Prospective Adoptive Parent Designation

What is a Prospective Adoptive Parent?

  • This new designation is the result of Senate Bill 218, foster care legislation that encourages permanence
  • Now committed foster parents who wish to adopt cannot be excluded from the adoption process
  • The Juvenile Court may designate a current caretaker as a prospective adoptive parent if the child has lived with the caretaker for at least six months, the caretaker currently expresses a commitment to adopt the child, and the caretaker has taken at least one step to facilitate the adoption process
  • If you are granted Prospective Adoptive Parent status, your foster child cannot be removed from your home without a Juvenile Court hearing
  • The Department of Social Services has the burden of proving that the proposed move is in the best interest of the child

In order to apply for Prospective Adoptive Parent Designation, you must complete and file one two-page court form (JV 321 Request For Prospective Adoptive Parent Designation, Notice, and Order).

How Do You Qualify?

  • The timing is critical. The hearing for termination of parental rights (the .26 hearing) must be scheduled
  • The child must have lived with you for at least six months
  • You must currently express a commitment to adopt
  • You must have taken at least ONE step to facilitate the adoption process,
    including, but not limited to
    1. Applying for an adoption homestudy
    2. Cooperating with an adoption homestudy
    3. Being designated by the court or the licensed adoption agency as the adoptive family
    4. Requesting de facto parent status
    5. Signing an adoptive placement agreement
    6. Engaging in discussions regarding a post adoption contact agreement
    7. Working to overcome any impediments that have been identified by the State Department of Social Services and the licensed adoption agency
    8. Attending classes required of prospective adoptive parents

Rights of Prospective Adoptive Parents

If you have been designated a “Prospective Adoptive Parent”, your county Department of Social Services cannot remove the child in your care from your home without giving you notice of their intent to remove. They must notify you by sending a special form, Notice of Intent to Remove Child and Proof of Notice, Objection to Removal, and Order After Hearing (JV-323 Form)

DSS must also file the JV-323 Form with the Juvenile Court, and send copies to the child if he/she is over ten years of age, the child’s attorney, and the CASA.

Once you receive this form, notifying you that DSS wants to move the child, you may object to the move and request a hearing.

Your request for hearing on the proposed removal must be made within five court or seven calendar days from date of notification, whichever is longer. If service is by mail, time to respond is extended by five calendar days.

Your request for a hearing objecting to the proposed move must be made on the special court form, JV-325.

After you complete the JV-325 Objection to Removal, you only need to deliver or send it to your Juvenile Court Clerk.They will set a hearing date, and notify child’s attorney and CASA of the scheduled hearing.
 
The hearing must be set as soon as possible and not later than five court days after the objection is filed with the court.

At a hearing on an intent to remove the child, the agency intending to remove the child must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the proposed removal is in the best interest of the child.

Even if you have not formally been designated as the Prospective Adoptive Parent, you have the right to notice of intent to move the child in your care, and the right to object and request a hearing if you meet the threshold criteria for Prospective Adoptive Parent. The Court will decide at the hearing whether or not you will be designated as the Prospective Adoptive Parent.

Prospective Adoptive Parent Forms and Supporting Documentation

Sample Cover Letter


NOTE: if you are the caretaker, your County Clerk must provide notice of the hearing to all parties, per California Rules of Court ยง5.726, effective January 1, 2007.


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