March 25, 2003

Honorable Jack Scott
Room 2057
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95842

RE: SB 182-Sponsor, Support
Set for Hearing: Senate Judiciary on 4.1.03


Dear Senator Scott:

On behalf of my client, the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers
(ACAL), I write to inform you of their appreciation for your
introduction of your measure SB 182. This measure is the annual ACAL
technical clean up measure whereby ACAL seeks to eliminate technical
ambiguities or confusion in the Family and other codes that affects
adoptions.

SB 182 addresses 5 issues. The first two changes correct errors in
changes made in last year’s legislation, SB 1512 (Scott), Chapter
260, Statutes of 2002. The first change in Family Code Section 7630
was intended to avoid two different court actions on the same case.
The proposed change improves the language by replacing the word
“court” for “county” in order to consolidate these cases with the
same court. These cases are not necessarily in different counties.
The second change adds back into law a sentence in Section 7669 that
was inadvertently dropped when that short section of law pertaining
to father’s consent was amended last year.

The third section is more substantive and specifies the ability of
legal guardians to adopt children if they are not subject to the
foster care system. Current law contains slightly conflicting
sections between the Family Code and Welfare and Institutions Code
for this category of children. Working with committee staff and
adoption lawyers, the new section in the Probate Code sets clear
guidelines for adoptions in these cases. The fourth change improves
the Family Code by allowing prospective adoptive parents to advertise
their desire to pursue an adoption. Current law only provides for an
exception for adoption facilitators.

Finally, SB 182 corrects a technical error from a few years ago that
allows the original 30 waiver period to be re-instated only in cases
where the birth mother revokes her consent, changes her mind to
re-instate the consent without claiming or taking action to reclaim
the child. This process is described in Family Code Section 8814.5.


SB 182-Sponsor, Support
March 25, 2003
Page 2


All of these changes will assist adoptive parents, birth parents and
most importantly adoptive children by improving the clarity of
adoption law. This keeps adoption affordable when the stakeholders do
not have to ask the Court to interpret ambiguous, vague or
conflicting sections of law. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to
contact me at my office. Thank you.


Sincerely,


DONNE BROWNSEY