I found this article interesting. I understand the reason for it after the Baby Veronica debacle. Although I think this would be an impossibility because sometimes birth mothers do not know who the biological father is or maybe the biological father does not want to be found. There are a number of reasons this may not work. It could however have a HUGE impact on Oklahoma adoptions. Stay tuned to see how it all turns out.
Oklahoma lawmakers hear debate on adoption reform bill
OKLAHOMA CITY — The last time these attorneys argued against each other, 4-year-old Baby Veronica went back to South Carolina.
Several key players from both sides of that epic custody battle met again Thursday, not at a courthouse this time, but at the state Capitol to debate an adoption reform bill that some supporters call “Veronica’s Law.”
Linda Kats, a professional counselor who helped draft House Bill 2442, doesn’t like the nickname.
“This is about the bigger issue of how adoptions are viewed and handled,” she told a group of about 20 lawmakers and advocates on both sides of the issue. “This isn’t really about Veronica.”
Yet the bill is designed, in part, to prevent the kind of situation that started Veronica’s saga. Her biological father fought for custody — and temporarily won it — after arguing that he was tricked into signing away his rights.
HB 2442, officially named the Oklahoma Truth in Adoption Act, would require biological fathers to appear in front of a judge to relinquish rights before an adoption could proceed.
“If this becomes law, you’re not going to have adoptions in Oklahoma,” said Noel Tucker, one of the adoption attorneys who helped Matt and Melanie Capobianco ultimately regain custody and take Veronica home last September.
Birth mothers will leave the state to arrange adoptions, or maybe seek abortions rather than risk letting the biological fathers gain custody, Tucker said.
“Abortion is going to be chosen more often,” she said. “It’s a discussion we hear in our offices every day.”
Other opponents of the bill suggested that more children will wind up in state custody as birth mothers keep babies who then become mistreated or neglected.
“I hope you’re prepared to spend more money on foster care,” one adoption advocate told legislators.
Rep. Wade Rousselot, a Wagoner Democrat who sponsored the bill, organized the meeting but said very little.
“We’re here to listen,” he said, gesturing toward Republican Rep. Sean Roberts of Tulsa, who has proposed a separate but similar adoption reform bill.
Neither piece of legislation seems likely to reach the House floor in its current form, Roberts said.
“Until it is signed into law, every bill is a work in progress,” he said. “This is just a starting point.”
The Legislature will probably form a study group that will push a vote on the issue into next year, he said.
Adoption attorneys could support stricter requirements on giving notice to biological fathers, said Paul Swain, another attorney for Baby Veronica’s adoptive parents.
But to require biological fathers to appear in court “would just be absurd,” Swain said.
“Even if you can find these guys, they aren’t going to cooperate,” he said, noting that he has 27 years of adoption experience.
“Most often, the response we get is, ‘I don’t care. Leave me alone.’ ”
Oklahoma’s proposed legislation, however, follows the wording of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which requires a biological father to appear in front of a judge if the adoption involves a Native American child.
“It happens every day,” said Chrissi Nimmo, an assistant attorney general for the Cherokee Nation who fought to keep Veronica with the tribe in Oklahoma. “And there’s no evidence at all that the abortion rate is higher for tribal populations because of this, either.”
She rejected the stereotypes of biological fathers. Some are unwilling or unfit to raise a child, and in those cases the courts should take away their parental rights, she said.
“But I see the other side of it, too,” Nimmo said. “There are fathers who are more than willing and more than capable of raising their children, and their children are being taken away from them. What good does it do?”
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