NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

CHAPTER 321

HOUSE BILL 400

AN ACT TO AMEND THE ADOPTIONS LAW TO PROVIDE THAT A PARENT SHALL NOT BE A NECESSARY PARTY TO ADOPTION PROCEEDING INITIATED SUBSEQUENT TO TERMINATION OF HIS PARENTAL RIGHTS BY A DISTRICT COURT.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 48-5 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"§ 48-5.  When parent is unnecessary party to adoption proceedings. — (a) In all cases where a district court has entered an order pursuant to G.S. 7A-288 terminating the parental rights with respect to a child adjudicated to be neglected or dependent, the parent whose parental rights with respect to such child may have been terminated shall not be a necessary party to any proceeding under this Chapter nor shall the consent of such parent or parents be required.

(b)        In the event that a district court has not heretofore entered an order terminating parental rights as provided for in G.S. 7A-288, then on written notice of not less than 10 days to the parent, parents, or guardian of the person, the court in the adoption proceeding is hereby authorized to determine whether an abandonment as defined in G.S. 48-2(3a) and (3b) has taken place.

(c)        If the parent, parents, or guardian of the person deny that an abandonment has taken place, this issue of fact shall be determined as provided in G.S. 1-273, and if abandonment is determined, then the consent of the parent, parents, or guardian of the person shall not be required. Upon final determination of this issue of fact the proceeding shall be transferred back to the special proceedings docket for further action by the clerk.

(d)        A copy of the order terminating parental rights or a copy of the order declaring a child abandoned as provided in subsections (b) and (c) must be filed in the proceeding with the petition in which case consent must be given or withheld in accordance with G.S. 48-9, subsection (a)(2) or subsection (a)(3)."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 48-2(3b), as the same appears in Volume 2A of the 1974 Cumulative Supplement to the General Statutes, is hereby amended by deleting from line 5 thereof the words "one year" and substituting therefor the words "six months".

Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 19th day of May, 1975.