Bill Text: IA SF433 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Enrolled
Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to termination of parental rights and adoption proceedings, and providing penalties. (Formerly SSB 1093.) Effective 7-1-17.
Sponsorship: Committee Bill
Status: (Passed) 2017-05-09 - Signed by Governor. S.J. 1135. [SF433 Detail]
Download: Iowa-2017-SF433-Enrolled.html
Senate File 433 - Enrolled
SENATE FILE
BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
(SUCCESSOR TO SSB
1093)
\5
A BILL FOR
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Senate File 433
AN ACT
RELATING TO TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS AND ADOPTION
PROCEEDINGS, AND PROVIDING PENALTIES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
Section 1. Section 422.9, subsection 2, paragraph c, Code
2017, is amended to read as follows:
c. Add the amount by which expenses paid or incurred
in connection with the adoption of a child by the taxpayer
exceed three percent of the net income of the taxpayer, or of
the taxpayer and spouse in the case of a joint return. The
expenses may include medical and hospital expenses of the
biological mother which are incident to the child's birth and
are paid by the taxpayer, welfare agency fees, legal fees, and
all other fees and costs relating to the adoption of a child if
the child is placed by a child=placing agency licensed under
chapter 238 or by a person making an independent placement
an adoption service provider according to the provisions of
chapter 600. If the taxpayer claims an adoption tax credit
under section 422.12A, the taxpayer shall recompute for
purposes of this subsection the amount of the deduction by
excluding the amount of qualified adoption expenses, as defined
in section 422.12A, used in computing the adoption tax credit.
Sec. 2. Section 422.12A, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code
2017, is amended to read as follows:
a. "Adoption" means the permanent placement in this state
of a child by the department of human services, by a licensed
agency under chapter 238 an adoption service provider as
defined in section 600A.2, or, by an agency that meets the
provisions of the interstate compact in section 232.158, or
by a person making an independent placement according to the
provisions of chapter 600.
Sec. 3. Section 600.2, subsection 1, Code 2017, is amended
to read as follows:
1. "Child", "parent", "parent=child relationship",
"termination of parental rights", "biological parent",
"stepparent", "guardian", "custodian", "guardian ad litem",
"minor", "adoption service provider", "certified adoption
investigator", "adult", "agency", "department", "court", and
"juvenile court", "independent placement" mean the same as
defined in section 600A.2.
Sec. 4. Section 600.8, subsection 1, paragraph c,
subparagraph (1), Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
(1) A background information investigation of the medical
and social history of the biological parents of the minor
person to be adopted and a report of the investigation shall be
made by the agency, the person making an independent placement
adoption service provider, the department, or an a certified
adoption investigator prior to the placement of the minor
person to be adopted with any prospective adoption petitioner.
Sec. 5. Section 600.8, subsection 2, paragraph a,
subparagraph (1), Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
(1) A preplacement investigation and report of the
investigation shall be completed and the prospective adoption
petitioner approved for a placement by the person making the
investigation prior to any agency or independent adoption
service provider or department placement of a minor person in
the petitioner's home in anticipation of an ensuing adoption.
Sec. 6. Section 600.8, subsections 3, 4, 8, and 10, Code
2017, are amended to read as follows:
3. The department, an agency, or an a certified adoption
investigator shall conduct all investigations and reports
required under subsection 2 of this section.
4. A postplacement investigation and the report of the
investigation shall be completed and filed with the juvenile
court or court prior to the holding of the adoption hearing
prescribed in section 600.12. Upon the filing of an adoption
petition pursuant to section 600.5, the juvenile court or
court shall immediately appoint the department, an agency, or
an a certified adoption investigator to conduct and complete
the postplacement report. Any person who has gained relevant
background information concerning a minor person subject to an
adoption petition shall, upon request, fully cooperate with the
conducting of the postplacement investigation by disclosing any
relevant information requested, whether contained in sealed
records or not.
8. Any person designated to make an investigation and report
under this section may request an agency, certified adoption
investigator, or state agency, within or outside this state,
to conduct a portion of the investigation or the report, as
may be appropriate, and to file a supplemental report of such
investigation or report with the juvenile court or court.
In the case of the adoption of a minor person by a person
domiciled or residing in any other jurisdiction of the United
States, any investigation or report required under this section
which has been conducted pursuant to the standards of that
other jurisdiction shall be recognized in this state.
10. The department, or an agency, or a certified adoption
investigator may conduct any investigations required for
an interstate or interagency placement. Any interstate
investigations or placements shall follow the procedures and
regulations under the interstate compact on the placement of
children. Such investigations and placements shall be in
compliance with the laws of the states involved.
Sec. 7. Section 600.9, Code 2017, is amended to read as
follows:
600.9 Report of expenditures ==== penalty.
1. a. A biological parent shall not receive any thing of
value as a result of the biological parent's child or former
child being placed with and adopted by another person, unless
that thing of value is an allowable expense under subsection 2.
b. Any person assisting in any way with the placement or
adoption of a minor person shall not charge a fee which is
more than usual, necessary, and commensurate with the services
rendered.
c. If the biological parent receives any prohibited thing
of value, if a person gives a prohibited thing of value, or if
a person charges a prohibited fee under this subsection, the
person is guilty of a simple serious misdemeanor.
2. a. An adoption petitioner of a minor person shall
file with the juvenile court or court, prior to the adoption
hearing, a full accounting of all disbursements of any
thing of value paid or agreed to be paid by or on behalf of
the petitioner in connection with the petitioned adoption.
This accounting shall be made by a report prescribed by the
juvenile court or court and shall be signed and verified by the
petitioner. The report shall be accompanied by documentation
of all disbursements made prior to the date of filing of
the report. Only expenses incurred in connection with the
following and any other expenses approved by the juvenile court
or court are allowable:
(1) The birth of the minor person to be adopted.
(2) Placement of the minor person with by the adoption
petitioner and legal service provider.
(3) Legal expenses related to the termination of parental
rights and adoption processes.
(3) (4) Pregnancy=related medical care received by the
biological parents or the minor person during the pregnancy
or delivery of the minor person and for medically necessary
postpartum care for the biological parent and the minor person.
(4) (5) Living Ordinary and necessary living expenses of
the mother, permitted in an amount not to exceed including but
not limited to the cost of room and board or rent and costs
of housing, food, utilities, and transportation, for medical
purposes only, on a common carrier of persons or an ambulance
related to the pregnancy and birth of the child, in an amount
not to exceed two thousand dollars and for no longer than
thirty days after the birth of the minor person.
(5) (6) Costs of the counseling provided to the biological
parents prior to the birth of the child, prior to the release
of custody, and any counseling provided to the biological
parents for not more than sixty days after the birth of the
child.
(6) (7) Living expenses or care of the minor person if the
minor person is placed in foster care during the pendency of
the termination of parental rights proceedings.
b. All payments for allowable expenses shall be made through
the adoption service provider. An adoption service provider
shall deposit all funds received from prospective adoptive
parents as payments for allowable expenses for a designated
biological parent into an escrow account established with a
financial institution located in this state whose accounts
are insured by the federal deposit insurance corporation, the
national credit union administration, or the federal savings
and loan insurance corporation. Such escrow funds shall not
be commingled with other revenues or expense accounts of the
adoption service provider and separate accounting shall be
maintained for each prospective adoptive parent whose funds
are deposited in the escrow account. Any escrow funds not
disbursed by the adoption service provider for the benefit
of the designated biological parent shall be returned to the
prospective adoptive parents with a full accounting of all
deposits and disbursements. If the adoption service provider
is a licensed attorney, use of the attorney's state=sanctioned
trust account shall satisfy the requirements relative to the
escrow account under this paragraph.
b. c. All Any payments for allowable expenses shall be made
to the provider, if applicable, and not directly be made to the
a biological parents parent, but instead shall be made directly
to the provider of the service, product, or other activity to
which the allowable expense is attributable, if applicable.
d. The provisions of this subsection do not apply in a
stepparent adoption.
3. The juvenile court or court shall review the report prior
to the adoption hearing and shall include findings regarding
the allowance or disallowance of any disbursements or projected
disbursements in the adoption decree.
Sec. 8. NEW SECTION. 600.9A Prohibited practices ====
penalties.
1. All of the following are prohibited practices regarding a
proceeding under this chapter:
a. The provision of termination of parental rights, child
placement, or adoption services to any biological or adoptive
parent by any person other than an adoption service provider
or the department.
b. The charging of a fee by an adoption service provider
that is more than the usual and necessary fee commensurate with
the services rendered.
c. The facilitation, encouragement, or advisement of
adoptive parents by an adoption service provider to provide any
thing of value beyond those expenditures allowed pursuant to
section 600.9.
d. The knowing encouragement or solicitation of payment of
allowable expenses or provision of anything of value beyond
those expenditures allowed pursuant to section 600.9, by a
person falsely representing that a child may be available for
adoption with the intent to defraud the other person.
2. A person who commits a prohibited practice under this
section is guilty of a serious misdemeanor for the first
violation and a class "C" felony for any second or subsequent
violation.
Sec. 9. Section 600.13, subsection 5, Code 2017, is amended
to read as follows:
5. An interlocutory or a final adoption decree shall be
entered with the clerk of court. Such decree shall set forth
any facts of the adoption petition which have been proven to
the satisfaction of the juvenile court or court and any other
facts considered to be relevant by the juvenile court or court
and shall grant the adoption petition. If so designated in
the adoption decree, the name of the adopted person shall be
changed by issuance of that decree. The clerk of the court
shall, within thirty days of issuance, deliver one certified
copy of any adoption decree to the petitioner, one copy of any
adoption decree to the department and any agency or person
making an independent placement adoption service provider who
placed a minor person for adoption, and one certification
of adoption as prescribed in section 144.19 to the state
registrar of vital statistics at no charge. Upon receipt of
the certification, the state registrar shall prepare a new
birth certificate pursuant to section 144.23 and deliver to
the parents named in the decree and any adult person adopted
by the decree a copy of the new birth certificate. The parents
shall pay the fee prescribed in section 144.46. If the person
adopted was born outside this state but in the United States,
the state registrar shall forward the certification of adoption
to the appropriate agency in the state of birth. A copy of any
interlocutory adoption decree vacation shall be delivered and
another birth certificate shall be prepared in the same manner
as a certification of adoption is delivered and the birth
certificate was originally prepared.
Sec. 10. Section 600.16, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph
1, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
Any information compiled under section 600.8, subsection 1,
paragraph "c", relating to medical and developmental histories
shall be made available at any time by the clerk of court, the
department, or any agency which adoption service provider that
made the placement to:
Sec. 11. Section 600.16A, subsection 2, paragraph a, Code
2017, is amended to read as follows:
a. An agency The department or an adoption service provider
involved in placement shall contact the adopting parents or the
adult adopted child regarding eligibility of the adopted child
for benefits based on entitlement of benefits or inheritance
from the terminated biological parents.
Sec. 12. Section 600.16A, subsection 3, paragraph a,
unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2017, is amended to read as
follows:
In addition to other procedures by which adoption records
may be opened under this section, if both of the following
conditions are met, the department, the clerk of court, or the
agency which adoption service provider that made the placement
shall open the adoption record for inspection and shall reveal
the identity of the biological parents to the adult adopted
child or the identity of the adult adopted child to the
biological parents:
Sec. 13. Section 600.16A, subsection 3, paragraph c, Code
2017, is amended to read as follows:
c. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, if
the adult adopted person has a sibling who is a minor and who
has also been adopted by the same parents, the department, the
clerk of court, or the agency which adoption service provider
that made the placement may deny the request of either the
adult adopted person or the biological parent to open the
adoption records and to reveal the identities of the parties
pending determination by the juvenile court or court that there
is good cause to open the records pursuant to subsection 2.
Sec. 14. Section 600.20, Code 2017, is amended to read as
follows:
600.20 Availability of assistance.
Financial assistance shall be available only if the child
to be adopted was under the guardianship of the state, county,
or a licensed child=placing an agency immediately prior to
adoption. The one=hundred=eighty=day period of residence in
the proposed home required in section 600.10 shall not apply to
this section.
Sec. 15. Section 600A.2, Code 2017, is amended by adding the
following new subsections:
NEW SUBSECTION. 01. "Adoption service provider" means an
agency or a licensed attorney.
NEW SUBSECTION. 3A. "Certified adoption investigator"
means a person who is certified and approved by the department
of human services, after inspection by the department of
inspections and appeals, as being capable of conducting an
investigation under section 600.8.
Sec. 16. Section 600A.2, subsection 2, Code 2017, is amended
to read as follows:
2. "Agency" means a child=placing agency as defined in
section 238.1 or the department.
Sec. 17. Section 600A.2, subsection 10, Code 2017, is
amended by striking the subsection.
Sec. 18. Section 600A.4, subsection 1, Code 2017, is amended
to read as follows:
1. A parent shall not permanently alter the parent=child
relationship, except as ordered by a juvenile court or
court. However, custody of a minor child may be assumed by a
stepparent or a relative of that child within the fourth degree
of consanguinity or transferred by an acceptance of a release
of custody. A person who assumes custody or an agency adoption
service provider which accepts a release of custody under this
section becomes, upon assumption or acceptance, the custodian
of the minor child.
Sec. 19. Section 600A.4, subsection 2, paragraphs a and d,
Code 2017, are amended to read as follows:
a. Shall be accepted only by an agency or a person making an
independent placement adoption service provider.
d. (1) Shall contain written acknowledgment of the
biological parents that after the birth of the child three
hours of counseling regarding the decision to release
custody and the alternatives available have been offered
to the biological parents by the agency, the person making
an independent placement, an investigator as defined in
section 600.2, or other qualified counselor regarding the
decision to release custody and the alternatives available
to the biological parents department or an adoption service
provider. The release of custody shall also contain written
acknowledgment of the acceptance or refusal of the counseling
by the biological parent.
(2) If accepted, the counseling shall be provided after
the birth of the child and prior to the signing of a release
of custody or the filing of a petition for termination of
parental rights as applicable. Counseling shall be provided
only by a person who is qualified under rules adopted by the
department of human services which shall include a requirement
that the person complete a minimum number of hours of training
in the area of adoption=related counseling approved by the
department. If counseling is accepted, the counselor shall
provide an affidavit, which shall be attached to the release of
custody, when practicable, certifying that the counselor has
provided the biological parent with the requested counseling
and documentation that the person is qualified to provide the
requested counseling as prescribed by this paragraph "d". The
requirements of this paragraph "d" do not apply to a release
of custody which is executed for the purposes of a stepparent
adoption.
Sec. 20. Section 600A.4, subsection 2, paragraph f,
subparagraphs (1) and (4), Code 2017, are amended to read as
follows:
(1) A biological parent may also provide ongoing
information to the adoptive parents, as additional medical
or social history information becomes known, by providing
information to the clerk of court, the department of human
services, or the agency which adoption service provider that
made the placement, and may provide the current address of
the biological parent. The clerk of court, the department of
human services, or the agency which adoption service provider
that made the placement shall transmit the information to the
adoptive parents if the address of the adoptive parents is
known.
(4) The department shall prescribe forms designed to obtain
the family medical and social history and shall provide the
forms at no charge to any agency adoption service provider or
person who executes a release of custody of the minor child or
who files a petition for termination of parental rights. The
existence of this report does not limit a person's ability to
petition the court for release of records in accordance with
other provisions of law.
Sec. 21. Section 600A.4, subsection 3, Code 2017, is amended
to read as follows:
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 2, the
department or an agency or a person making an independent
placement adoption service provider may assume custody of a
minor child upon the signature of the one living parent who has
possession of the minor child if the agency or a person making
an independent placement department or an adoption service
provider immediately petitions the juvenile court designated
in section 600A.5 to be appointed custodian and otherwise
petitions, either in the same petition or within a reasonable
time in a separate petition, for termination of parental rights
under section 600A.5. Upon the custody petition, the juvenile
court may appoint a guardian as well as a custodian.
Sec. 22. NEW SECTION. 600A.6C Report of expenditures ====
penalty.
1. a. A biological parent shall not receive any thing of
value as a result of the biological parent terminating the
parent's parental rights, unless that thing of value is an
allowable expense under subsection 2.
b. Any person assisting in any way with the termination
of parental rights shall not charge a fee which is more than
usual, necessary, and commensurate with the services rendered.
c. If the biological parent receives any prohibited thing
of value, if a person gives a prohibited thing of value, or if
a person charges a prohibited fee under this subsection, the
person is guilty of a serious misdemeanor.
2. a. The petitioner shall file with the juvenile court
or court, prior to the termination hearing, a full accounting
of all disbursements of any thing of value paid or agreed
to be paid by or on behalf of the petitioner or intended
adoptive parent in connection with the petitioned termination.
This accounting shall be made by a report prescribed by the
juvenile court or court and shall be signed and verified by the
petitioner. The report shall be accompanied by documentation
of all disbursements made prior to the date of filing of
the report. Only expenses incurred in connection with the
following and any other expenses approved by the juvenile court
or court are allowable:
(1) The birth of the minor person to be adopted.
(2) Placement of the minor person by the adoption service
provider.
(3) Legal expenses related to the termination of parental
rights and adoption processes.
(4) Pregnancy=related medical care received by the
biological parents or the minor person during the pregnancy
or delivery of the minor person and for medically necessary
postpartum care for the biological parent and the minor person.
(5) Ordinary and necessary living expenses of the mother
including but not limited to the costs of housing, food,
utilities, and transportation for medical purposes related
to the pregnancy and birth of the child, in an amount not to
exceed two thousand dollars and for no longer than thirty days
after the birth of the minor person.
(6) Costs of the counseling provided to the biological
parents prior to the birth of the child, prior to the release
of custody, and any counseling provided to the biological
parents for not more than sixty days after the birth of the
child.
(7) Living expenses or care of the minor person during the
pendency of the termination of parental rights proceedings.
b. All payments for allowable expenses shall be made through
the adoption service provider. An adoption service provider
shall deposit all funds received from prospective adoptive
parents as payments for allowable expenses for a designated
biological parent into an escrow account established with a
financial institution located in this state whose accounts
are insured by the federal deposit insurance corporation, the
national credit union administration, or the federal savings
and loan insurance corporation. Such escrow funds shall not
be commingled with other revenues or expense accounts of the
adoption service provider and separate accounting shall be
maintained for each prospective adoptive parent whose funds
are deposited in the escrow account. Any escrow funds not
disbursed by the adoption service provider for the benefit
of the designated biological parent shall be returned to the
prospective adoptive parents with a full accounting of all
deposits and disbursements. If the adoption service provider
is a licensed attorney, use of the attorney's state=sanctioned
trust account shall satisfy the requirements relative to the
escrow account under this paragraph.
c. Any payments for allowable expenses shall not be made to
a biological parent, but instead shall be made directly to the
provider of the service, product, or other activity to which
the allowable expense is attributable, if applicable.
d. The provisions of this subsection do not apply in a
stepparent adoption.
3. The juvenile court or court shall review the report prior
to the termination hearing and shall include findings regarding
the allowance or disallowance of any disbursements or projected
disbursements in the termination order.
Sec. 23. Section 600A.10, Code 2017, is amended to read as
follows:
600A.10 Termination procedures ==== prohibited practices ====
penalty for violation.
1. Any biological parent who chooses to identify the
other biological parent and who knowingly and intentionally
identifies a person who is not the other biological parent in
the written release of custody or in any other document related
to the termination of parental rights proceedings is guilty of
a simple serious misdemeanor.
2. Any person who signs or accepts a release of custody
under section 600A.4 prior to the expiration of the
seventy=two=hour period required is guilty of a serious
misdemeanor.
3. a. All of the following are prohibited practices
regarding a proceeding under this chapter:
(1) The provision of termination of parental rights, child
placement, or adoption services to any biological or adoptive
parent by any person other than an adoption service provider
or the department.
(2) The charging of a fee by an adoption service provider
that is more than the usual and necessary fee commensurate with
the services rendered.
(3) The facilitation, encouragement, or advisement of
adoptive parents by an adoption service provider to provide any
thing of value beyond those expenditures allowed pursuant to
section 600A.6C.
(4) The knowing encouragement or solicitation of payment
of allowable expenses or provision of anything of value beyond
those expenditures allowed pursuant to section 600A.6C, by a
person falsely representing that a child may be available for
adoption with the intent to defraud the other person.
b. A person who commits a prohibited practice under this
subsection is guilty of a serious misdemeanor for the first
violation and a class "C" felony for any second or subsequent
violation.
Sec. 24. Section 714.8, Code 2017, is amended by adding the
following new subsection:
NEW SUBSECTION. 21. Knowingly, by deception and with intent
to defraud another person, represents that the child expected
as the result of that person's pregnancy or the pregnancy of
another person may be available for adoption.
Sec. 25. Section 714.11, subsection 1, paragraph b, Code
2017, is amended to read as follows:
b. A fraudulent practice as set forth in section 714.8,
subsections 2, 8, and 9, and 21.
JACK WHITVER
LINDA UPMEYER
W. CHARLES SMITH
TERRY E. BRANSTA
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