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Committee clears bill to ease relinquishment and fee requirements for parents of children conceived by sexual assault
Summary
Senators advanced House Bill 1185 after survivors and advocates urged easier access to juvenile-court relinquishment and reduced counseling and fee barriers for parents seeking to terminate an assailant's parental rights; the committee later placed the measure on the consent calendar with no objection.
The Senate Judiciary Committee moved House Bill 1185 forward after testimony from survivor‑advocates, victim-service providers and attorneys who said the measure reduces procedural barriers for parents seeking to relinquish parental rights or to remove an assailant’s parental rights in cases where a child was conceived as a result of sexual assault.
Sponsor Sen. Weisman said the bill does not change the substantive standard the juvenile court applies — the court must still find that an assault occurred, that a child resulted, and that termination is in the child’s best interest — but it removes procedural and administrative hurdles that advocates and survivors have described as needlessly burdensome. Among the changes are: - Clarifying that petitions to terminate parental rights in these circumstances are to be handled in juvenile court; - Allowing a parent to submit documentation (including survivor‑attestation and other evidence) for the court’s consideration; and - Exempting eligible petitioners from mandated counseling or certain fees when a preponderance of relevant evidence is presented, so survivors are not forced into mandatory counseling or substantial costs to access relief.
Multiple survivors provided written or in‑person testimony describing the long-term harm they experienced, including being required to pay child support after an assault-related pregnancy. The Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Office of Respondent Parents Counsel and other advocates supported the bill as a narrowly focused change to improve access to an existing judicial remedy.
The committee voted to send the bill to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation; later in the hearing the sponsors asked that the bill be placed on the Senate consent calendar and no committee members objected. The transcript records the committee vote as 7–0 and shows the committee placing House Bill 1185 on its consent calendar.
