Report of the Governor's Committee to Promote Adoption Page: 7
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Committee
Responsibility
In Executive Order GWB 96-7, Governor Bush charged
the Committee to "(1) review pertinent laws,
regulations, and judicial procedures that impact the
state's adoption system; (2) determine which of these
impede the goal of timely adoptions; and (3) issue
specific recommendations as to how Texas can create
an adoption-friendly system free of biases, laws, and
policies that needlessly complicate or delay the
adoption process. "
In fulfilling their charge, the committee focused its
energy and time on issues of children needing
permanent homes, the delays they experience, and the
impediments to an efficient, effective adoption process.
A more adoption-friendly system will be the result for
all Texas children.
Texas Children Awaiting
Adoption*t
Parental
rights 1 95
not yet
terminated 2280
459C
iParental rights
terminated,
awaiting '
placementFindings
We believe that the goal set forth in the Executive
Order requires that the legal and administrative
processes involved in adoptions be decisive, efficient,
sensitive to the child, and results-oriented. Laws affecting
child welfare and parental rights must clearly
demonstrate our state's paramount commitment to child
safety. Government, communities, and the private
sector must work together to encourage swift, successful,
and permanent adoptions. Judicial and administrative
procedures must be streamlined to provide more stability
and better meet the needs of children. And finally, the
state's child welfare agency and the courts must work
together in partnership to remove barriers to
permanency at every step in the process.
The Committee's recommendations are based on
three principles:
* All children should be able to expect their basic
needs for safety, security, and stability to be provided.
* Successful families are the most efficient and effective
means of meeting a child's needs; children should be in
a permanent family as soon as possible.
* Communities must ensure that society, in all its mul-
tiple functions, establishes and maintains encourage-
ment and support for well-functioning families.
We call for significant changes in the statutes and
policies that govern the handling of child protective
services cases. Perhaps even more importantly, we call
for a fundamental shift in emphasis urgently needed to
create a child-centered system.Placed
n adoption,
awaiting
consummation*Children in PRS legal responsibility for whom
the plan is adoption as of 7/31/967
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Texas. Governor's Committee to Promote Adoption. Report of the Governor's Committee to Promote Adoption, report, September 1996; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1204048/m1/7/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.