74(R) SB 291 Senate Committee Report

BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 291
By: Moncrief
Jurisprudence
03-07-95
Committee Report (Unamended)
BACKGROUND

The chapter of the Human Resources Code which provides guidelines
for the operation of voluntary adoption registries is becoming
outdated. The minimum age to apply at the registry is 21 years
old. The current process requires counselling before the
application is accepted, a waiting period between applying with a
registry and receiving information in a face-to-face conference,
and an application fee.

PURPOSE

As proposed, S.B. 291 amends the voluntary adoption registries
chapter of the Human Resources Code.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is granted
to the Department of Human Services under SECTION 1 (Section
49.015(a), Chapter 49, Human Resources Code) of this bill.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 49, Human Resource Code, as follows:

CHAPTER 49. VOLUNTARY ADOPTION REGISTRIES

Sec. 49.001. PURPOSE. Sets forth the purpose of this Act.

Sec. 49.002. DEFINITIONS. Defines "administrator," "
adoptee," "adoption," "adoption agency," "adoptive parent,"
"authorized agency," "biological parent," "biological
siblings," "birth parent," "central registry," and "registry."

Sec 49.003. ESTABLISHMENT OF VOLUNTARY ADOPTION REGISTRIES.
(a) Requires the Department of Protective and Regulatory
Services to establish and maintain a mutual consent voluntary
adoption registry.

(b)-(c) Make no changes.

(d) Requires the report required by Subsection (c) to
contain certain information. Deletes existing Section
49.004.

Sec. 49.004. New title: DETERMINATION OF APPROPRIATE
REGISTRY. (a) Requires the administrator of the central
registry to determine the appropriate registry to which an
applicant is entitled to apply.

(b) Created from existing Subsection (d). Requires the
administrator of the central registry, upon inquiry by an
adoptee, birth parent, or sibling who has provided
satisfactory proof of identification and paid all required
inquiry fees, to review the information on file in the
central index and consult with the administrators of other
registries to determine the identity of the appropriate
registry or registries through which the adoptee, birth
parent, or sibling may register. Requires the administrator
to file with the administrator of the central registry a
report containing certain information with the administrator
of the central registry if the registrant was placed for
adoption by an agency served by the registry. Deletes
existing Subsections (b) and (c).

Sec. 49.005. REGISTRATION ELIGIBILITY. (a) Authorizes an
adoptee who is 18 years or older to apply to a registry for
information about his birth parents and biological siblings.

(b) Authorizes a birth parent who is 18, rather than 21,
years or older to apply to the registry for information
about an adoptee who is a child by birth of the birth
parent.

(c) Authorizes a presumed father who is 18 years or older
and acknowledges paternity to register as a birth father if
he was not registered as such at the time of application.

(d) Authorizes a biological sibling who is 18, rather than
21, years or older to apply to a registry for information
about adopted siblings.

(e)-(f) Make no changes. Redesignates existing Section
49.006.

Sec. 49.006. New title: REGISTRATION. (a) Requires the
administrator to require each registration to sign a written
application.

(b) Authorizes an adoptee adopted or placed through an
authorized agency to register through the registry
maintained by that agency or the registry to which the
agency has delegated registry services or the central
registry maintained by the department.

(c) Provides that birth parents and biological siblings
should apply to register through the registry of the
authorized agency through which the adoptee was adopted or
placed. Authorizes the birth parents and biological
siblings to register through the central registry if the
proper registry is unknown or the agency's registry refuses
the application.

(d) Prohibits the administrator from accepting the
application for registration unless the applicant meets
certain requirements.

(e) Requires a registration to remain valid for a certain
amount of time unless earlier withdrawn.

(f) Authorizes an applicant to withdraw the registration in
writing without charge at any time.

(g) Requires the applicant to be treated as if he or she had
never registered after the registration is withdrawn or
expired.

(h) Requires a complete registry application to be accepted
or rejected within a certain time period. Requires an
administrator to provide an applicant with a written
statement with the reasons for rejection. Deletes existing
Subsections (d)-(l). Redesignates existing Section 49.007.

Sec. 49.007. PROOF OF IDENTITY. Redesignates existing
Section 49.008.

Sec. 49.008. New title: APPLICATION. (a) Requires each
application to contain certain provisions.

(b) Authorizes the application to contain the applicant's
security number if the applicant voluntarily furnishes it.

(d) Requires the application of the biological sibling to
contain certain provisions.

(e) Authorizes an application to contain additional
information through which the applicant's identity and
eligibility to register may be ascertained.

(f) Requires the administrator to assist the applicant in
filling out the application if the applicant needs help.
Prohibits the administrator from furnishing the applicant
with any substantive information necessary to complete the
application. Deletes existing Section 49.010. Redesignates
existing Section 49.009.

Sec. 49.009. FEES. (a) Makes no change.

(b) Deletes a provision requiring the Department of Human
Services (department) to collect fees. Makes nonsubstantive
changes.

Sec. 49.010. SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION. Redesignates
existing Section 49.012.

Sec. 49.011. COUNSELING. Requires the applicant to
participate in counseling for at least one hour with a social
worker or mental health professional after the administrator
has accepted the application and prior to the release of
confidential information. Deletes existing Subsections (b)-(e). Redesignates existing Section 49.013.

Sec. 49.012. MATCHING PROCEDURES. (a) Requires the
administrator to process each registration in an attempt to
match the adoptee and his birth parents or biological
siblings.

(b) Deletes a prohibition against a match being made until
the sibling of an adoptee is 21 years old. Requires the
administrator to determine that there is a match if the
adult adoptee and the birth mother, birth father, or a
biological sibling have registered.

(c) and (d) make nonsubstantive changes and conforming
changes.
(e) Makes no change. Redesignates existing Section 49.014.

Sec. 49.013. DISCLOSURE OF IDENTIFYING INFORMATION. (a)
Requires the administrator, when a match has been made, to
mail or fax each registrant a written notice containing
certain information.

(b) Deletes Subdivisions (1) and (2). Requires identifying
information about a registrant to be released without the
registrant's having consented after the match to disclosure
if certain conditions are met.

(d) Requires the administrator to prepare and release
written disclosure statements containing identifying
information about each of the registrants if the registrants
have not withdrawn their registrations within a certain time
period.

(e) Requires the administrator to notify registrants if no
match can be made and requires the administrator to disclose
the reason that a match cannot be made. Deletes existing
Sections 49.015, 49.017-49.019. Redesignates existing
Section 49.016.

Sec. 49.014. REGISTRY RECORDS CONFIDENTIAL. Redesignates
existing Section 49.020.

Sec. 49.015. RULEMAKING. Requires the department to make
rules to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
Redesignates existing Section 49.021.

Sec. 49.016. PROHIBITS ACTS; CRIMINAL PENALTIES. (a)
Provides that nothing in this chapter prevents the department
from making the existence of voluntary adoption registries
known to the public.

(b) Prohibits information received by or in connection with
the operation of a registry from being stored in any data
bank used for any purpose other than the operation of the
registry. Deletes language regarding data processing
equipment.

(c)-(g) Make no changes. Redesignates existing Section
49.022.

Sec. 49.017. IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY. (a)-(d) Redesignates
existing Section 49.023 and makes conforming changes.

SECTION 2. Amends Section 11.17(b), Family Code, to require the
clerk of the court, on entry of an order of adoption or on the loss
of jurisdiction of a court, to transmit a complete file of the case
and a report of adoption to the central registry of the department
within a specified time period. Makes conforming changes. Deletes
provisions requiring the department to close records concerning a
child.

SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1995.

SECTION 4. Emergency clause.