Parental Rights Bills Pass Pennsylvania House

On Monday, June 22, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed two bills touching on the termination of parental rights. Both bills now move to the Pennsylvania Senate.

House Bill 133 (HB 133) would add a section to Pennsylvania law providing a pathway for the restoration of parental rights after those rights have been terminated. And House Bill 138 (HB 138) provides that parental incarceration alone shall not be grounds for the termination of parental rights. Both bills are championed by Rep. Rick Krajewski, a Democrat representing West Philadelphia.

Under HB 138, an incarcerated parent can retain parental rights if their crime was not one of physical or sexual abuse against the child, and as long as they “mak[e] efforts to the extent feasible to comply with family service plan requirements and otherwise maintain a meaningful role in the child’s life during the time of incarceration.”

This means a parent incarcerated for a non-violent crime doesn’t necessarily lose their rights to their children for life (nor do their children lose their rights to connection with their parents) simply due to their incarceration. Of course, the parents lose custody for the time they are in jail, but their relationship is not terminated and can be resumed when the incarcerated parent has served their time.

This bill will result in fewer children needing permanent placements through the Office of Children, Youth, and Families (CYF), as many children can be returned to their parents’ care after the incarceration period. Reducing the number of family terminations is a very good thing, and the Parental Rights Foundation supports this bill to keep families together.

Unlike HB 138, which aims to preserve families, HB 133 would restore families whose rights have already been terminated.

As in other states with similar laws, HB 138 would only apply under certain conditions: 

• Only a (former, rights-terminated) parent, a lawyer representing said parent, a lawyer representing the child, or the agency (CYF) can apply to the court for a restoration of parental rights;
• They can only do so after at least fifteen months have passed since the termination order was completed or once the child turns 17 years old; and
• They can only do so if either the child is still in the custody of the Agency with no petition for adoption underway, or the child has been returned to the Agency after a failed adoption.

In other words, if no one else has claimed the child in the interim, their original parents can attempt to have them returned. 

As in other states, the restoration of parental rights once they have been terminated is an uphill climb for the parent. They have to show that the conditions which led to the termination have been significantly changed and that their child will now be safe with them again. But that is as one would expect, if the termination of parental rights was for legal cause in the first place, as the court must assume it was.

(Every year, far too many families are permanently separated through the termination of parental rights, including innocent families who should never have been separated in the first place. But later courts do not have the luxury of assuming a termination was wrong; they have to assume that it was correct and make sure its reversal is safe for the children involved.)

HB 133, then, will not be a silver bullet allowing parents whose rights were wrongfully terminated to retry their termination and be exonerated. But it does provide a path, albeit an arduous one, by which families can be reunited after a termination.

For that reason, the Parental Rights Foundation supports HB 133, as well.

(To learn more about the termination of parental rights and its impact on families, check out our EPPiC Broadcast episode with Alex Cinney and Toia Potts here.)

Both bills passed the House Appropriations Committee on Monday, and immediately went to the House Floor. HB 133 passed by a vote of 191-11, and HB 138 passed by a vote of 200-2. As a result, both bills have been submitted to the Pennsylvania Senate for its consideration.

What You Can Do

If you live in Pennsylvania, consider reaching out to your state senator (the one in Harrisburg, not the ones in D.C.) and urge their support of HB 133 and HB 138 when they come to the Senate for a vote. You can find your lawmaker’s contact information here.

And if you don’t live in Pennsylvania, check your state’s laws, or check with your state lawmakers, to see if your state has or could use a law like HB 138 to keep families together beyond a parent’s incarceration, or a law like HB 133 to allow families to be reunited after a termination of parental rights.

Together, we can bring good laws like these to additional states, preserving or restoring families all over the country.

Thank you for standing with us to protect children by empowering parents through these and other efforts in the legislature and in the courts.