HB1285 (2006) Detail

(New Title) relative to adoption.


CHAPTER 200

HB 1285 – FINAL VERSION

01Feb2006… 0379h

05/04/06 2064s

2006 SESSION

06-2159

05/01

HOUSE BILL 1285

AN ACT relative to adoption.

SPONSORS: Rep. McRae, Hills 7

COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill corrects an obsolete reference to the bureau of vital records and health statistics and clarifies the effect of an adoption decree on inheritance rights and privileges.

The bill also clarifies the putative father registration process and requires putative fathers to indicate their intent to support the child when they sign the registry.

The bill clarifies the circumstances under which a parent surrendering parental rights has a right to counsel. The bill also provides that the surrender of parental rights is not required of an alleged father who is convicted of an offense that resulted in the conception of the adoptee.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01Feb2006… 0379h

05/04/06 2064s

06-2159

05/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six

AN ACT relative to adoption.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

200:1 Adoption; Purpose Statement. Amend RSA 170-B:1, I to read as follows:

I. The adoptive child, from unnecessary separation from the child’s birth parents and from adoption by parents who should not have such responsibility. This protection also includes the protection of the child from a birth parent attempting to surrender his or her parental rights and responsibilities without a pending legitimate adoption of the child first being filed with the court or in the case of an adoption facilitated by the department or an agency, without an adoption first being contemplated.

200:2 Notice to Person Claiming Paternity and Hearing to Determine Right to Surrender; Putative Father Registry. Amend RSA 170-B:6, I(c) to read as follows:

(c) A person who claims to be the father and who has [filed notice of] registered his claim of paternity with the office of child support services in what shall be known as the New Hampshire putative father registry or in the putative father registry of the state where the child was born. [In an interstate adoption, the petitioner shall provide the court with the address and telephone number of the putative father registry in the state where the child was born. In New Hampshire, the notice form shall be supplied by the office of child support services and shall indicate the claimant’s willingness and intent to support the child to the best of his ability.] The [notice] registration form filed with the appropriate putative father registry may be filed prior to the birth of the child but shall be filed prior to the birth mother’s parental rights being surrendered pursuant to RSA 170-B:9 or involuntarily terminated. Failure to [file the notice] register with the appropriate putative father registry prior to this time shall bar the alleged father from thereafter bringing an action to establish his paternity of the child, and shall constitute an abandonment of said child and a waiver of any right to a notice of hearing in any adoption proceeding concerning the child.

(1) In an interstate adoption, the petition shall provide the court with the name, address, and telephone number of the putative father registry in the state where the child was born.

(2) In New Hampshire, the registration form shall be supplied by the office of child support services. The form shall require the claimant to affirmatively express his intent to support the child to the best of his ability.

200:3 Notice to Person Claiming Paternity and Hearing to Determine Right to Surrender; Court Notice. Amend RSA 170-B:6, II and III to read as follows:

II. Any person entitled to notice from the court under paragraph I shall be provided 30 days from the date of the court’s notice to request a hearing at which he shall have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he is the legal or birth father of the child. The failure to request such hearing within 30 days from the date of the court’s notice shall result in a forfeiture of all parental rights and any right to notice by the court of any adoption proceedings concerning the child.

III. This section shall be construed broadly in favor of providing an alleged father with notice by the court pursuant to paragraph I.

200:4 Procedure for Execution of Surrender; Clarification of Right to Counsel. Amend RSA 170-B:9, I to read as follows:

I. Any parent surrendering parental rights shall be represented by legal counsel who is not representing an intended adoptive parent or the agency, unless such representation is waived with approval of the court for good cause shown. This paragraph is not intended, however, to create a right to counsel to be provided by the state where the surrendering parent is indigent. Instead, this paragraph is intended to make clear that the petitioning party to the adoption shall provide the surrendering parent with legal counsel consistent with RSA 170-B:13, I unless waived by the court for good cause shown.

200:5 Content of Surrender; Clarification of Right to Counsel. Amend RSA 170-B:10, II(c)(2) to read as follows:

(2) Been provided legal counsel, consistent with RSA 170-B:9, I and RSA 170-B:13, I, unless waived with approval of the court for good cause shown.

200:6 Consequences of Surrender. Amend RSA 170-B:11, I to read as follows:

I. All parental rights, with the exception of inheritance rights and privileges as provided in RSA 170-B:25, II, shall cease and the right to notice of any future hearings shall be waived by a surrender executed in accordance with RSA 170-B:9 and approved by the court.

200:7 Petition for Adoption; Amend 170-B:16, IV(a) to read as follows:

(a) As the caption, “In [the Matter of] the Adoption of ____________”. The adoptee shall be designated in the caption under the person’s birth name.

200:8 Report of Adoption; Hard Copy Required; Reference Change. Amend RSA 170-B:22, I to read as follows:

I. Within 7 days after the final decree is filed, the register of probate shall send a hard copy of the report of the adoption to the town clerk of the town where the adoptee was born [and], to the commissioner, [by mail a report of the adoption] and to the department of state, division of vital records administration. The [bureau of vital records and health statistics] department of state, division of vital records administration shall provide suitable forms for such reports.

200:9 Requests for Identifying and Non-Identifying Information. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 170-B:24, II to read as follows:

II. If the parties mutually [consent] agree to the release of identifying information, it shall be released as provided in this paragraph.

200:10 Effect of Petition and Decree of Adoption; Inheritance. Amend RSA 170-B:25, II to read as follows:

II. [Upon] Until the issuance of the final decree of adoption, the adoptee shall [no longer] be considered the child of such adoptee’s birth parent or parents [and shall no longer be entitled to any of the rights or privileges or subject to any of the duties or obligations of a child with respect to the birth parent or parents] only with respect to inheritance rights or privileges; but, when a child is adopted by a stepparent, the child’s relationship to such child’s birth parent who is married to the stepparent shall in no way be altered by reason of the adoption.

200:11 Effect of Petition and Decree of Adoption; Inheritance. Amend RSA 170-B:25, IV to read as follows:

IV. [Upon] Until the issuance of a final decree of adoption, all reciprocal rights of inheritance between the adoptee and the adoptee’s birth parents and their respective collateral or lineal relatives shall [contemporaneously cease] continue to exist.

200:12 Readoption; Reference Change. Amend RSA 170-B:27, I to read as follows:

I. Any [minor child] adoptee may be readopted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. All provisions relating to the birth parent or parents shall apply to the adoptive parent or parents except that in no case of readoption shall a birth parent be made a party to the proceedings, nor shall the surrender of parental rights by a birth parent be necessary. For purposes of service of process, necessary parties and surrender, the adoptive parent or parents shall be substituted for the birth parent.

200:13 Persons Not Required to Surrender. Amend RSA 170-B:7, V to read as follows:

V. A parent whose parental rights have been terminated pursuant to RSA 170-C; [or]

V-a. An alleged father who is convicted of an offense under RSA 632-A:2, RSA 632-A:3, RSA 632-A:4, or RSA 639:2 which resulted in conception of the adoptee; or

200:14 Applicability. This act shall apply to any adoption proceeding filed or pending on or after the effective date of this act.

200:15 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

Approved: May 31, 2006

Effective: July 30, 2006