If you read my newsletter last week, you’ve seen that adoption is a top legislative priority of mine for the 2023 session. For those of you who don’t know, I was adopted! Since taking my seat in the House, protecting the child, along with both the adoptive and biological families, has been a huge priority of mine, and I’ve enjoyed learning new ways to do so.
That being said, I wanted to dedicate this issue to several of the bills affecting adoption this session by providing a detailed and comprehensive rundown of each bill. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done when it comes to adoption system in the State of Iowa and I hope these bills are a few big steps forwards in the right direction!
Adoption Bills
HF58: This bill provides assurances to mothers considering placing their unborn child for adoption by allowing them to revoke their voluntary termination of parental rights after the allotted time if the father later declines to terminate his rights.
HF59: This bills allows for the waiver of an in home placement investigation if the child to be adopted by the child’s guardian and has been in the home for at least 3 years.
HF60: This bill allows for the addition of biological parent information of an adult adopted person to an original certificate of birth if both the father or mother (or their legal representatives) agree .
HF61: This bill expands the role of the State Public Defender’s office by permitting them represent all adoptive parents and guardians ad litem who are adopting children out of the foster care system.
HF114: This bill requires employers to extend the same parental family leave policies that they have for biological parents to adoptive parents of children up to the age of 6.
I will be floor managing each of these bills and hope to have them all through subcommittees and the full Judiciary Committee in the next couple of weeks. I want to take a quick moment to thank my friend and colleague, Representative Megan Jones from Clay County for co-sponsoring these bills with me.
That’s all for this week! Should you have questions or concerns about any or all of these bills, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Remember, I work for you, and can only do so effectively with your feedback.
