A broad effort in the Legislature to end the practice of "re-homing" adopted children in Arkansas will have the support of Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a spokesman said Monday.
On Monday, a state senator filed legislation similar to bills filed by two other lawmakers that aim to end a practice brought to light last week by the Arkansas Times. The story detailed how Rep. Justin Harris, R-West Fork, and his wife, Marsha, "re-homed" two adopted daughters,
only to result in the rape of one of the girls by her new caretaker.
On Monday, a spokesman for Hutchinson, J.R. Davis, said that the governor met last week with the two state representatives who filed the legislation and that the governor plans to work with lawmakers and officials from the Department of Human Services and to be involved as the bills go through the legislative process.
"Today, I continued my personal review of the practices and policies of DHS when it comes to adoption of children within DHS custody. [The re-homing issues] all occurred long before I was elected governor, and my efforts are focused on what needs to change to better protect the children," Hutchinson said in a statement Monday. "DHS policy has been changed to prohibit any removing of DHS-supervised children after adoption."
Hutchinson added: "In addition to these policy changes, I am working with the legislature to pass greater protections for children in the future."
Monday morning, Sen. Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan, filed his own legislation, Senate Bill 874, which would "prohibit re-homing private transfers of adopted minors."
Pierce said that the news of the Harrises' re-homing of the two girls, and the subsequent rape of one of those adopted girls, signaled it was time for something to be done.
Having an adopted daughter of his own, Pierce said the case struck close to home.
"I'm concerned about the way [the case] was handled and want to see what we can do about it," Pierce said. "I thought we needed to clarify that with [The Department of Human Services] and make sure what's going on doesn't happen again."
Pierce's bill follows filings by Reps. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, and David Meeks, R-Conway, both of whom filed bills Wednesday.
Neither of the House bills have been presented to a committee because both sponsors are working on revisions with various stakeholders.
Leding and Meeks met with Hutchinson late last week, and Meeks said the governor was very supportive of the legislative intent but that he had some concerns moving forward.
"He was concerned about it being too broad right now," Meeks said. "We're going to limit it to adoptive parents only because it would have also taken biological parents as well. What we're wanting to do is focus on adoptive [parents] right now and in the interim, take a look at the whole thing in general."
Both House bills would make it a felony for someone to transfer custody of an adopted child, either for pay or for free, without court approval.
Currently, there is no statute prohibiting adoptive parents -- parents who've gone through the time-consuming process of background checks and being vetted by adoption officials -- from giving custody of children to a different family.
Furthermore, state officials have no legal mechanism for tracking children once the adoption process has been completed.
With roughly 4,000 adoptions since 2007, DHS spokesman Amy Webb said that staff members have learned of about 9 instances of "re-homing" in the past two years.
But with no legal recourse for tracking that, Webb said, there's no telling how many more cases are out there.
"There could be others we aren't aware of. There's no mechanism that requires [parents] to tell us," Webb said.
If an adopted child's custody is transferred, and DHS officials did know of it, the new caretakers wouldn't be required to submit to the same intensive vetting process that adoptive parents go through with her agency, Webb said.
"If there is no allegation of abuse or neglect, we don't have a legal mechanism to get involved in that case," she said.
Meeks said that between his bill, House Bill 1676, and Leding's HB1648, the intent is to clarify how subsidies to adoptive families are used.
In the Harrises' case, they continued to collect state adoption subsidies, $820 a month, even after they gave the children to another family.
Webb has said that since last spring, adoptive parents wanting a subsidy have had to sign a contract agreeing not to transfer care of the child.
But the agency has no mechanism for making the sure the money stays with the children, something that Meeks said needs to change.
"The other main concern [discussed with Hutchinson and Leding] was the adoption subsidies and making sure that no matter what happens, that the adoption subsidies follow the children," Meeks said.
Last week, Harris accused DHS of intimidation and making threats that he and his wife could face child abandonment charges if they tried to return the girls to DHS custody after they decided they couldn't manage the girls' behavior.
Meeks said he couldn't speak to how the Harrises' case was handled but has heard other anecdotal accounts of instances where parents were reluctant to get DHS help in finding a new place for their adoptive children out of fear of being sued for abandonment by the state.
"[Another concern] would deal with the abandonment [issue], to make sure DHS ... is very clear on what constitutes abandonment, so a family that is having an issue with a kid in a home ... will be able to come forward without the fear of an abandonment charge," Meeks said.
Webb said she hasn't been privy to all the discussions between DHS officials and lawmakers about remedies but said the best interest of children governs agency policy.
"We do want to make sure that people understand that if they come to us for help, we're not going to pursue abandonment charges. If they're in a situation where it looks like they're abandoning children, obviously we'll call that in to the [child protection] hotline," she said. "We have to do what we're required to do by law but we want people to know [they can] come to [DHS] for help."
Metro on 03/10/2015