Category: Pennsylvania

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Proposed Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act — Bishops Support Agency Gay Adoption Discrimination

According to this article, three chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committees signed a letter to Pennsylvania Representative Mike Kelly on April 10, 2017 voicing their support for the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act which would allow U.S. adoption agencies to legally exclude same-sex couples from consideration for adoption based on their “sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions.”  The Bishops support carving out a religious exception to state anti-discrimination laws that would allow religious adoption agencies to continue to receive state dollars.

The three chairs are:  (1) The chairman of the US Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty; (2) the chair of the bishops’ Subcommittee for Defense and Promotion of Marriage; and (3) the Chairman of the Bishops Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

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Pennsylvania Adult Adoption Annulled to Allow Same-Sex Couple to Marry

Prior to the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, couples sought creative ways to legally protect their relationships; one such way was adult adoption.  Now that same-sex marriage is legal, the adult adoptions pose a problem because you cannot legally marry a relative.  This was the issue posed by Nino Esposito (now age 80) who adopted his partner, Roland Bossee, Jr. (now age 70), in 2012 in Pennsylvania in an adult adoption which established Mr. Bossee as the adult son of Mr. Esposito.  Now that they can legally marry since 2014 (PA) and 2015 (nationally), the couple applied to the orphan’s court to annul their adult adoption in order to marry.  That petition was denied initially in the Orphan’s Court, and then reversed yesterday by the Superior Court in this opinion.

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Pennsylvania’s Proposed Adoption Legislation Places Focus on Birthparent Revocation Period and Access to Courthouse Within 20 Days of Filing

Pennsylvania has proposed new legislation in the areas of time that (a) birthparents can revoke surrender of parental rights; and (b) appearances in Court.

The proposed legislation would decrease birthparent’s ability to revoke surrender of parental rights (30 days to 14 days), and also require court to schedule hearing for birthparent to relinquish rights in court for no more than 20 days after filing of the petition to relinquish parental rights.

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