
• Relinquishing a newborn, by itself, is not grounds for a finding of abuse, neglect, or abandonment, and persons so doing in accordance with the statute are granted immunity.
• A relinquishing person has the right to remain anonymous, as long as there is no evidence of abuse or neglect.
• The requirement that the Safe Haven inform the relinquishing person orally and as part of an information packet that, by relinquishing the newborn infant, (s)he will have to petition the court in order to prevent termination of parental rights.
• The requirement for the Safe Haven to offer, but not require the relinquishing person to accept, an information packet that includes, among other information, Illinois Adoption Registry and Medical application forms and documentation; and a resource list of counseling and adoption services.
• The requirement that the responsible public child welfare department maintain a list of licensed child-placing agencies that are willing to take legal custody of newborn infants relinquished under the Safe Haven law.
• The requirement that the responsible public child welfare department, or the licensed child-placing agency, search the putative father registry at least once 30 days after the estimated date of the child’s birth.
• The requirement that the responsible public child welfare department, or the licensed child-placing agency, verify with law enforcement officials that the relinquished newborn infant is not a missing child.
• The requirement for a public information program to advertise both the Safe Haven relinquishment alternative and the alternative to place the child for adoption through a public or private agency.

Access to non-identifying genetic or other health-related information

Missouri adoption law, like most states, includes a requirement that the adoptive parents of a minor adopted child and adult adopted persons have the unconditional right to obtain non-identifying health-related information about the adopted person’s biological family. In general, these laws provide for the right of an adopted person to petition the adoption agency that facilitated the placement, the responsible public child welfare department, or the court for this information. They also often allow the biological family to update their medical information. With the advent of DNA testing, these statutes will decline in importance, as DNA provides a more accurate and complete picture of medical predispositions.

Access to birthparent identifying information and the option of a confidential adoption.

North Carolina’s law governing access to adoption records recognizes the importance of an adoption policy that affords a birthmother the right to choose a confidential adoption.

For most birthmothers, making an adoption plan for her child is a supremely loving act, committed in the best interests of her child. There are any number of legitimate and understandable reasons that birthparents may desire privacy - perhaps the birthparent has never shared her unplanned pregnancy and decision to place the child for adoption with family members; perhaps the birthparent feels she is not psychologically able or ready to have contact; perhaps the pregnancy was an act of rape or incest; or perhaps the birthparent simply believes that the healthiest approach is not to have an ongoing relationship. Statutes that safeguard the option of privacy in adoption, and use instead mutual consent registries to enable contact when mutually desired, promote the institution of adoption.

State recognition of international adoptions

Many states have in place laws that recognize certain international adoptions without requiring the adoptive parents to undergo another adoption process upon return to the United States. These laws streamline the adoption process, eliminating a step that is unnecessary to safeguard the best interests of children, adoptive parents, and birthparents, whose interests have been protected through federal law. Louisiana’s law is just one example.

Uniform Adoption Act

The Uniform Adoption Act was approved by the National Council of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1992. Among its provisions are the requirement for home studies in advance of placement; the availability of counseling for birthparents; the exchange of non-identifying background health and social information; the release of identifying information only after mutual consent of all parties; and birthparent consent to adoption only after an informed decision-making process.