THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412030289
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Frank and Katharine Wood of Alexandria experienced the joy of adoption - and then the heartbreak of giving up the child six months later because the birth mother changed her mind.
``It was like a death in the family,'' Frank Wood said.
The Woods hope legislation proposed Friday by a General Assembly study committee will spare other couples the same pain.
The Woods helped draft the bill, which would require a court hearing within 10 days after the filing of a ``parental placement adoption'' petition. A parental placement adoption is one in which the birth parents choose the adoptive parents.
The birth parents would have 15 days after the adoption is approved to withdraw their consent.
``What we're trying to do is have an absolute date when parental rights are terminated for the birth parents and given to the adoptive parents,'' said Del. Linda Puller, D-Mount Vernon, chairwoman of the panel.
``Under the law now, the clock doesn't start ticking until the birth mother gets to court and signs the papers - and that can take months,'' Puller said. ``We're moving up the docket preference for these cases.''
The Woods had their adopted son for 2 1/2 months before the birth mother, who had chosen them as her baby's parents, changed her mind. After a 3 1/2-month legal battle, the child was returned to his birth mother.
``All the bonding that took place the first six months of his life was ripped way from him,'' Katharine Wood said.
Puller said the legislation, which she and Sen. Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake, will sponsor, should ``make it crystal clear'' how much time the birth parents have to make a final decision.
``It's a difficult time for everyone involved'' when a baby is given up for adoption, Puller said. ``We need to be fair to the birth mother. But she has to be aware of what any indecisiveness is doing to the adoptive parents.''
In addition to setting a specific deadline for rescinding a parental placement adoption, the legislation would make several other changes in current law.
One change would make it clear that when the child is conceived as a result of a rape, the birth father does not have to consent to the adoption - or even be notified about it.
In other cases where the identity of the birth father is known, his consent to the adoption would be required.
If he refused to consent, a hearing would be conducted within three weeks to determine the best interests of the child. by CNB