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03/29/2024 05:58 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20190&cosponId=29534
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2019 - 2020 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: May 8, 2019 04:25 PM
From: Senator Michele Brooks
To: All Senate members
Subject: Expansion of Grandparent Adoption Rights
 
In the near future, I will be introducing legislation that will aim to put grandparents, great-grandparents, and stepparents on the same legal footing in regards to adoption as other third parties.

According to Pennsylvania law, all physical and legal custody rights to a child are terminated when the child is adopted, and all physical and legal custody rights are fully vested in the adoptive parents. However, the law also allows for a loophole, in which some legal or physical custody rights of another person to a child may survive the adoption process, if the adoptive parent is a grandparent, great-grandparent, or stepparent.

There is already a system in place to determine whether an individual is a fit parent to adopt a child, and we must treat all individuals equally under the law. There is no reason, in today’s society, for these individuals to have less parental rights when adopting a child than any other, and this legislation will aim to remedy this issue.

I hope you will join me in cosponsoring this important piece of legislation. Please do not hesitate to contact my office with any questions.



Introduced as SB776