Trends in Termination of Parental Rights
& Suspended Judgments
Presented by Margaret Burt
NYS Citizens' Coalition for Children, Inc.
13th Annual Statewide Adoption Training Conference
Adoption 2002: Linking Promises to Possibilities
May 10, 2002 • Albany New York  

Accelerated Adoption Issues to Consider

Please Note: There have been several changes in NYS permanency statutes since 2002.
See LINK Family Legal Framework Resources for a list of articles by Atty. Burt reflecting current law and regulation and
the NYS OCFS website for information on recent permanency legislation.

• Agency must build into it's process regarding terminations and surrenders a review of the possibility for an accelerated adoption. Clearly not all and probably not most of the cases fall into this category but without a discussion at this stage it will never happen. All foster care workers and all persons involved in the process to decide to file a TPR or accept a surrender must be aware of accelerated adoption. Ideally whatever process is used would have built in check list to require a least a consideration.
  
• Likely types of cases would always have to include a situation where the adoptive resource had already been identified and child in that home for three months or will have been by time of adoption or situations where the court could be given good reason to waive the three months:
  • A. Parents of child are deceased

    B. Both parents willing to surrender

    C. Mother willing to surrender, no father can be identified or no consent father

    D. Abandonment

    E. Cases where parent is likely to default at time of TPR

• Establishing a fast-track process - Designating a particular worker the "accelerated adoption worker" and giving this worker responsibility to fast track any case where acceleration is a strong possibility. This worker gets assigned as the decision is made to TPR or accept a surrender and starts to immediately work on the adoption issues - having the adoptive resource get counsel, starting the home study, medical, SCR clearance and subsidy issues. Also this worker must keep in touch with ongoing foster care worker and DSS attorney re continuing to smooth the way for acceleration and semi-acceleration.
  
• Situations could occur as TPR progresses that enhance possibility for semi-accelerated adoption. DSS attomeys, foster care workers and law guardians would have to be the ones to spot these situations. Situations like:
  • A. After filing TPR, parent(s) decide to do surrender

    B. Parent defaults at time of TPR

    C. Parent admits or consent to the TPR

    D. Parent loses the TPR but appeal is not to be filed - possibilities involving parents who would "waive" appeal

    E. Parent loses the TPR and 30 days elapse (from actual service) without notice of appeal being filed

• Pool of local attomeys who do adoptions must include attomeys willing and able to do them in an accelerated format - offer increase in fee?

11/07/2006