The Committee on Family and Veterans' Services proposes the following amendment (SR-121.QG0001S):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, SECTION 1, by striking Section 63-7-40(B)(2) and inserting:

  (2) The safe haven must offer the department must publish information on the agency's website, including a pamphlet explaining the process, accessible to any person leaving the infant information provided by the department concerning the legal effect of leaving the infant with the safe haven.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 2, by striking Section 63-7-1700(A) and inserting:

 (A) The family court shall review the status of a child placed in foster care upon motion filed by the department to determine a permanent plan for the child. The permanency planning hearing must be held no later than one year nine months after the date the child was first placed in foster care. At the initial permanency planning hearing, the court shall review the status of the child and the progress being made toward the child's return home or toward any other permanent plan approved at the removal hearing. The court's order shall make specific findings in accordance with this section. An action for permanency planning must be brought for a child who enters the custody of the department by any mechanism, including subarticle 3 or Section 63-7-1660 or 63-9-330. If the child enters the custody of the department pursuant to Section 63-9-330 and no action is pending in the family court concerning the child, the department may initiate the permanency planning hearing with a summons and petition for review. All parties must be served with the motion or the summons and petition at least ten days before the hearing, and no responsive pleading is required.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 3, by striking Section 63-7-1700(E) and inserting:

 (E) Unless subsection (C), (F), or (G) applies, if the court determines at the permanency planning hearing that the child should not be returned to the child's parent at that time, the court's order shall require the department to file a petition to terminate parental rights to the child not later than sixty days after receipt of the order. If a petition to terminate parental rights is to be filed, the department shall exercise and document every reasonable effort to promote and expedite the adoptive placement and adoption of the child, including a thorough adoption assessment and child-specific recruitment. Adoptive placements must be diligently sought for the child and failure to do so solely because a child is classified as "special needs" is expressly prohibited. An adoption may not be delayed or denied solely because a child is classified as "special needs". Within sixty days one hundred and twenty days of the filing of the petition to terminate parental rights, the department shall complete and file with the court a background investigation and report, as provided for in Section 63-9-520(A)(1)(c). For purposes of this subsection:
  (1) "thorough adoption assessment" means conducting and documenting face-to-face interviews with the child, foster care providers, and other significant parties; and
  (2) "child specific recruitment" means recruiting an adoptive placement targeted to meet the individual needs of the specific child including, but not be limited to, use of the media, use of photo listings, and any other in-state or out-of-state resources which may be utilized to meet the specific needs of the child, unless there are extenuating circumstances that indicate that these efforts are not in the best interest of the child.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 6, by striking Section 63-7-1700(I)(3) and inserting:

  (3) After the termination of parental rights hearing, the requirements of Section 63-7-2580 must be met. Permanency planning hearings must be held annually quarterly, starting with the date of the termination of parental rights hearing. No further permanency planning hearings may be required after filing a decree of adoption of the child or an order establishing legal guardianship.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 6, by striking Section 63-7-1700(I)(5) and inserting:

  (5) If the child is retained in foster care pursuant to a plan other than one described in items (1) through (4), future permanency planning hearings must be held at least annually every nine months.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 7, by striking Section 63-7-1710(B) and inserting:

 (B) Concurrently with filing of the petition, the department shall seek to identify, recruit, process, and approve a qualified family for adoption of the child if an adoptive family has not yet been selected and approved. Within sixty days of the filing of the petition to terminate parental rights, the department shall complete and file with the court a background investigation and report, as provided for in Section 63-9-520(A)(1)(c).

Amend the bill further, SECTION 8, by striking Section 63-7-2550 and inserting:

 Section 63-7-2550. (A)A summons and petition for termination of parental rights must be filed with the court and served on:
  (1) the child, if the child is fourteen years of age or older;
  (2) the child's guardian ad litem, appointed pursuant to Section 63-7-2560(B), if the child is under fourteen years of age;
  (3) the parents of the child; and
  (4) an agency with placement or custody of the child.
 (B) The right of an unmarried biological father, as defined in Section 63-9-820, to receive notice of a termination of parental rights action must be governed by the notice provisions of Section 63-9-730(B)(1), (3), (4), (5), and (6), and Subarticle 8, Chapter 9.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 9, by striking Section 63-7-2570(1) and inserting:

 (1) The child or another child while residing in the parent's domicile has been harmed as defined in Section 63-7-20, and because of the severity or repetition of the abuse or neglect, it is not reasonably likely that the home can be made safe within twelve months the home, at the time of the termination of parental rights' trial the termination of parental rights case is initiated, is not safe for the return of the child. In determining the likelihood that the home can be made whether the home is safe, the parent's previous abuse or neglect of the child or another child may be considered.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 10, by striking Section 63-9-730(B)(4) and inserting:

  (4) a person who is recorded on the child's birth certificate as the child's father. The Department of Health and Environmental Control Department of Public Health shall release this information to any attorney representing a party in an adoption or termination of parental rights action pursuant to a subpoena;

Amend the bill further, SECTION 11, by striking Section 63-9-760(D) and inserting:

 (D) The validity of the final decree of adoption is not affected by an a postadoption agreement entered into before or after the adoption. between adoptive parents and biological parents concerning visitation, exchange of information, or other interaction between the child and any other person as provided for in Section 63-9-765. Such an agreement does not preserve any parental rights with the biological parents and does not give to them any rights enforceable in the courts of this State.

Amend the bill further, by deleting SECTION 12.

Amend the bill further, SECTION X, by striking Section 63-7-2580(A) and inserting:

 (A) If the court finds that a ground for termination, as provided for in Section 63-7-2570, exists, the court may issue an order forever terminating parental rights to the child. Where the petitioner is an authorized agency, the court shall place the child in the custody of the petitioner or other child-placing agency for adoption and shall require the submission of a plan for permanent placement of the child within thirty days after the close of the proceedings to the court and to the child's guardian ad litem. Within an additional sixty days the agency shall submit a report to the court and to the guardian ad litem on the implementation of the plan. The court, on its own motion, may Following the submission of these reports, the court shall schedule a hearing on a quarterly basis to review the progress of on the implementation of the plan.

Renumber sections to conform.

Amend title to conform.