By Teresa Wiltz, The Pew Charitable Trusts, June 5, 2019.
With rising numbers of children under state supervision and a worsening shortage of foster families, more states have made it easier for parents whose rights to their children were terminated to renew those relationships, sometimes years after a court terminated legal ties.
Severing parental rights is the nuclear option of child protective services: The adult can no longer visit or contact their children, and the kids are known as “legal orphans,” because in the court’s eye, they have no parents. Still, the situation is becoming more common: In 2017 nearly 70,000 such orphans across the country were awaiting adoption, nearly a fifth more than in 2013.
This year, three states — Arkansas, Minnesota and Oklahoma — enacted laws easing the path to restoring parental rights. The laws range from allowing parents to petition courts directly for the re-connection to allowing younger children to make the request themselves. A handful more states have parental rights bills pending.
Comments (0)