North Carolina Foster care bill could allow for faster termination of parental rights
North Carolina Foster Bill
Currently, it can take years for a baby born to mothers using illegal substances to become eligible for adoption. Children living with a substance abusing parent or parents often end up in the custody of county child protective services, especially if they are deemed to be in danger of abuse of neglect. Those children go to foster care, sometimes with family members, if they can be found. Often, foster care is with people who are not kin, while the child welfare and family court systems grind their wheels.
Currently, there are about 11,000 children in North Carolina’s child welfare system, a number that’s exploded in recent years as opioids have taken their toll throughout all tiers of society.
Sometimes the outcome is a “termination of parental rights,” a process that currently takes several years.
House Bill 918 would create a provision to expedite that process to nine months, allowing …
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