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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7189
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4642
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E RESTORATION OF TERMINATED
PARENTAL RIGHTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) A child for whom 1
parental rights have been terminated pursuant to section 17a-112 of the 2
general statutes may file a petition in the superior court for juvenile 3
matters to restore the parental rights of one or both parents provided: 4
(1) (A) The child is fourteen years of age or older, or (B) if the child is 5
the younger sibling of a child fourteen years of age or older, the 6
younger sibling independently meets the criteria set forth in this 7
section; (2) the child has not been adopted; (3) not less than three years 8
have passed since the date of the order terminating parental rights; 9
and (4) an affidavit is filed indicating that the parent whose rights are 10
sought to be restored consents to the filing of the petition. 11
(b) A petition to restore terminated parental rights shall be filed in 12
the superior court for juvenile matters where the termination of 13
parental rights was ordered. The court shall hold a preliminary 14
hearing on the petition not later than twenty days after the date on 15 Raised Bill No. 7189
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which the petition is filed. The child shall provide notice of the hearing 16
date and cause the petition to be served upon (1) the Department of 17
Children and Families; (2) any agency or individual who has been 18
appointed as the child's statutory parent; and (3) the respondent parent 19
or parents in the termination of parental rights proceeding. If the child 20
is represented by assigned counsel from the Division of Public 21
Defender Services, costs of the service shall be paid by the Division of 22
Public Defender Services. 23
(c) At the preliminary hearing, if the court, by a preponderance of 24
the evidence, determines that (1) the petition is appropriately filed 25
pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) of this section, (2) the parent whose 26
rights are sought to be restored consents to the restoration, and (3) 27
consideration of reinstatement is in the child's best interest; then the 28
court shall (A) order the Department of Children and Families to 29
conduct an investigation to be completed not later than ninety days 30
after the date of the preliminary hearing, and (B) order a full hearing 31
on whether the terminated parental rights should be reinstated. The 32
court shall hold the full hearing not later than thirty days after the date 33
on which the Department of Children and Families files the results of 34
its investigation, absent the agreement of the parties or for good cause 35
shown. The department's investigation shall address the circumstances 36
of the child, including, but not limited to, (i) the need for ongoing 37
services from the department; (ii) the child's current placement; and 38
(iii) the circumstances of the parent, including any need for ongoing 39
services. The department shall report to the court its assessment of 40
whether reinstatement is in the best interest of the child and what 41
services could be provided to support any such reinstatement. The 42
child shall be represented by counsel and, if the child is twelve years of 43
age or older, he or she shall have a right to be heard by the court, if the 44
child so requests. The court may appoint counsel for the parent or 45
parents if the interests of justice require such appointment. Upon a 46
finding that a parent is unable to afford counsel, the judicial authority 47
may appoint an attorney to provide representation from a list of 48
qualified attorneys provided by the Office of Chief Public Defender. 49 Raised Bill No. 7189
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(d) Upon the conclusion of the full hearing, the court shall 50
conditionally grant the petition if it finds by clear and convincing 51
evidence that (1) the child has not been adopted and there is no 52
pending adoption, and (2) reinstatement of parental rights is in the 53
child's best interest. 54
(e) In determining whether reinstatement is in the child's best 55
interest, the court shall consider, but is not limited to: (1) The age and 56
maturity of the child, and the ability of the child to express his or her 57
preference; (2) whether the parent whose rights are to be reinstated is 58
suitable and worthy and has remedied his or her deficits as provided 59
in the record of the prior termination proceedings and prior 60
termination order; (3) whether the reinstatement of parental rights will 61
present a risk to the child's health, welfare, or safety; and (4) if any 62
other material changes in circumstances exist, that may have occurred 63
which warrant the granting of the petition. 64
(f) If the court conditionally grants the petition, the Department of 65
Children and Families shall continue to be the statutory parent of the 66
child, but the department may develop a permanency plan for the 67
child reflecting reunification with the parent consenting to the 68
reinstatement and shall provide transition services to the family as 69
appropriate, including, but not limited to, a reunification service. The 70
case shall be continued for six months to review the family's progress, 71
absent the agreement of the parties or for good cause shown. The court 72
may order interim court reviews as deemed appropriate by the court. 73
(g) Not later than six months after the date of granting the 74
conditional order, the court shall hold a hearing to determine if the 75
reinstatement of parental rights shall be made permanent. Following 76
such hearing, the court may: (1) Dismiss the Department of Children 77
and Families as the statutory parent and restore all rights, powers, 78
privileges, immunities, duties, and obligations of the parent as to the 79
child, including those relating to custody, control and support of the 80
child; (2) extend the conditional reinstatement for up to an additional 81
six months, followed by another hearing; or (3) determine that 82 Raised Bill No. 7189
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reinstatement is no longer in the best interest of the child and dismiss 83
the petition. 84
(h) A proceeding to reinstate parental rights is a separate action 85
from the termination of parental rights proceeding and does not vacate 86
the original termination of parental rights. An order granted under this 87
section reinstates the parental rights to the child. The reinstatement of 88
parental rights is a recognition that the situation of the parent and 89
child has changed since the time of the termination of parental rights 90
and the reinstatement of the legal parent-child relationship of the child 91
with his or her parent or parents is now appropriate. 92
(i) This section applies to any child who, on or after October 1, 2019, 93
is under the jurisdiction of the superior court for juvenile matters, 94
regardless of the date on which a parent's rights were terminated with 95
respect to such child. 96
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To allow a child over fourteen years of age, who has one or more
parents whose parental rights have been terminated and who has not
thereafter been adopted, to petition the superior court for juvenile
matters for a restoration of previously terminated parental rights.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]