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SALT LAKE CITY — The sponsor of a grandparents' rights bill vetoed by Gov. Gary Herbert over concerns it could jeopardize adoptive parents' rights said Thursday he is willing to work with the governor to refine the legislation.
Herbert, in a two-page letter explaining his decision to veto the bill, wrote that HB377 "was well-intended. However, I am concerned that, were I to sign this bill as written, we could be jeopardizing the rights of adoptive parents and discouraging adoption by family members."
While Herbert acknowledged the important role grandparents play in the lives of children, he wrote that changes are needed to balance the rights of adoptive parents and the interests of grandparents whose own children have lost or given up their parental rights. These cases involve the adoptions of children who have been in the care of the Division of Child and Family Services and have been adopted by kin.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, said he had been in close contact with Herbert since the end of the legislative session.
"He's very supportive of the bill in principle. He had a couple of remaining concerns about some clarifications that would make it even better. I'm happy to work with him," Christensen said.
Specifically, Herbert wrote that the legislation needs to help ensure "closure and certainty to adoptive families" with respect to petitions for visitation filed by grandparents. Herbert suggested they be limited to a single petition.
"Again, to bring some closure and certainty, the petition needs to be made within a specified and reasonable time period after the adoption or the decision to prevent visitation; and adoptive parents need to have notice at the time of the adoption that these petitions are possibility," the governor wrote.
Herbert pledged his willingness to work with Christensen and the Utah Legislature to improve the bill.
"When that is accomplished, I am happy and willing to bring this bill back in a special session," he wrote.
Laurieann Thorpe, president of Foster Families of Utah, had opposed HB377 during the legislative session. She urged members of the nonprofit advocacy group to ask Herbert to veto it.
"It's kind of the best news ever, as far as I'm concerned," Thorpe said of the veto. "I'm thrilled."
Thorpe said most of her organization's concerns were outlined in Herbert's veto letter. She said she would like to sit down with Christensen and the governor to come up with changes to help put adoptive parents at ease once an adoption is finalized.
"We're really trusting these people to keep the kids safe, and they need to be empowered to determine who can safely be in the kid's life," she said.
Thorpe said it would work better for all parties if biological grandparents' visitation petitions were addressed as part of the adoption finalization process.
Brent Platt, director of the state Division of Child and Family Services, said if Christensen is interested in revisiting the issue, "we'd be more than happy to sit down with the sponsor and advocates (who opposed it) to help craft something that might work."
Christiansen said there should be no blanket restrictions on the visitation of grandparents who love their grandchildren and their relationships would have positive impacts on their lives.
"Currently it can be argued once there was an adoption on one side the family that all other family ties are somehow extinguished. That's why bill says, 'No, let the judge decide one by one,'" Christensen said.
"Never say never. Don't make it a legal impossibility. Don't make it hopeless. Let there be a ray of hope."
