Todd Tiahrt: “I have an amendment that is what I would consider a positive addition to the bill that we have before us. I will explain…”

“I have an amendment that is what I would consider a positive addition to the bill that we have before us. I will explain briefly what the amendment does, and I would like others to have a chance to express their concerns with the bill. Then I will withdraw the amendment. Mr. Chairman, the first thing that I would like to address that the bill does is that it reduces a timeframe for the State to seek to terminate parental rights from 18 to 12 months. The reason that we had made this determination, as I said earlier in the debate, is that some children languish in foster care and the State is unable to come to that conclusion, whether they should stay with their birth parents or move into an adoptive home. There are others who agree with this philosophy. In Patrick Fagan's article of July 27, 1995, published in the Heritage Foundation's report, he also recommends that a 12-month timeline for education of long-term parental status be included.”