NY: Governor Once Again Rejects Bill to Expand New York Parents’ Chances for Contact With Their Adopted Children
Imprint – December 11, 2023
New York’s governor has rejected a bill that would have given biological parents greater opportunity to communicate with their children who’ve been adopted, further hampering years of activism and legislative efforts to maintain these family bonds. In a veto letter addressed to state lawmakers, Gov. Kathy Hochul said “the decision to terminate parental rights is not undertaken lightly by the family court,” and in most cases, follows “prolonged efforts to reunite the child with the birth parent(s).” But when those efforts are ultimately unsuccessful, she added, “it is imperative that the child integrate into the adoptive home without continued interference by the court. Adoptive parents are in the best position to determine if and to what extent their child should continue to have contact with their birth parents.” The Preserving Family Bonds Act, Hochul wrote, “would inappropriately substitute the judgment of adoptive parents with that of the court.”