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Adoption advocates press committee to clarify law allowing out‑of‑state parents to use Massachusetts surrender forms
Summary
Adoptive parents, adoption-agency staff and family-law attorneys told the Joint Committee on the Judiciary that inconsistent probate-court interpretations are delaying or jeopardizing adoptions when birth parents from other states sign Massachusetts surrender forms and urged statutory clarification (S.1046) to restore predictability.
A string of adoptive parents, adoption-agency staff and family-law attorneys urged the Joint Committee on the Judiciary to clarify Massachusetts law so that out‑of‑state birth parents may choose to sign either their home state’s surrender form or a Massachusetts form when consenting to an adoption.
Senator Cindy Creem (testifying virtually) opened the adoption panel in support of S.1046, telling lawmakers the proposed language would restore choice for out‑of‑state birth parents. Multiple adoptive parents described cases in which courts later declined to recognize out‑of‑state surrenders or applied a new interpretation that introduced…
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