HB 1982 -- Parenting Alternatives Law

Co-Sponsors:  Hartzler (124), Loudon, Cierpiot, Hanaway, Myers,
Gross

This bill makes several changes to the adoption laws and enacts
new legislation regarding adoption education and adoption
loans.  In its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Requires the Division of Maternal, Child and Family Health
to establish and promote adoption alternative materials,
including a video which presents adoption as an alternative
parenting option;

(2)  Requires all Department of Health family planning programs,
whether provided by the department or by third parties under
contract with the department, privately-funded adoption
agencies, or abortion facilities, to show the video to expectant
mothers who have not signed a form declining to watch;

(3)  Establishes the Parenting Alternatives Loan Fund within the
state treasury to be administered by the Department of Health,
for the purpose of assisting adoptive parents in financing the
cost of adoption;

(4)  Requires the department to promulgate rules and regulations
pertaining to standards for determining eligible adoption loan
borrowers and lists guidelines for those standards;

(5)  Requires the department to promulgate regulations
establishing standards for determining eligibility of loan
agreements to be guaranteed and lists guidelines for those
standards;

(6)  Authorizes the department to issue certificates of
guarantee covering adoption loans made through the parenting
alternative loan fund and details the procedures and parameters
of those loan guarantees;

(7)  Establishes procedures for the department to follow after
default on a guaranteed adoption loan;

(8)  Allows consents to be signed at any time before or after
the birth of the child; currently persons required to sign
consents may do so before or after the commencement of the
adoption proceeding; and

(9)  Allows 48 hours after the birth of the child for the
prospective adoptive parents to petition a court for an ex parte
order granting temporary custody until the finalization hearing
is held.