NY State Senate Bill 2009-S3865

Senate Bill S3865

2009-2010 Legislative Session

Relates to notices to non-marital fathers in adoption, surrenders and termination of parental rights proceedings and consents to adoptions

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jun 15, 2010	referred to judiciary delivered to assembly passed senate
Jun 07, 2010	advanced to third reading
Jun 03, 2010	2nd report cal.
Jun 02, 2010	1st report cal.709
Apr 27, 2010	reported and committed to codes
Jan 06, 2010	referred to children and families
May 19, 2009	reported and committed to codes
Apr 02, 2009	referred to children and families

Votes

- Jun 15, 2010 - Floor Vote
  S3865
  
  61
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  1
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Floor Vote: Jun 15, 2010
      
      aye (61)
      
      Adams
      
      Addabbo Jr.
      
      Alesi
      
      Aubertine
      
      Bonacic
      
      Breslin
      
      DeFrancisco
      
      Diaz
      
      Dilan
      
      Duane
      
      Espada
      
      Farley
      
      Flanagan
      
      Foley
      
      Fuschillo
      
      Golden
      
      Griffo
      
      Hannon
      
      Hassell-Thompson
      
      Huntley
      
      Johnson
      
      Johnson
      
      Klein
      
      Krueger
      
      Kruger
      
      LaValle
      
      Lanza
      
      Larkin
      
      Leibell
      
      Libous
      
      Little
      
      Marcellino
      
      Maziarz
      
      McDonald
      
      Montgomery
      
      Nozzolio
      
      Onorato
      
      Oppenheimer
      
      Padavan
      
      Parker
      
      Peralta
      
      Perkins
      
      Ranzenhofer
      
      Robach
      
      Saland
      
      Sampson
      
      Savino
      
      Schneiderman
      
      Serrano
      
      Seward
      
      Skelos
      
      Smith
      
      Squadron
      
      Stachowski
      
      Stavisky
      
      Stewart-Cousins
      
      Thompson
      
      Valesky
      
      Volker
      
      Winner
      
      Young
      
      excused (1)
      
      Morahan
  Jun 2, 2010 - Codes Committee Vote
  S3865
  
  16
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Codes Committee Vote: Jun 2, 2010
      
      aye (16)
      
      Bonacic
      
      Breslin
      
      DeFrancisco
      
      Duane
      
      Flanagan
      
      Golden
      
      Huntley
      
      Klein
      
      Lanza
      
      Parker
      
      Perkins
      
      Saland
      
      Sampson
      
      Schneiderman
      
      Squadron
      
      Volker
  Apr 27, 2010 - Children And Families Committee Vote
  S3865
  
  6
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Children And Families Committee Vote: Apr 27, 2010
      
      aye (6)
      
      Duane
      
      Huntley
      
      Marcellino
      
      McDonald
      
      Montgomery
      
      Schneiderman

2009-S3865 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Assembly Judiciary
Law Section:: Domestic Relations Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§111 & 111-a, Dom Rel L; amd §384-c, Soc Serv L

2009-S3865 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to notices to non-marital fathers in adoption, surrenders and termination of parental rights proceedings and consents to adoptions in family and surrogate's courts.

2009-S3865 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S3865

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the domestic relations law and the social services
law, in relation to notices to non-marital fathers in adoption,
surrenders and termination of parental rights proceedings and consents
to adoptions in family and surrogate's courts


This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of
the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of her Family
Court Advisory and Rules Committee.

In 1979, the United States Supreme Court, in Caban v. Mohammed, 441 US
388 (1979), held unconstitutional a statute that failed to afford a
birth father the right to consent to his child's adoption where he had
lived with the mother, admitted paternity and had a substantial
relationship with, and provided support to, the child. Following
Caban, New York, in 1980, enacted new criteria defining those putative
or non-marital fathers entitled to consent to adoptions ("consent
fathers") and those entitled simply to notice of termination of
parental rights, surrender and adoption proceedings ("notice-only
fathers").  The latter only may be heard regarding the children's best
interests but do not have veto power over their adoptions. L. 1980, c.
575.  Experience has shown, however, that this 1980 legislation has
failed to meet its aim of providing "reasonable, unambiguous and

objective" criteria for notice and consent.  Accordingly, we propose
this measure to expand and objectify both the criteria for non-marital
fathers to consent to adoptions and the criteria for those entitled to
notice of, but not veto power over, adoptions.

1. Consent fathers  Domestic Relations Law §111 . This measure
establishes a new, objective benchmark for determining the applicable
criteria for assessing whether a putative father should be deemed a
"consent father." Current law establishes different criteria for
determining whether a non-marital father is a "consent father,"
depending upon whether a child was less than or more than six months
old when the child was "placed with the adoptive parents." See
Domestic Relations Law §§111(1)(d), 111(1)(e). This measure would
substitute "time of the filing of a petition to terminate parental
rights, application to execute a judicial surrender, petition for
approval of an extra-judicial surrender or extra-judicial consent to
adoption or petition for adoption, whichever is earliest" for the
phrases "placed with the adoptive parents" and "placed for adoption."

The phrase "placed with the adoptive parents" has generated decades of
confusion over whether it denotes the original placement with the
particular adoptive family at a point where a child's status was not
yet "adoptive" or the later point at which the adoptive parents signed
an adoptive placement agreement or, alternatively, the
hard-to-pinpoint moment at which foster parents were identified by the
child care agency as the adoptive resources for the child.
Interpretation of the phrase to connote the point at which the
adoptive parents signed an adoptive placement agreement has been
problematic, since it, in effect, has rendered the six-month
distinction inapplicable to the vast majority of foster children,
virtually all of whom are over six months old at the point where the
agreement has been signed. As the Appellate Division, First
Department, recognized in dicta in Matter of Tasha M., 33 A.D. 3d 387
(1st Dept., 2006), such an interpretation is not meaningful, since
determination whether a person is a "consent father" is a "threshold
issue" that must generally be determined well in advance of the
signing of an adoptive placement agreement. In fact, statutes and
regulations preclude the signing of the adoptive placement agreement
until a child has already been freed for adoption, but the Family or
Surrogate's Court is required to make a determination regarding
"consent fathers" as a part of a termination of parental rights
proceeding.  This measure would instead prescribe a far more
readily-identifiable point in time for determining whether to apply
the over-six-months or under-six-months criteria.

Using the new benchmark for those children who were over six months
old, this measure recognizes additional categories of non-marital
fathers who should be accorded the right to consent to adoptions of
their children.  Those criteria would include, inter alia, those named
on a child's birth certificate or acknowledgment of paternity, those
adjudicated as fathers in New York or another state or territory,
those who maintained substantial and continuous or repeated contact
with the child through visits at least twice per month or through
regular communication, and those who lived with the child for six
months immediately prior to the earlier point of the child's placement
in foster care or placement for adoption.

Affording non-marital fathers named on a child's birth certificate or
acknowledgment of paternity, or adjudicated as fathers in New York or
in another state or territory, the right to consent to adoption of
their children reflects an increasing recognition and utilization of
these means of establishing fatherhood. The federal Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunities Recognition Act  Public Law
104-193  required states, as a condition of receiving federal child
support funding under Social Security Act Title IV-D, to implement
simple means of legally establishing paternity through voluntary
acknowledgments, including hospital-based programs to encourage their
use, and to accord full faith and credit to acknowledgments from other
states - requirements that have sharply increased the use and
recognition of acknowledgments nationally. Further, the Act required
genetic testing to be admissible in paternity proceedings and to be
presumptive proof of paternity, changes that have increased paternity
adjudications and have reduced contested cases. See 42 U.S.C.A.

§666(a)(5). Taken together these changes, accompanied by parallel
increases in societal perceptions of the status of fathers of
out-of-wedlock children, militate in favor of recognizing fathers
whose paternity has been established through these means as "consent
fathers."

Additionally, this measure retains but, again, clarifies the
alternative behavioral criteria for establishing the status of a
"consent father." Apart from legally establishing paternity,
non-marital fathers may demonstrate their entitlement to be "consent
fathers" through maintaining "substantial and continuous or repeated
contact with the child." This may be demonstrated by payment of child
support, visiting the child, regularly communicating with the child or
living with the child for a six-month period. This measure would
modify the visiting criterion to require visits twice per month, the
standard for foster care visiting contained in the regulations of the
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. See 18 NYCRR
§430.12 (c)(4)(ii)(d)(1)(i). Further, with respect to the
living-together criterion, it would substitute a six-month period
"immediately preceding the earlier of the placement of the child for
adoption or placement of the child in faster care" for the existing
requirement of six months within the one year period immediately
preceding the placement of the child for adoption."

Elevation of legally adjudicated and acknowledged fathers to "consent
fathers" from their current status as "notice only' fathers is
consistent with the mandates in the recently-enacted permanency
legislation for early identification of suitable nonrespondent
parents, as well as relatives (both paternal and maternal), with whom
children who are the subjects of child protective proceedings might
reside. See Family Court Act §1017  L. 2005, c. 3 . Non-respondent
parents must be given notice of the pendency of child protective
proceedings and permanency hearings, information regarding where their
children have been placed and how they can enforce their rights to
visitation, and a warning that they are subject to possible
termination of parental rights if they don't involve themselves in
planning for their children on a timely basis. See Family Court Act
§1035,1089(b)(1)(i). Child protective and child care agencies'
continuing obligations to identify and plan with the fathers of
children in their care and to document those efforts are clear from
the inception of children's placement in foster care - part of a
salutary national trend to spur early identification and involvement
of fathers. Fathers who come forward promptly, cooperate in permanency
planning efforts, maintain regular contact with their children and
fulfill their roles as fathers clearly merit the entitlement afforded
by the Committee's proposal to consent to the adoption of their
children.

2. Notice-only fathers (Domestic Relations Law §111-a; Social Services
Law §384-c).  In addition to augmenting alternatives for establishing
status as a "consent father," this measure would add two categories of
individuals who would be entitled to notice of termination of parental
rights, surrender and adoption proceedings and the opportunity in
those proceedings to be heard regarding their children's best
interests. The measure would retain as "notice-only" fathers those
named by mothers in written sworn statements and those who have merely
filed an intent to claim paternity with the putative father registry.
Both of those are unilateral actions, do not carry a support
obligation, and are revocable at will, thus warranting retention of
the more limited "notice-only" status.

The first new category of "notice-only fathers" would include
individuals who have filed, served upon the agency and thereafter
appeared in court on custody petitions during their children's most
recent stays in foster care. This category reflects concern for the
right to be heard of a non-marital father, whose attempts to assert
his status as father may have been frustrated by the mother's
unavailability or the child care agency's unresponsiveness, but who
nonetheless has taken some concrete action. The second new category
would be comprised of individuals identified in an acknowledgment or
order of paternity in another country that has been determined by the
family or Surrogate's Court to be entitled to comity in New York
State. With respect to the second category, the Court must determine
whether the foreign paternity adjudication or acknowledgment warrants
treatment of the non-marital father as a "notice-only father,"
pursuant to Domestic Relations Law §111-a or Social Services Law
§384-c, or whether he should be entitled to consent to his child's
adoption, pursuant to Domestic Relations Law §111.

Advances in establishment of paternity and enhanced expectations
concerning the role of non-marital fathers in their children's lives
warrant a realignment both of the requirements for consent to adoption
by fathers of children born out of wedlock and for notice to fathers
of termination, surrender and adoption proceedings. This measure
provides that necessary realignment and in so doing will enhance the
effectiveness of the permanency planning process for children before
the Court.

This measure, which would have no fiscal impact upon the State, would
take effect 90 days after becoming law.

 2008 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

Senate 4539 (Kruger) (Rules Comm.); OCA 2007-20.

2009-S3865 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  3865

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              April 2, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  MONTGOMERY  --  (at request of the Office of Court
  Administration) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to
  be committed to the Committee on Children and Families

AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law and the social services  law,
  in  relation to notices to non-marital fathers in adoption, surrenders
  and  termination  of  parental  rights  proceedings  and  consents  to
  adoptions in family and surrogate's courts

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Paragraphs (d) and (e) of subdivision 1 of section  111  of
the  domestic  relations  law,  as amended by chapter 575 of the laws of
1980, are amended to read as follows:
  (d) Of the father, whether adult or infant, of a  child  born  out-of-
wedlock  and  [placed  with  the  adoptive parents] more than six months
[after birth] OLD AT THE TIME OF THE FILING OF A PETITION  TO  TERMINATE
PARENTAL  RIGHTS,  APPLICATION TO EXECUTE A JUDICIAL SURRENDER, PETITION
FOR APPROVAL OF AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL SURRENDER OR EXTRA-JUDICIAL CONSENT TO
ADOPTION OR PETITION FOR ADOPTION, WHICHEVER IS EARLIEST,  but  only  if
such father shall have:
  (I) BEEN NAMED AS THE FATHER ON THE CHILD'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE; OR
  (II)  BEEN  ADJUDICATED  AS  THE FATHER BY A COURT IN THE STATE OF NEW
YORK; OR
  (III) BEEN ADJUDICATED BY A COURT OF ANOTHER STATE OR TERRITORY OF THE
UNITED STATES TO BE THE FATHER OF THE CHILD, WHEN A  CERTIFIED  COPY  OF
THE COURT ORDER HAS BEEN FILED WITH THE PUTATIVE FATHER REGISTRY, PURSU-
ANT  TO  SECTION THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY-TWO-C OF THE SOCIAL SERVICES LAW;
OR
  (IV) ACKNOWLEDGED PATERNITY  IN  A  FORM  DULY  EXECUTED  PURSUANT  TO
SECTION FORTY-ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE-B OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW OR IN A
FORM  RECOGNIZED BY THE STATE OR TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD10371-01-9

S. 3865                             2

IT WAS EXECUTED TO HAVE THE FORCE AND EFFECT OF AN ORDER OF PATERNITY OR
FILIATION; OR
  (V) maintained substantial and continuous or repeated contact with the
child  as  manifested  by  [:  (i)] the payment by the father toward the
support of the child of a fair and  reasonable  sum,  according  to  the
father's means, and either
  [(ii)] A. the father's visiting the child at least [monthly] TWICE PER
MONTH  when  physically  and financially able to do so and not prevented
from doing so by the person or authorized agency having  lawful  custody
of the child, or
  [(iii)]  B.  the father's regular communication with the child or with
the person or agency having the care or custody of the child, when phys-
ically and financially unable to visit the child or prevented from doing
so by the person or authorized  agency  having  lawful  custody  of  the
child. [The] FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SUBPARAGRAPH, THE subjective intent of
the  father,  whether expressed or otherwise, unsupported by evidence of
acts specified in this paragraph  manifesting  such  intent,  shall  not
preclude  a determination that the father failed to maintain substantial
and continuous or repeated contact with the  child.  In  making  such  a
determination, the court shall not require a showing of diligent efforts
by  any  person  or  agency  to encourage the father to perform the acts
specified in this paragraph.
  (VI) A father, whether adult or infant, of a  child  born  out-of-wed-
lock, who openly lived with the child for a period of six months [within
the  one year period] immediately preceding the EARLIER OF THE placement
of the child for adoption OR PLACEMENT OF THE CHILD IN FOSTER  CARE  and
who  during such period openly held himself out to be the father of such
child shall be deemed to  have  maintained  substantial  and  continuous
contact with the child for the purpose of this [subdivision] PARAGRAPH.
  (e)  Of  the  father, whether adult or infant, of a child born out-of-
wedlock who is under the age of six months [at the time he is placed for
adoption]  OLD AT THE TIME OF THE FILING  OF  A  PETITION  TO  TERMINATE
PARENTAL  RIGHTS,  APPLICATION TO EXECUTE A JUDICIAL SURRENDER, PETITION
FOR APPROVAL OF AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL SURRENDER OR EXTRA-JUDICIAL CONSENT TO
ADOPTION OR PETITION FOR ADOPTION, WHICHEVER IS EARLIEST, but  only  if:
(i)  such father openly lived with the child or the child's mother for a
continuous period of six months immediately preceding the  placement  of
the  child for adoption; and (ii) such father openly held himself out to
be the father of such child during such period; and  (iii)  such  father
paid  a  fair  and reasonable sum, in accordance with his means, for the
medical, hospital and nursing expenses incurred in connection  with  the
mother's pregnancy or with the birth of the child.
  S  2.  Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 111-a of the domestic relations
law, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 353 of the laws of 1993, subdi-
vision 2 as added by chapter 665 of the laws of 1976, paragraph  (e)  of
subdivision  2  as  amended by chapter 862 of the laws of 1977 and para-
graphs (f) and (g) as amended and paragraph and (h) of subdivision 2  as
added  by  chapter  575  of  the  laws  of  1980, are amended to read as
follows:
  1. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this  or  any  other
law, and in addition to the notice requirements of any law pertaining to
persons  other  than those specified in subdivision two of this section,
notice as provided herein shall be given to  the  persons  specified  in
subdivision  two  of  this  section of any adoption proceeding initiated
pursuant to this article or of  any  proceeding  initiated  pursuant  to
section one hundred fifteen-b OF THIS ARTICLE relating to the revocation

S. 3865                             3

of  an adoption consent, when such proceeding involves a child born out-
of-wedlock provided, however, that such notice shall not be required  to
be  given  to  any  person  who  previously has been given notice of any
[proceeding]  PETITION  TO  TERMINATE  PARENTAL  RIGHTS,  APPLICATION TO
EXECUTE A JUDICIAL SURRENDER, PETITION FOR APPROVAL OF AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL
SURRENDER OR EXTRA-JUDICIAL CONSENT TO ADOPTION  involving  the  child[,
pursuant  to  section three hundred eighty-four-c of the social services
law,] and provided further that notice in an adoption proceeding, pursu-
ant to this section shall not be required to be given to any person  who
has previously received notice of any proceeding pursuant to section one
hundred  fifteen-b  OF  THIS ARTICLE. In addition to such other require-
ments as may be applicable to the petition in any  proceeding  in  which
notice  must  be  given pursuant to this section, the petition shall set
forth the names and last known addresses of all persons required  to  be
given  notice  of  the  proceeding,  pursuant to this section, and there
shall be shown by the petition or by affidavit or other proof  satisfac-
tory  to  the court that there are no persons other than those set forth
in the petition who are entitled to notice. For the purpose of determin-
ing persons entitled to notice of adoption proceedings initiated  pursu-
ant  to  this  article,  persons  specified  in  subdivision two of this
section shall not include any person who has been convicted of  rape  in
the first degree involving forcible compulsion, under subdivision one of
section  130.35  of  the penal law, when the child who is the subject of
the proceeding was conceived as a result of such rape.
  2. Persons entitled to notice, pursuant to  subdivision  one  of  this
section, shall include:
  (a)  [any person adjudicated by a court in this state to be the father
of the child;
  (b) any person adjudicated by a court of another state or territory of
the United States to be the father of the child, when a  certified  copy
of  the  court  order  has been filed with the putative father registry,
pursuant to section three hundred seventy-two-c of the  social  services
law;
  (c)]  any person who has timely filed an unrevoked notice of intent to
claim paternity of the child, pursuant to section three  hundred  seven-
ty-two-c of the social services law;
  [(d)  any  person  who is recorded on the child's birth certificate as
the child's father;
  (e)] (B) any person who is  openly  living  with  the  child  and  the
child's  mother at the time the proceeding is initiated and who is hold-
ing himself out to be the child's father;
  [(f)] (C) any person who has been identified as the child's father  by
the mother in written, sworn statement;
  [(g)]  (D) any person who was married to the child's mother within six
months subsequent to the birth of the child and prior to  the  execution
of  a surrender instrument or the initiation of a proceeding pursuant to
section three hundred eighty-four-b of the social services law; [and
  (h) any person who has filed with  the  putative  father  registry  an
instrument  acknowledging  paternity  of  the child, pursuant to section
4-1.2 of the estates, powers and trusts law]
  (E) ANY PERSON WHO, SUBSEQUENT TO THE CHILD'S MOST RECENT  ENTRY  INTO
FOSTER  CARE,  HAS  FILED  AND SERVED A CUSTODY PETITION UPON THE AGENCY
HAVING CARE AND CUSTODY OF THE CHILD AND WHO APPEARED IN COURT  ON  THAT
PETITION ON THE DATE FOR RETURN OF PROCESS; AND
  (F)  ANY  PERSON  IDENTIFIED AS THE FATHER IN AN ORDER OF PATERNITY OR
FILIATION OR AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF PATERNITY IN ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT HAS

S. 3865                             4

BEEN DETERMINED BY THE COURT TO BE ENTITLED TO  COMITY  IN  THIS  STATE,
PROVIDED  THAT  IN  SUCH  CASE,  THE  COURT SHALL DETERMINE WHETHER SUCH
PERSON IS ENTITLED TO CONSENT TO THE ADOPTION PURSUANT  TO  SECTION  ONE
HUNDRED ELEVEN OF THIS TITLE OR IS SOLELY ENTITLED TO NOTICE PURSUANT TO
THIS SECTION.
  S 3. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 384-c of the social services law,
subdivision  1 as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 1979, subdivision
2 as added by chapter 665 of the laws of 1976, paragraph (e) of subdivi-
sion 2 as amended by chapter 862 of the laws of 1977 and paragraphs  (f)
and  (g) as amended and paragraph (h) of subdivision 2 as added by chap-
ter 575 of the laws of 1980, are amended to read as follows:
  1.  Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this  or  any  other
law, and in addition to the notice requirements of any law pertaining to
persons  other  than those specified in subdivision two of this section,
notice as provided herein shall be given to  the  persons  specified  in
subdivision two of this section of any [proceeding initiated pursuant to
sections  three  hundred  fifty-eight-a,  three hundred eighty-four, and
three hundred eighty-four-b of  this  chapter,]  PETITION  TO  TERMINATE
PARENTAL  RIGHTS,  APPLICATION TO EXECUTE A JUDICIAL SURRENDER, PETITION
FOR APPROVAL OF AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL SURRENDER OR EXTRA-JUDICIAL CONSENT TO
ADOPTION involving [a] THE child IF THE CHILD WAS  born  out-of-wedlock.
Persons  specified  in subdivision two of this section shall not include
any person who has been convicted of rape in the first degree  involving
forcible  compulsion,  under  subdivision  one  of section 130.35 of the
penal law, when the child who is  the  subject  of  the  proceeding  was
conceived as a result of such rape.
  2.    Persons  entitled to notice, pursuant to subdivision one of this
section, shall include:
  (a) [any person adjudicated by a court in this state to be the  father
of the child;
  (b) any person adjudicated by a court of another state or territory of
the  United  States to be the father of the child, when a certified copy
of the court order has been filed with  the  putative  father  registry,
pursuant to section three hundred seventy-two-c of this chapter;
  (c)]  any person who has timely filed an unrevoked notice of intent to
claim paternity of the child, pursuant to section three  hundred  seven-
ty-two-c of this chapter;
  [(d)  any  person  who is recorded on the child's birth certificate as
the child's father;
  (e)] (B) any person who is  openly  living  with  the  child  and  the
child's  mother  at  the time the proceeding is initiated or at the time
the child was placed in the care of an authorized  agency,  and  who  is
holding himself out to be the child's father;
  [(f)]  (C) any person who has been identified as the child's father by
the mother in written, sworn statement;
  [(g)] (D) any person who was married to the child's mother within  six
months  subsequent  to the birth of the child and prior to the execution
of a surrender instrument or the initiation of a proceeding pursuant  to
section three hundred eighty-four-b OF THIS CHAPTER; [and
  (h)    any  person  who has filed with the putative father registry an
instrument acknowledging paternity of the  child,  pursuant  to  section
4-1.2 of the estates, powers and trusts law]
  (E)  ANY  PERSON WHO, SUBSEQUENT TO THE CHILD'S MOST RECENT ENTRY INTO
FOSTER CARE, HAS FILED AND SERVED A CUSTODY  PETITION  UPON  THE  AGENCY
HAVING  CARE  AND CUSTODY OF THE CHILD AND WHO APPEARED IN COURT ON THAT
PETITION ON THE DATE FOR RETURN OF PROCESS; AND

S. 3865                             5

  (F) ANY PERSON IDENTIFIED AS THE FATHER IN AN ORDER  OF  PATERNITY  OR
FILIATION  OR AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY IN ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT HAS
BEEN DETERMINED BY THE COURT TO BE ENTITLED TO  COMITY  IN  THIS  STATE,
PROVIDED  THAT  IN  SUCH  CASE,  THE  COURT SHALL DETERMINE WHETHER SUCH
PERSON  IS  ENTITLED  TO CONSENT TO THE ADOPTION PURSUANT TO SECTION ONE
HUNDRED ELEVEN OF THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW OR IS  SOLELY  ENTITLED  TO
NOTICE  PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION AND SECTION ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN-A OF THE
DOMESTIC RELATIONS LAW.
  S 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
have become a law and shall apply to petitions for adoption, termination
of  parental rights, approvals of extra-judicial surrenders or extra-ju-
dicial consents to adoption or applications to execute judicial  surren-
ders filed on or after such effective date; provided, however, that this
act  shall  not apply to cases in which judicial determinations had been
made prior to such effective date regarding putative fathers entitled to
consent to adopt or to  notice  of  adoption,  termination  of  parental
rights,   approvals   of  extra-judicial  surrenders  or  extra-judicial
consents to adoption or applications to execute judicial surrenders.

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