Adoption Bill on Special Order Calendar for March 7, 2001

RE:           HB 141 (Representative Evelyn Lynn) Adoption
                 SB 138 (Senator Skip Campbell) Adoption

FROM:    Patricia M. Chivers, Associate for Social Concerns

DATE:      March 2, 2001

Issue:    The Adoption bill is on Special Order Calendar in the House of Representatives and on Second Reading in the Senate on Wednesday, March 7, 2001.

Requested Action:   Please email your Senator and Representative today to ask for their YES vote on SB 138 (Campbell) and HB 141 (Lynn).  E-mail links for legislators are accessible at the end of this alert.

Message:    Please vote YES on SB 138 (Campbell) and HB 141 (Lynn) relating to Adoption.

Background:  Passage of HB 141 (Lynn) and SB 138 (Campbell) means positive changes to Florida's Adoption Law.

Adoption is an act of love which should benefit all members of the adoption triad: the child, the adoptive parents and the birth parents.  HB 141 and SB 138 ensure detailed attention to fairly and equitably recognizing the adoption triad and provides the maximum certainty and finality that can be achieved in the adoption process.

HB 141 and SB 138 will:

Provide that the consent to adoption may not be signed until 48 hours after the child is born or until the birth mother's release from the hospital so that the birth mother has an opportunity to recover from the delivery of the baby before signing the consent for adoption.

Provide that a birth parent of a child who is not a newborn may revoke a consent to adoption for any reason within three days of signing it. Twenty-one states provide a statutorily specified time for revocation of a birth parent's consent to adoption. California and New York have revocation periods of 90 days and 45 days respectively.

Require the adoption entity to initiate steps to notify the "father" no later than seven days after the adoption entity has been contracted in writing by the birth mother regarding her desire to place a child for adoption.

Thank you for your faithful citizenship!

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For more information, please contact Patricia M. Chivers, Associate for Social Concerns, (850) 222- 3803 or pchivers@flacathconf.org