Dawn’s Blog
News, Updates and Resources for Legal Professionals and those who follow adoption law
Interesting, Dynamic, The Tennessee Adoption Code
Adoption is a microcosm of values, politics, psychology, economics, public policy, emotion and aggressively competing interests. It is interesting, dynamic, and, in the past three legislative sessions here in Tennessee, very active. Let’s hit the high points.
Post Adoption Contact
Effective March 22, 2019, post adoption contracts may be legally enforceable.
Tennessee Legislative Update (HB 0288/SB 0207)
Post Adoption Contact Agreements (PACA) can be legally enforceable, effective March 29, 2019.
TN DCS Reversal – Will Apply ICPC to Children Leaving Tennessee with Guardians
The recently announced change is significant. Some transitional education and confusion is to be expected. But the net effect is a reduction in legal fees and length of travel for many non-resident prospective adoptive families.
Tennessee’s New Adoption Law
From the Tennessee Bar Journal’s July 2018 cover story by Dawn Coppock and Michael Jennings, read the article here discussing the new adoption legislation that went into effect yesterday.
Lawyers- New surrender form, formatted and with instructions. Here. Now.
To be used beginning July 1st, 2018 Click here for the new surrender form available in WORD and PDF formats Lawyers and Clerks- If you have determined that a surrender is the correct process for a voluntary termination of parental rights in your case, you will find...
First In Adoption passes in the Senate with all YES votes! — It is on the way to the Governor’s Desk.
Today the Tennessee Senate unanimously passed the First in Adoption bill without amendment or even discussion. If the Governor signs the bill as expected, it will become law on July 1, 2018. First in Adoption makes a number of pro-child modifications in many areas of...
First in Adoption Legislation Still In A Holding Pattern
It happened again. First in Adoption and many other bills have fallen off the end of the Senate calendar today due to large legislative volume that is common late in the session. The Senate will reconvene tomorrow at 8:30 am to take another run at the long list of...
First in Adoption Legislative Update
The First in Adoption Bill was set at the end of a long calendar for yesterday but, probably due to time constraints, did not receive a vote. It has been reset for 1:30 CST today on the floor of the Tennessee State Senate. Look for a blog post this afternoon....