HBA-LJP C.S.H.B. 1635 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1635
By: King, Phil
Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
3/11/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, prospective adoptive parents do not have standing to
file suit for adoption without a valid voluntary relinquishment of parental
rights signed by the parent not earlier than 48 hours after the birth of
the child.  When an adoptive suit is filed, a home screening of the
adoptive parents' home is required to ensure that the adoptive family is
safe and suitable for the child to be adopted.  Since the adoptive parents
have to wait until the child is born to file suit the child is sometimes
placed in a foster home during the period of the home screening.  C.S.H.B.
1635 allows a person who has been named as a prospective adoptive parent of
a child by a pregnant woman or the parent of the child to confer standing
to file suit prior to the birth of the child. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1635 amends the Family Code to authorize a person who has been
named as a prospective adoptive parent of a child by a pregnant woman or
the parent of the child, in a verified statement to confer standing
(statement), regardless of whether the child has been born, to file an
original suit affecting the parent-child relationship. 

The bill authorizes a pregnant woman or a parent of a child to execute a
statement to a prospective adoptive parent and sets forth the required
contents of the statement. The bill also provides that the statement must
be attached to the petition in the suit affecting the parent-child
relationship and cannot be used for any purpose other than to confer
standing in a proceeding for adoption or to terminate the parentchild
relationship. 

The bill provides that a statement may be signed at any time during the
pregnancy of the mother of the unborn child whose parental rights are to be
terminated. The bill also provides that a statement is not required in
certain suits affecting the parent-child relationship brought by a person
who has standing to file or any other law under which a person has standing
to file a suit. 

Any time before a person executes an affidavit for voluntary relinquishment
of parental rights, the bill authorizes a person to revoke the statement to
confer standing in writing and send the revocation of the statement
(revocation) by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the
prospective adoptive parent.  On the filing of the proof of the delivery of
the revocation, the bill requires the court to dismiss any suit affecting
the parent-child relationship filed by the prospective  adoptive parent
named in the statement. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.

 COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 1635 modifies the original by adding the requirement that a
statement to confer standing (statement) contain the name of the county in
which the suit will be filed.  The substitute replaces the original time
period that a statement may be signed from any time after the first
trimester of the pregnancy to any time during the pregnancy.  The
substitute also replaces the provision that a statement may not be used for
any purpose other than to confer standing in a proceeding for which the
petition is filed with the provision that a statement may not be used for
any purpose other than to confer standing in a proceeding for adoption or
to terminate the parent-child relationship.  The substitute also adds
provisions for the revocation of the statement to confer standing.