Report that Governor Raimondo vetoed a Bill that would have established a grandparent right in certain cases to file a court proceeding to terminate parental rights in order adopt a grandchild. By vetoing this bill, the State remains the only entity that can file parental termination court proceedings without a parent’s consent. Governor Raimondo’s struggle in vetoing the bill appears to be over her interpretation of the best interest of a child. If the best interest of a child is paramount (ie more important than anything else), the bill would have likely succeeded. Instead, the Governor placed equal weight to important factors including but not limited to: (a) the potential cost to the state to provide a free attorney to a parent who objects; and (b) the parent’s constitutional right to parent regardless of a child’s best interest.
