New Jersey-2022-A1105-Introduced

An Act concerning the termination of parental rights and amending P.L.1951, c.138.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 15 of P.L.1951, c.138 (C.30:4C-15) is amended to read as follow:

15. Whenever

(a) it appears that a court wherein a complaint has been proffered as provided in chapter 6 of Title 9 of the Revised Statutes, has entered a conviction against the parent or parents, guardian, or person having custody and control of any child because of abuse, abandonment, neglect of, or cruelty to such child; or

(b) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1991, c.275);

(c) it appears that the best interests of any child under the care or custody of the division require that he be placed under guardianship; or

(d) it appears that a parent or guardian of a child, following the acceptance of such child by the division pursuant to section 11 or 12 of P.L.1951, c.138 (C.30:4C-11 or 12), or following the placement or commitment of such child in the care of an authorized agency, whether in an institution or in a resource family home, and notwithstanding the reasonable efforts of such agency to encourage and strengthen the parental relationship, has failed for a period of one year to remove the circumstances or conditions that led to the removal or placement of the child, although physically and financially able to do so, notwithstanding the division's reasonable efforts to assist the parent or guardian in remedying the conditions; or

(e) the parent has abandoned the child; or

(f) the parent of a child has been found by a criminal court of competent jurisdiction to have committed murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter of another child of the parent or the other parent of the child; to have aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter of the child [or], another child of the parent, or the other parent of the child; or to have committed, or attempted to commit, an assault that resulted, or could have resulted, in the significant bodily injury to the child or another child of the parent; or the parent has committed a similarly serious act which resulted, or could have resulted, in the death or significant bodily injury to the child [or], another child of the parent, or the other parent of the child; a petition to terminate the parental rights

of the child's parents, setting forth the facts in the case, shall be filed by the division with the Family Part of the Chancery Division of the Superior Court in the county where such child may be at the time of the filing of such petition. A petition shall be filed as soon as any one of the circumstances in subsections (a) through (f) of this section is established, but no later than when the child has been in placement for 15 of the most recent 22 months, unless the division establishes an exception to the requirement to seek termination of parental rights in accordance with section 31 of P.L.1999, c.53 (C.30:4C-15.3). Upon filing the petition, the division shall initiate concurrent efforts to identify, recruit, process and approve a qualified family to adopt the child.

A petition as provided in this section may be filed by any person or any association or agency, interested in such child in the circumstances set forth in subsections (a) and (f) of this section. The division shall seek to be joined as a party to a petition filed to terminate the parental rights of a child in the care and custody of the division unless the division has established an exception to the requirement to seek termination of parental rights in accordance with section 31 of P.L.1999, c.53 (C.30:4C-15.3).

Prior to filing or seeking to be joined as a party to a petition to terminate the parental rights of the parent of a child who has been found to have committed murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter of the other parent of the child, or to have aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter, or to have committed, or attempted to commit, an assault or similarly serious act which resulted, or could have resulted, in the death or significant bodily injury to the other parent of the child pursuant to subsection (f) of this section, the division may take into account whether the parent, at the time the offenses were committed, was a victim of domestic violence or reasonably believed that the parent was protecting himself or herself or the parent's children against the use of unlawful force by the other parent.

(cf: P.L. 2004, c.130, s.55)

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill, designated "Addi's Law," amends section 15 of P.L.1951, c.138 (C.30:4C-15) to make a parent's conviction for the murder of a child's other parent grounds for termination of parental rights.

Specifically, if the parent of a child has been found by a criminal court to have committed murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter of the child's other parent, to have aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit the murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter, or to have committed, or attempted to commit, an assault or similarly serious act which resulted, or could have resulted, in the death or significant bodily injury to the child's other parent, the bill would require the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP) in the Department of Children and Families to file a petition to terminate the parent's parental rights.

Currently, the law requires DCPP to file a petition to terminate the parental rights of a parent who has been found by a criminal court to have committed murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter of another child of the parent, to have aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit the murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter of the child or another child of the parent, or to have committed, or attempted to commit, an assault or similarly serious act which resulted, or could have resulted, in the death or significant bodily injury to the child or another child of the parent, but not if the offenses were committed against the child's other parent.

Under the provisions of the bill, prior to filing or seeking to join as a party to a petition for the termination of parental rights of the parent of a child who has been found to have committed murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter of the child's other parent, or to have aided and abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit the murder, aggravated manslaughter, or manslaughter, or to have committed, or attempted to commit, an assault or similarly serious act which resulted, or could have resulted, in the death or significant bodily injury of the child's other parent, DCPP would be permitted to take into account whether the parent, at the time the offenses were committed, was a victim of domestic violence or reasonably believed that the parent was protecting himself or herself or the parent's children against the use of unlawful force by the other parent.

Current law requires DCPP to file or to seek to be joined as a party to a petition for termination of parental rights as soon as any of the circumstances set forth in the law are established, unless DCPP establishes an exception to the requirement to seek termination of parental rights in accordance with section 31 of P.L.1999, c.53 (C.30:4C-15.3). The law does not require DCPP, at any time during the filing of a petition for termination of parental rights, to take into account whether the parent was a victim of domestic violence or believed that the parent was acting in self-defense or in defense of the parent's children.

This bill is named "Addi's Law," in honor of Merry Abernathy, a mother who was murdered by her partner. After the murder, Merry's partner tried to claim custody of their child, Addison. "Addi's Law" is modeled after a North Carolina statute that allows the court to terminate the parental rights of a child's parent who has committed certain offenses (murder, manslaughter, conspiracy to commit murder or manslaughter, or assault resulting in death or significant bodily injury) against the child's other parent.