State Representative Jim Buchy
Adoption Reform May Promote More Adoptions in Ohio

In Columbus, legislators are considering House Bill 307, a bill that I introduced to streamline the adoption of children at birth and lower the costs for adoptive parents. There are thousands of prospective parents in Ohio that want to adopt children from this state but are prevented due to costs and the time constraints of the adoption process. House Bill 307 addresses the costs and time issue which may promote more adoptions in Ohio.

Reforming the adoption process in Ohio is a key issue for the pro-life movement in our local communities. When a woman is carrying a child that she feels she cannot raise for whatever reason, the option of placing the child up for adoption should be the preferred route. By making the process easier for the mother and ensuring that she knows there are couples who have the ability and are prepared to bring that child into a loving home it will help her choose life.

For couples interested in adopting children, the costs and lengthy process of adopting children locally currently causes many to look at foreign adoptions. One of the biggest problems with Ohio’s current adoption process is the ability for a putative father to contest an adoption after the adopting couple has already begun raising the child. We must encourage fathers to take the responsibility of fatherhood when a child is conceived.

Currently, Ohio law allows a putative father to contest an adoption within 30 days of a child’s birth. In many cases this means a child has been in an adoptive couple’s home for around 20 days. The ability of losing a child after an adoptive couple has grown close to the child stymies adoptions in this state.

Providing a birth mother the option to notify all possible putative fathers of her consideration of adoption prior to the birth of a child reduces the risks of a child being removed from the home of an adoptive couple after they have become emotionally involved in the child’s life, and moreover, allowing potential adoptive couples to know if the birth mother chose to notify the putative fathers will also reduce that risk.

House Bill 307 will provide a process similar to existing law in Indiana to ensure fathers have the right to weigh in on an adoption long before the child enters the home of an adoptive couple. This is common sense reform to a process important to reducing abortions. In addition, this bill will establish guidelines for covering a birth mother’s expenses while pregnant, advertise of potential adoptive parents and children for adoption and provide a larger tax credit to help offset the costs of adoption.

Providing a good home for all children in this state should be a focus of state government. When children are reared in a loving home they have access to the lessons that prepare them for success and are afforded unique opportunities that allow them to become productive members of society. Increasing adoptions in Ohio will reduce the cost of educating young people and ensure more persons are prepared for the workforce. The most important reason to pass House Bill 307 is to increase the likelihood of a woman to choose adoption over abortion.

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