Adoption.

Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the courts under the Uniform Parentage Act. The act specifies the counties in which an action may be brought, including among other counties as specified, the county in which a licensed California adoption agency maintains an office if that agency brings the action. This bill would instead provide, under the Uniform Parentage Act, that if the child is the subject of a pending or proposed adoption, the action may be brought in any county in which a licensed California adoption agency to which the child has been relinquished or is proposed to be relinquished maintains an office or the county in which an office of the State Department of Social Services or a public adoption agency that is investigating the petition is located, in addition to the other specified counties. Existing law provides for a petition for an order or judgment declaring a child free from the custody and control of either or both parents on the basis of, among other circumstances, the abandonment, neglect, or cruel treatment of the child or the disability, as specified, or unfitness, as specified, of the parent. That petition may be filed in the county in which a minor resides or is found or in which the acts forming the basis for the petition are alleged to have occurred. This bill would provide that a petition for an order or judgment declaring a child free from the custody and control of either or both parents may be filed, in addition to the county in which a minor resides or is found or in which the acts forming the basis for the petition are alleged to have occurred, in the county in which a petition for the adoption of the child has been filed or the adoption agency to which the child has been relinquished or proposed to be relinquished has an office. Existing law allows for continuing contact between the birth relatives and the child if a postadoption contact agreement is entered into voluntarily and in the best interests of the child at the time the adoption petition is granted. Existing law limits postadoption contact to the sharing of information about the child, unless the child had an existing relationship with the birth relative. This bill would permit contact between the child and the child's birth parent or parents including visitation and sharing of information, where there was not an existing relationship, as specified. This bill would also permit contact between the child and birth relatives other than the child's birth parent or parents, limited to the sharing of information, unless there was a preexisting relationship, as specified. Existing law provides that, after a consent to an adoption is signed by the birth parent or parents, the birth parent or parents signing the consent have 30 days to take one of specified actions, including signing a waiver of the right to revoke consent. Existing law requires a waiver to be signed in the presence of a representative of the department or the delegated county adoption agency, or if the birth parents are represented by independent legal counsel, the waiver can also be signed in the presence of a judicial officer of the court of record or an adoption service provider. Existing law allows for the witnessing and signing of a waiver of the right to revoke consent by a birth parent living outside of California to be conducted in the state where the birth parent is located, as provided. This bill would allow for the adoption service provider who advised the birth mother and witnessed the signing of the consent to be the adoption service provider present for the signing of a waiver, if the birth parents are represented by independent legal counsel. Existing law requires that in a stepparent adoption the prospective adoptive parent and the child proposed to be adopted shall appear before the court, as specified. This bill would provide that if it is impossible or impracticable for either prospective adoptive parent to make an appearance in person, and the circumstances are established by clear and convincing documentary evidence, the court may, in its discretion, waive the personal appearance of the prospective adoptive parent and the appearance may be made for the prospective adoptive parent by counsel, commissioned and empowered in writing for that purpose, as specified. Existing law also authorizes a petition for the adoption of a minor to be filed in the county in which the petitioner or the minor lives or in which an office of an agency that placed the minor is located. This bill would instead authorize a petitioner who is a resident of this state to file a petition to adopt a child with the court in any county in which a petitioner resides, in which the minor was born or resides at the time of filing, in which an office of the agency that placed the child for adoption is located, or in which the State Department of Social Services or a public adoption agency that is investigating the petition is located. The bill would also authorize a petitioner who is not a resident of California to file a petition to adopt a child with the court in any county in which the minor was born or resides at the time of filing, in which an office of the agency that placed the child for adoption is located, or in which an office of the State Department of Social Services or a public agency that is investigating the petition is located.