House concurs with Senate changes to confirmatory adoption law and authorizes standby guardianship for immigrant parents

The Vermont House on Tuesday concurred in a Senate amendment to H.98 that maintains an expedited confirmatory-adoption process for parents who used assisted reproduction and adds a statutory standby-guardianship procedure to help immigrant parents plan for children if the parents are detained or deported.

The bill’s confirmatory-adoption provisions, unchanged by the Senate, create an expedited judicial process to provide a judgment that other states will recognize, giving additional protection for parental rights when families travel outside Vermont. The Senate amendment inserted new sections (2–8) authorizing standby guardianship: a consensual guardianship arrangement a custodial parent and a proposed guardian may prepare in advance so the guardian can seek court recognition if the parent becomes unavailable because of an adverse immigration action.

The House reporter (member from South Burlington) explained that the change responds to existing practices by Vermont Legal Aid and an operating agreement between the Vermont Department for Children and Families and Vermont Legal Aid to reunite children with proposed guardians when possible. The standby-guardianship provisions set petition, notice, hearing and evidence rules, create a rebuttable presumption that certain petitions are in a child’s best interest, allow remote participation, and permit guardians to provide status reports to detained parents via email. The confirmatory-adoption sections take effect July 1, 2025; the standby-guardianship sections take effect upon passage.

Committees heard from legislative counsel, Vermont Legal Aid, court officials and DCF; the committee voted to concur with the Senate amendment. The House recorded a voice vote to concur in the Senate proposal of amendment.