Brief⁽¹⁾

H.B. 2820 adds a new presumption in the severance of parental rights law that a person is an unfit parent if that person has been convicted of capital murder, murder in the first or second degree, or voluntary manslaughter. A judge may disregard any such person's recommendations in regard to placement of the child or children.

The bill also makes a number of other amendments to the Code for Care of Children and an adoption statute, as follows.

• Clarifies that child safety is paramount and that efforts to maintain or reintegrate a child with the family is not appropriate when the court has found:

• a child has been subject to aggravated circumstances, e.g., torture, chronic abuse, or sexual abuse;



• a child has been abandoned;



• a parent has committed felony battery that resulted in bodily injury of this child or another child;



• a parent has killed a child; or



• a parent's rights to a sibling have been involuntarily terminated.

• When the court has found that any of the above is true or that a child has been in foster care for an extended time (defined as 15 out of the last 22 months), and there are no compelling reasons to the contrary, the court may find that reintegration is not a viable alternative. Compelling reasons not to proceed with termination or permanent guardianship include a child is in a stable placement with a relative or that services contained in the case plan as necessary for the safe return for the child have not been made available to the parent with whom reintegration is planned.



• Provides that foster parents, pre-adoptive parents, and relatives providing care for the child be given notices of hearings and granted the right to be heard in proceedings.



• Requires the county or district attorney or designee to file within 30 days of a determination that reintegration is not a viable alternative a motion to terminate parental rights. For children in the custody of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) prior to July 1, 1998, a preliminary hearing shall be held within 30 days of a request for such by the Secretary of SRS.



• Establishes "permanent guardianship," a new placement alternative, as a relationship which is intended to be permanent and self-sustaining.



• Requires a law enforcement background check (currently required for foster parents) for adoptive parents.



• Permits continuing contact between a child or children with a parent or parents who voluntarily relinquish their children for adoption if this is determined to be in the best interests of the child and is in accord with a plan agreed to by the parties involved or in accord with a court approved case plan.

Background

Supporters of H.B. 2820 in the House Committee included: the legislator who requested the bill, which is partially modeled after "Lizzies Law" from Massachusetts; the Executive Director of Best Interests of the Child, Inc.; and a representative from the Kansas National Organization for Women who also spoke on behalf of a father of a daughter who was murdered by her husband.

The Senate Committee deleted the House version of H.B. 2820 and amended instead the severance of parental rights statute to add parents who commit murder to the current presumptions of unfitness to insure due process requirements are met.

The Senate Committee also added into H.B. 2820 provisions of S.B. 683, which would amend the Kansas Code for the Care of Children to conform Kansas law with the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.

The fiscal note for S.B. 683 indicates the courts could experience a fiscal impact if there is an increase in child in need of care filings. SRS indicates that passage of the bill would have no fiscal effect. However, it indicates that if the bill does not pass, the state would no longer be in conformance with federal law and would not be eligible to receive $25.0 million in federal funds.

The Senate Committee of the Whole amended provisions of S.B. 616 dealing with dispositional alternatives of children following voluntary relinquishment of parental rights.

The original H.B. 2820 would have required automatic termination of parental rights by operation of law without any hearing for those persons convicted or adjudicated of capital murder, or murder in the first degree, when the victim was the other parent of the child. Parental rights may be terminated for those convicted or adjudicated of murder in the second degree or voluntary manslaughter when the victim is the other parent.

In the above situations, the court will disregard the guilty person's or adjudicated juvenile's wishes or opinions about the placement of the child.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.