Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7, Part 5; Title 36; Title 37 and Title 68.

This bill revises various provisions of law regarding parental rights and adoption, as follows: (1) This bill expands the definition of severe child sexual abuse for purposes of termination of parental rights and giving a parent standing to file a petition to terminate the parental rights of the abusive parent to the commission of an act toward the child prohibited by the provisions governing aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, or the knowing failure to protect the child from the commission of such an act toward the child. (2) Under present law, the prospective adoptive parent or parents, including extended family members caring for a related child, any licensed child-placing agency having physical custody of the child, the child’s guardian ad litem, or the department shall have standing to file a petition to terminate parental or guardianship rights of a person alleged to be a parent or guardian of the child. The child’s parent also has standing to file a petition to terminate parental or guardianship rights of a person alleged to be a parent or guardian of the child in certain limited circumstances, including when the parent has been found to have committed severe child sexual abuse (as defined as certain offenses under present law) under any prior order of a criminal court. This bill adds the following offenses to the present law list of offenses that constitute severe child sexual abuse for purposes of a parent having standing to petition for termination of the other parent's rights: trafficking for a commercial sex act, promoting prostitution, sexual battery by an authority figure, aggravated rape of a child, statutory rape by an authority figure, and aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect or endangerment. (3) Under present law, a restraining order or order of protection that restrains any person from contacting or otherwise interfering with a child and that is entered prior to the finalization of the adoption survives the adoption of the child unless such order is expressly set aside by the court that entered the order or the court hearing the adoption. Present law provides that actions to enforce such order post-adoption may be brought in the court that issued the order or in the court hearing the adoption; this bill extends this provision to include actions to modify such order. (4) This bill adds to provisions governing the binding effect of adoption that after a final order of adoption is entered, an order must not be entered requiring visitation or other contact between an adopted person and a biological parent or other biologically related person unless the order is entered pursuant to the present law provisions governing contracts for post-adoption contact. (5) This bill specifies, in regard to the present law provision defining "consent" as the process by which a parent co-signs an adoption petition with the prospective adoptive parents for the purpose of agreeing to make the child available for adoption by the co-petitioning prospective adoptive parents, that the provision applies to prospective adoptive parents "who are unrelated to the child to be adopted." (6) Present law provides that a parent may sign a petition for adoption for the purpose of giving parental consent to the adoption of the parent's child by unrelated persons. Present law further provides that the act of signing the adoption petition does not terminate the parental rights of such parent until the court where the adoption petition is filed has entered an order confirming the parental consent and until the court has required such parent to answer each of the questions required of parents pursuant to the present law provisions governing the surrendering party's pre-surrender information form; this bill revises this provision in regard to the questions to instead provide that prior to the court entering an order confirming the parental consent: (A) The parent must answer each of the questions and submit the parent's answers to the court; and (B) The court must: witness the parent's or guardian's signature on the form; and confirm the parental consent by verifying the parent's answers to the questions, and by witnessing the parent's signature on an affidavit acknowledging the parental consent. (7) Under present law governing surrender, there is a provision whereby the court, or other persons authorized to accept surrenders, must witness the actual act of surrender, or must confirm the parental consent, by verifying directly with the parent or guardian the parent's or guardian's understanding and willingness to terminate parental rights and, by witnessing the parent's or guardian's signature on the surrender form, or by questioning the parent on the matters required by present law before the entry of an order of confirmation of the parental consent. This bill revises this provision to clarify that prior to the entry of an order confirming the parental consent, the court, or other persons authorized to accept surrenders, must: (A) Witness the actual act of surrender by witnessing the parent's or guardian's signature on the surrender form; or (B) Confirm the parental consent by verifying the parent's answers to the questions required pursuant to present law, and by witnessing the parent's signature on an affidavit acknowledging the parental consent. (8) Present law provides that nonresidents may file a petition to adopt a child in this state, if they file such petition in the county where a court granted the nonresidents partial or complete guardianship of the child. This bill revises this provision to instead provide that nonresidents may also file a petition to adopt a child in this state if they file the petition in the county where a court granted the nonresidents or a licensed child-placing agency or institution operating under the laws of this state partial or complete guardianship or legal custody of the child, or where the child was placed in the legal custody of the licensed child-placing agency or the department of children's services. (9) Under present law, it constitutes grounds for termination of parental rights if a parent has failed to seek reasonable visitation with the child, and if visitation has been granted, has failed to visit altogether, or has engaged in only token visitation. This bill adds that resuming or starting visitation or support after the filing of a petition seeking to terminate parental or guardianship rights or seeking the adoption of a child does not rectify a ground for termination and will not be a defense to a ground for termination. (10) This bill requires that all adoption records, sealed adoption records, and unsealed adoption records deemed confidential be a public record and open to inspection when 10 years have elapsed since the date the adoption was finalized. If an adoption was not finalized, or the date the adoption was finalized is not clearly indicated in the adoption record, then the adoption record will be a public record and open to inspection when 100 years have elapsed since the creation of the oldest dated item in the adoption record. ON MARCH 17, 2022, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 2070, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 clarifies that if a parent executing the parental consent required for the adoption of the parent's child by an unrelated person cannot be found or does not appear at the time of the hearing to surrender the parent's parental rights, the court may terminate that parent's rights upon any grounds pursuant to a petition filed for the termination of parental or guardianship rights. This amendment also revises the present law provision defining consent, as referenced above in the bill summary in (5) to specify that the process allows the court to give the adoptive parents custody of the child pending "confirmation or revocation" of the consent of the parent. ON MARCH 31, 2022, THE SENATE SUBSTITUTED HOUSE BILL 2070 FOR SENATE BILL 2056, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #3, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 2070, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #3 changes a provision of present law concerning abandonment. For purposes of terminating the parental or guardian rights of a parent or parents or a guardian or guardians of a child to that child in order to make that child available for adoption, present law provides five sets of circumstances that constitute abandonment, one of which is that the parent or guardian is incarcerated at the time of the filing of a proceeding, pleading, petition, or amended petition to terminate the parental rights of the parent or guardian of the child who is the subject of the petition for termination of parental rights or adoption, or a parent or guardian has been incarcerated during all or part of the four consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of the action and has: (1) Failed to visit, has failed to support, or has failed to make reasonable payments toward the support of the child for four consecutive months immediately preceding the parent's or guardian's incarceration; (2) Failed to visit, has failed to support, or has failed to make reasonable payments toward the support of the child during an aggregation of the first 120 days of nonincarceration immediately preceding the filing of the action; or (3) Has engaged in conduct prior to incarceration that exhibits a wanton disregard for the welfare of the child. This amendment changes (3) to be "with knowledge of the existence of the born or unborn child, engaged in conduct prior to, during, or after incarceration that exhibits a wanton disregard for the welfare of the child".