Bill would restore reunification services for parents who previously lost rights; advocates urge favor

Delegate Tolles presented HB48, the Right to Fight Act, saying that current law allows the Department of Social Services to refuse reasonable efforts to reunify a subsequent child with a parent who previously lost parental rights to another child. "No parent should have to make this choice," Kenneth Wardlaw of the Office of the Public Defender told the committee, summarizing why he and his colleagues support the bill.

Nina Villamar (Parental Defense Division, Maryland Office of the Public Defender) described real cases in which parents who contested a termination of parental rights (TPR) and lost are later denied services for subsequent children even after years of rehabilitation. "That single decision follows her forever," Villamar said, describing a parent who lost rights years earlier and later struggled to get services for a new child.

Supporters — including clinicians and family advocates — argued HB48 restores fairness, reduces long-term harm to children, and addresses racial disproportionality in child-welfare removals. Witnesses urged preserving courts' ability to make individualized assessments and proposed an amendment to preserve judicial discretion so courts can consider each child and family's circumstances.

Opponents, including child-welfare practitioners, said the statutory waiver is a narrow tool used rarely to move children to timely permanence when prior harm has already been shown; they warned repeal could delay permanency for some children. The committee discussed potential compromise amendments that would preserve judicial discretion while reducing the lifelong penalty for parents who fought an earlier TPR.

No vote was taken; advocates asked for a favorable report and stakeholders signaled willingness to refine statutory language.