Just Because Your Parental Rights Were Terminated by Nevada Doesn’t Necessarily Mean They Shouldn’t Be Reinstated
The Nevada legislature will be considering passing an unusual law soon.
Under the proposed law, having previously stripped parents of their parental rights, a court could later reinstate them under three conditions:
- The child must be unlikely to be adopted.
- The reinstatement must be in the best interests of the child.
- The child (or their current guardian) must request the reinstatement, not the biological parents.
A judge who is a proponent of passing the statute explains that many children who come before him would like to return to their parents but, under current law, they cannot – even if the parents have improved their circumstances.
The judge also pointed out that there are far fewer adoptions than terminations of parental rights.
If the situation contemplated by this proposed bill arises very often, one has to wonder whether Nevada terminates parental rights too quickly or easily in the first place, if the terminated parents are able to rehabilitate themselves independently, without the benefit of social services.
Or whether Nevada’s true motivation is to save the state money spent on foster care.
Read more in this Las Vegas Sun article: Nevada law would let courts restore parental rights.
