[Greater-baltimore] FW: Daily Record article FYI--Bill in Md. General Assembly would protect parents with disabilities

Melissa Ann Riccobono melissa at riccobono.us
Thu Apr 9 16:05:19 UTC 2009


Hello everyone,
Here is a nice article about our legislative efforts in Annapolis.
Melissa




________________________________

From: Miller, Pat Woelfer 
Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 9:50 AM
To: Riccobono, Mark
Subject: Daily Record article FYI--Bill in Md. General Assembly would
protect parents with disabilities


Bill in Md. General Assembly would protect parents with disabilities
STEVE LASH
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer
April 8, 2009 7:44 PM
ANNAPOLIS - Courts and social service agencies would be barred from
presuming that a physical impairment disqualifies a person from serving
as a parent or guardian, under a bill presented to the House Judiciary
Committee on Wednesday. 

Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, D-Baltimore City, said the courts and social
services agencies "routinely and unfairly" discriminate against people
with disabilities in adoption, custody, visitation and other
proceedings. 

"A person with a disability is no less entitled to the presumption of
competency to provide a safe environment for a child than a person
without a disability," Gladden, the chief sponsor of SB 613, told the
House committee. 

The measure moved to the House after the Senate passed it unanimously
late last month. If it becomes law, a "disability" would be relevant
only if the court or social service agency "specifically finds that the
disability causes the parent, guardian or custodian to be unable to give
proper care and attention to the child and the child's needs." 

The legislation defines disability as "a physical impairment that
substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of an
individual." A party who claims the disability is detrimental to the
child would bear the burden of establishing it. 

Addiction to or use of an illegal drug would not be considered a
disability and could be cited by a court or social service agency to
deny guardianship. 

The bill would also curtail courts from relying on a guardian's
disability in deciding that a youngster should be deemed a Child In Need
of Assistance, or CINA, which can result in the parent's separation from
or limited access to the child. 

The Maryland Department of Human Resources, which oversees the local
departments of Social Services, expressed its support for the
legislation and stated that it already prohibits child welfare decisions
based on a guardian's disability without further inquiry. 

"DHR does not condone any form of discrimination against disabled
parents, guardians or prospective adoptive parents as the sole basis of
making decisions for children involved with the child-welfare system,"
DHR Secretary Brenda Donald wrote in a letter to the House committee.
"Decisions for placement and guardianship or adoption consents are based
on the ability to provide for the child and the child's needs, not on
the physical condition of the parents, guardian or prospective adoptive
parent." 

Best interest standard 

The Maryland Judicial Conference expressed concerns that the measure
would transfer the focus in CINA decisions from the best interest of the
child to the guardian and the extent of his or her disability. 

"This bill seems to suggest that CINA findings are being made on the
basis of the existence . of a parental disability, without consideration
of whether the parent is indeed unable to care for the child," the
conference stated in a letter to the committee. "[The measure] requires,
in a CINA disposition, that the court specifically find that the
disability causes the parent to be unable to care for the child. The
experience has often been a combination of factors, which cause the
parent to be unable to care for the child." 

The judiciary urged lawmakers to add a provision to the measure stating
that "nothing in this statute changes the court's continuing obligation
to make its decision in the best interests of the child who is the
respondent in the CINA petition." 

Gladden, though, maintains that the current system often falls short of
fulfilling that obligation. 

"[I]n guardianship, adoption, CINA, custody and visitation proceedings,
a person's disability is routinely and unfairly deemed to be a condition
that prevents individuals from capably caring for a child by many
decision-makers," she said. "Such discrimination often leads to
circumstances that are detrimental to the best interest of the child." 

The Coalition to Protect Maryland's Children, which represents about 30
child-advocacy groups, said the legislation could benefit the more than
400 children who do not have identified prospective adoptive parents. 

"With this large number of waiting children, Maryland can ill-afford to
allow wholesale rejection of applicants to adopt solely because they may
be disabled," wrote Dawn Oxley Musgrave, the coalition's chairperson, in
a letter to the committee. "Instead, inquiry [by courts and agencies]
properly needs to consider whether the disability of the applicant
negatively impacts the ability to provide proper care for a child." 

Leaders of the House committee did not indicate whether and when the
panel would vote on the legislation. 
 
 
Patricia Woelfer Miller
Assistant to the Executive Director
Jernigan Institute
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
410.659.9314, ext. 2369
Direct fax 410.659.5129
pmiller at nfb.org
 
Visit us at nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org/> 
 

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