First Substitute H.B. 173

Representative Nora B. Stephens proposes to substitute the following bill:

1 COUNSELING AND SUPPORT OF ADOPTIVE
2 FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
3 1998 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Sponsor: Nora B. Stephens
6 AN ACT RELATING TO THE DIVISION OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES;
7 REQUIRING THAT DIVISION TO PROVIDE TRAINING AND SUPPORT TO
8 POTENTIAL ADOPTIVE PARENTS AND ADOPTIVE PARENTS OF CHILDREN WHO
9 ARE OR WERE, AT THE TIME OF ADOPTION, IN THE CUSTODY OF THE DIVISION;
10 AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
11 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
12 AMENDS:
13 62A-4a-205.6, as last amended by Chapters 195 and 329, Laws of Utah 1997
14 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
15 Section 1. Section 62A-4a-205.6 is amended to read:
16 62A-4a-205.6. Adoptive placement time frame -- Contracting with agencies.
17 (1) With regard to children who have a permanency goal of adoption or for whom a final
18 plan for pursuing termination of parental rights has been approved in accordance with Section
19 78-3a-312, the division shall make intensive efforts to place the child in an adoptive home within
20 30 days after the final plan has been approved.
21 (2) If within the time period described in Subsection (1) the division is unable to locate
22 a suitable adoptive home, it shall contract with licensed child placing agencies to search for an
23 appropriate adoptive home for the child, and to place the child for adoption. The division shall
24 comply with the requirements of Section 62A-4a-607 and contract with a variety of child placing
25 agencies licensed under Part 6.

1 (3) (a) The division shall ensure that children who are adopted and were previously in its
2 custody, continue to receive the medical and mental health coverage that they are entitled to under
3 state and federal law.
4 (b) The division shall provide or contract for:
5 (i) training and support, as needed, to parents who are in the process of adopting children
6 in the custody of the division; and
7 (ii) post-adoptive family preservation services, as needed, for families who have adopted
8 children who were in DCFS custody, until the adopted child reaches 18 years of age.
9 (c) Nothing in this Subsection (3) is intended to disrupt an adoptive family unnecessarily,
10 to intrude inappropriately into family life, to prohibit the use of reasonable and safe methods of
11 parental discipline, or to prescribe, or allow the division to prescribe, a particular therapist or
12 counselor, or a particular method of therapy or parenting. Services provided pursuant to this
13 Subsection (3) shall respect the fundamental rights of the adoptive parents to direct the upbringing
14 and education of their children.
15 Section 2. Effective date.
16 This act takes effect on July 1, 1998.

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