Bills aim to ease adoption process in Ohio

Article here. Excerpt:

'State lawmakers in both chambers are considering a plan to make the adoption process quicker and less expensive for adoptive parents, a goal anti-abortion advocates outlined earlier this year, but some involved in the process say the plan is unnecessary.

A pair of bills in the House and Senate would increase the state adoption tax credit to $10,000 from $1,500, shorten the time line for finalizing an adoption and give birth parents notice of their rights early in the process to help prevent birth parents from claiming children after the child has been placed with an adoptive family.
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Both bills shorten the amount of time before an adoption is finalized to 60 days from one year and reduce the time a birth father has to register with the state and preserve his right to consent to the adoption to seven days from 30 days.

Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, said she introduced the Senate version after many discussions with adoption advocates. Jones said the one-time $10,000 tax credit is a small sum compared to the state fostering children at about $25,000 per child per year.
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The Senate bill also requires birth mothers to send notice to the presumed father before birth, and the father must then register in a state database called the Putative Father Registry to receive future information about the adoption.

Smith, who attempted to register himself in the little-known database as an interested law school student, said seven days after birth is not enough time for a birth parent to hire a lawyer and get advice for how to proceed. About 60,000 unwed mothers give birth each year in Ohio, but only 538 men registered with the state from 2011 to September 2013.

“They want to make it easier to trip up fathers,” Smith said.'