Assembly approves changes in adoptions

Thursday, April 29, 1999 | 11:35 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A bill that would speed placement of abused and neglected children into permanent adoptive homes was unanimously approved by the Assembly Thursday after one member complained that animals sometimes get better treatment than young people.

Assembly Bill 158, which now goes to the Senate, would change the law in the placement of children in foster care and in the adoption system.

"This will be a great help to those who are trying to adopt a child," Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, said. "Sometimes we take better care of our animals than our children."

The Assembly Judiciary Committee heard complaints from foster parents about delays in the system, splitting up siblings between families and the handling of cases by the state Division of Child and Family Services.

Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, said people complain that the children "are stuck forever in the system." She said the bill will speed up decisions and action.

Koivisto, who headed a subcommittee that drafted the current version of AB158, said the measure encourages keeping siblings together. She said it's "traumatic enough" for a child to be placed in a foster home and at the same time lose his or her brothers and sisters.

She praised Steve Shaw, director of the Child and Family Services Division, for "bending over backwards to work with us" on the legislation.

Some foster parents, particularly those living in the Yerington area, criticized Shaw's agency, saying they were often kept in the dark on their applications to adopt children and the process was unnecessarily delayed.

The bill requires the division to notify people in writing, as soon as possible whether their applications for adoption or becoming foster parents will be approved. Koivisto said the bill encourages the courts "to use their best efforts" to ensure that termination of parental rights are completed within six months after the state or county files a petition.

AB158 then requires the courts to hold a hearing for the permanent placement of a child no later than 12 months after removal from the home. The limit now is 18 months.

It allows the creation of local advisory boards in the rural counties to expedite the division's placement of children. And those people who have a special interest in a child are notified and involved in the plan for temporary and permanent placement. Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, called it the "most important single bill" of the session.

The Judiciary Committee heard testimony about children being bounced from foster home to foster home.

"Sometimes we take better care of our animals than our children."John CarpenterREPUBLICAN ASSEMBLYMAN, ELKO