SB 141

Abstract

This Act is the result of over 6 years of work and collaboration among the Family Court, Department of Justice, Department of Services for Youth, Children, and their Families, the Office of the Child Advocate, private adoption agencies, and the Family Law Section of the Delaware Bar Association to modernize Delaware’s termination of parental rights (“TPR”) statute. This Act makes numerous technical and substantive revisions to conform and update the TPR statute with current practices and procedure, provide clarity to and ease of use for certain portions of the statute, and conform the TPR statute with the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Notable changes include: (1) Several changes to the grounds for terminating parental rights: elimination of the ground of mental incompetence, addition of murder or manslaughter of the other parent as a ground, and creation of a new ground for parents in private TPR proceedings who have failed to alleviate circumstances causing their children to be dependent or neglected in their care after receiving notice and a reasonable opportunity to address the issues. (2) Reclassifying abandonment of a child under the Safe Arms program from an involuntary TPR to a voluntary consent. (3) Increasing the standard to terminate the rights of only 1 parent from “harmful to the child” to “serious physical or emotional harm to the child.” (4) Eliminating the requirement to note the gender of a child in a TPR petition and, except where necessary in the context of a provision, replacing gender-based identifiers (man, woman, mother, father) with “parent.” (5) Enumerating clear requirements for the contents of a social report and providing DSCYF and licensed agencies more time to complete the social report in non-DSCYF custody cases. (6) Relocating the required statement that a parent has been notified of the parent’s right to file a written notarized statement with the Office of Vital Statistics denying the release of identifying information under 13 Del.C. § 923(b) from the petition to the social report. (7) Eliminating DSCYF’s ongoing obligation to report to the Court after permanent guardianship or guardianship is granted and DSCYF holds parental rights, and codifying Family Court Civil Rule 220 relating to Post-Termination Placement Orders. (8) Clarifying that the Family Court has discretion whether to accept a TPR consent, DSCYF has sole discretion to plan with a parent if it has established a ground to be relieved from planning with that parent, and the time for filing an appeal begins to run after issuance of the Court’s written order. (9) Making technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including revising language to use the active voice rather than the passive voice.