Bill
H 3097
SC adopts terminology change to 'child with challenging adoption circumstances,' expedites placements, bans placement fees, and preserves adoption subsidies and tax breaks.
Note on source material
- The provided bill text includes two different measures appended together: (A) a Massachusetts House docket (H.3097) titled “An Act relative to the bundled cell phone taxation”; and (B) a South Carolina adoption bill that renames the term “special needs child” to “child with challenging adoption circumstances” and makes multiple conforming changes. The bill title you supplied is “Adoption,” so this summary focuses on the adoption provisions while also noting the Massachusetts taxation language included in the same document.
Purpose and intent
- To change statutory terminology from “special needs child” to “child with challenging adoption circumstances” and to make conforming changes across state adoption, permanency planning, and tax code provisions. The intent is largely terminological but also reinforces procedural protections and benefits for children who are unlikely to be adopted without state assistance.
Key provisions and changes
- Terminology change:
- Amends S.C. Code §63-9-30(10) to define “child with challenging adoption circumstances” (replacing “special needs child”) as a child unlikely to be adopted without assistance because they are in one or more categories: sibling group membership; marginalized ethnic backgrounds (with a specified exception); age six or older; or physical/mental/emotional disabilities.
- Conforming amendments:
- Updates cross-references in §§63-9-60, 63-9-750, 63-9-1370, 63-9-1750, 63-9-2030 to use the new term.
- Adoption hearing timeline (§63-9-750):
- Final adoption hearing generally within six months of filing; for children with challenging adoption circumstances, the deadline is extended to 12 months (court may extend further for good cause).
- Placement fees (§63-9-1370):
- Prohibits charging a fee for placement of a child with challenging adoption circumstances.
- Adoption assistance and medical assistance (§63-9-2030):
- Conforming language to allow medical assistance and address interstate adoption assistance compacts for these children.
- Tax deduction (§12-6-1140):
- Retains/clarifies a $2,000 state tax deduction per adopted child with challenging adoption circumstances who meets specified dependency, age, enrollment, or incapacity criteria; retains eligibility criteria that track prior “special needs” definitions.
- Permanency planning (§63-7-1700):
- Requires filing to terminate parental rights within 60 days when the court orders it.
- Mandates documented efforts by the Department of Social Services to promote and expedite adoptive placement (thorough adoption assessment, child-specific recruitment).
- Explicitly prohibits delaying or denying adoptive placement solely because a child is classified as having challenging adoption circumstances.
- Grandfathering:
- Children who qualified under the prior “special needs” designation and who receive enhanced subsidies will continue to receive those subsidies after the act’s effective date.
- Effective date:
- The act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
Who is affected
- Children in foster care who meet the new statutory definition (siblings, older children, children of marginalized ethnic backgrounds, or with disabilities).
- Prospective adoptive parents (fee prohibition, recruitment efforts, adoption assistance).
- Department of Social Services and courts (new procedural duties, documentation, timelines).
- Taxpayers/adoptive parents claiming the $2,000 deduction.
Potential impacts and considerations
- Largely a terminological update with several procedural clarifications intended to encourage and expedite adoptive placements for children who are difficult to place.
- Extending the adoption hearing deadline to 12 months for these children may provide more time for recruitment and placement but could delay finalization in some cases.
- Prohibiting placement fees and requiring active recruitment/assessment likely increases administrative responsibilities for DSS but may reduce financial barriers to adoption.
- Tax deduction continuity maintains financial support for adoptive families.
(Records appear to reflect multiple jurisdictions and a mixture of procedural entries — readers should consult the relevant legislative body’s official docket for authoritative status.)
If you want, I can:
- Produce a clean, jurisdiction-specific summary limited to the South Carolina adoption bill (with citations), or
- Extract and expand on the Massachusetts taxation provision separately (H.3097), including potential fiscal impacts.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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