Meeting Public Comments

Kim Laube [Lutheran Family Service]

I am Kim Laube, Director of Life Ministries for Lutheran Family Service. The Domestic Infant Adoption Program is under my direction. I have fifteen years of experience in assisting women in placing children for adoption in Iowa.There is a flaw in the Iowa process of termination of parental rights that makes women placing their child for adoption feel vulnerable, and rightfully so. Some women change their minds about moving forward with adoption plans because of this vulnerability. HF212 directs a judge to vacate a womans Release of Custody, even after the revocation period has ended, in cases where the judge will not be terminating all possible birthfathers rights along with hers.The problem this measure is intending to fix is this:Sue, a pregnant mother wants to place her child for adoption. Bill, the father of her child, will not talk to her or to the adoption agency about his thoughts on adoption or parenting. Sue signs a Release of Custody and petitions the court for the termination of her parental rights. However, Sue has no idea what Bill is going to do, and she will likely not know if he will contest the termination of his rights until a hearing is held, which is typically seven or eight weeks after birth. When Sue signs a Release of Custody, she has only 96 hours to revoke the document. Seven or so weeks later, the attorney will represent Sue in court only to find out that Bill has also shown up and says he does not want his rights to be terminated. Current Iowa law would allow the judge to terminate Sues parental rights even if Bills are not. So, the adoption plan Sue just made could get disrupted and Bill could be the only remaining parent. Sue never intended to have the child in Bills care alone. If Bill was going to parent, she wants to have the right to coparent with him. I have had women who feel adoption is the best plan for their child, but because of the risk the above scenario presents, she does not feel she can move forward with adoption. Although it would be completely up to a judge to do so, I have not experienced a situation where the judge terminated the rights of a mother in this scenario and not the father. However, it still must be explained to the woman that there is a risk of that happening based on the current Iowa Code. HF212 will correct that and allow women to be less vulnerable during the process of adoption, which is difficult enough.