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This winter, an important piece of legislation that affects access to records, post-adoption contact agreements, and Child Centered Recruitement will be before the Ohio Legislature. To be kept up to date on the bill, please sign up for our email list below
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Get updates on the legislation here
Read the analysis of the bill here.
H.B. 7 Updates
download a PDF of the bill
Read LSC analysis of the bill
All Available PDF's Including Hearing Testimony
Click Here for contact information for all members of the Ohio House Health Committee, which is holding hearings on H.B. 7
The next hearing will be Wednesday, January 16th at 10AM in Hearing Room 121 at the Statehouse.
On 1/9/07, Betsie Norris, Adoption Network Cleveland's Executive Director, testified on behalf of H.B. 7 at the invitation of the bill's sponsor.
The following is the Gongwer News Service writeup of the hearing:
HB 7 ADOPTION (Brinkman) To formally state the General Assembly's intentions in its upcoming deliberations on reforming Ohio's adoption laws. Full Text (1st Hearing-Sponsor & selected proponents)
CONTINUED-SUBSTITUTE
The committee adopted a substitute version of what Chairman White said had merely been a "placeholder" bill until now.
Rep. Brinkman offered sponsor testimony on the measure, saying it would "make adoptions faster, easier, and cheaper.
"I have introduced legislation to ban abortions, but had not done anything to help with a viable alternative - that of adoption," he said.
Two children's services advocates offered proponent testimony that described provisions of the bill.
Betsie Norris, executive director of the Adoption Network of Cleveland, said the proposal would eliminate the current three-tiered system blocking access to adoption records, "helping remove the shroud of secrecy and stigma from adoption."
The bill would also create a task force to create a uniform child-centered recruitment model that has greatly reduced the number of children awaiting adoption in Cuyahoga County, she said.
Greg Kapcar, assistant legislative director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, said the bill includes provisions that would reduce barriers to foster caregivers and adoptive candidates by streamlining the bureaucracy. (PCSAO bill summary)
The measure would require the Department of Job & Family Services adopt rules to align the foster care certification and adoption approval processes, he said.
It would also reduce the number of children that are indefinitely left waiting in the Planned Permanent Living Arrangement, Mr. Kapcar said. "It is believed this category is overused as a convenient solution to hesitancy to terminating parental rights."
Noting that some birth parents didn't want to be identified, Rep. Boyd asked how the bill would affect such situations.
Ms. Norris said society has shifted toward allowing more openness on adoption records, adding the number of parents that want to the records sealed is surprisingly small. Rep. Brinkman said the records would only be available to adopted children, not the general public.
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