Records return; changes in adoption code
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Food for Thought
Judge of Probate Richard Dean
I am extremely happy to report that the Coosa County Probate records are back in our records room and we are resting easier. All the records were scanned, none were damaged, and most importantly, none were lost or destroyed.
Although the project is not complete, the first five, and most critical, phases (pick up, scanning, enhancing, digitizing, and return) are. The vendor is indexing the digitized images and working with our records program provider to ensure the images and data are properly formatted for our system. Now, we must work with both vendors to proof the scanned images (approximately 186,000), verify the indexing data and approve them to be loaded into our probate and recording system. Once the images and data are approved and loaded into our system, they will not only be stored in our office, but also stored offsite to ensure if anything happens to our system or the courthouse, we can recover all our records.
In addition, the records will be stored on multiple external hard drives and secured in our safe and other locations. When completed, the public records can be viewed on the Coosa County website by anyone with a computer.
For all those who worked with us; understood the importance, significance and necessity of accomplishing this project; and offered advice to provide easier search capabilities for the future; thank you! For those who could not see the need for doing this, complained they possibly had to wait a day for their requests for records to be fulfilled, or couldn’t care less about future generations having access to our historical records, bless your hearts. No one was ever denied access to a record. Normally, within one hour of us receiving a request for a record, we had the record available for printing in our office. After the first three weeks, the most frequently used records were available to print on demand. Many abstractors and others came into our office and, instead of sitting in the records room going through the books, used our computers. They performed their searches of older records much as they normally do for records from 1998 to date. I am incredibly pleased with the project to this point and hope the final phases go as well as the first five have gone.
Moving on to some probate court information. In April 2023, in this column I explained the adoption process. However, the process has since changed. The Alabama Legislature established an entirely new Alabama Adoption Code effective January 1, 2024, for minor and adult adoptions. In work for years, the new code had experts from the Alabama Law Institute, Alabama Probate Judges Association, a supreme court justice, child advocacy groups, and others working to modify and refine it.
There are more steps with a lot more paperwork required to be completed by the adoptive parent(s). The main reason for the changes is to protect the prospective adoptee and make sure the adoptee is being placed in a safe and loving environment and all parties wish to establish a child-parent relationship. The change will also help protect the adopting parents who are using an adoption/placement agency.
One major improvement is that courts involved in the process can now share information related to the case. For example, the probate and juvenile courts can share information relevant to the case to ensure all the facts are known by the judge making the decision to grant or deny an adoption.
Another major change is the court can no longer waive the pre-placement investigation for related (adoption by a relative of the adoptee) adoptions. All adoptions are required to have a pre-placement investigation conducted by an authorized investigator/social worker with specific credentials who must provide a detailed report to the court. However, the pre-placement investigation is greatly condensed for a related adoption versus a non-related adoption. What we are seeing is the investigation fees range between $250 and $2,500 per adoption. This is an expense for the adopting parent(s). The investigator’s pre-placement report must be filed with the Petition for Adoption.
These changes were needed for many reasons. One reason being the court granting an adoption needs to have an accurate and clear understanding of the prospective living environment, the persons who are adopting and the child who is being adopted. The court needs to know who is living in the house, their ages and if any have criminal records. The placing court needs to know if there is anyone, including juveniles, with convictions living in the house. There could be nothing more devastating than a court unknowingly placing a child in a home where the adopted child is in danger from either environmental conditions or people living in that home.
As times have changed, so do the possible threats to children. Some people will sell their children and others will steal children for profit. Both are despicable. Although my adoption cases most often involve a child for whom we can easily determine the origin, a child who has lived in Coosa County for an extended period, and adoptive parent(s) with the best intentions and who are often the child’s relative(s). However, that is not always the case; especially in counties bordering other states.
Another reason we needed to change our adoption laws is human trafficking is increasing. It is estimated that, worldwide, 27 million people are human trafficking victims. In the U.S., it is estimated to be between 20,000 and 50,000 annually. I could not find a simple statistic that classified exactly how many of the cases were children, but it is believed about 40% of the human trafficking victims are children.
The following information is from a 2023 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) “Trafficking in Persons Report, United States,” regarding human trafficking victims. The report showed there were 16,390 open human trafficking victim cases between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022. There were 10,090 open cases for the same period the previous year. Of these; 63% were U.S. citizens, 31% were foreign nationals and 6% unknown. Of the open cases, 62% were sex trafficking, 21% labor trafficking, 8% both sex and labor trafficking, and 9% unspecified.
Today, it seems far too often nothing gets simpler, society is devolving instead of evolving, and good people suffer the consequences of good intentions aimed at curbing bad actors. Hopefully, our records digitization project will be one of the things that really does make it simpler for people to conduct research of our Coosa County records. And the best part is those records should be available for all generations to come. Until next month; stay safe and God bless.
