Bill would prohibit using disability as sole reason to terminate parental rights

A proposed state bill would prohibit the Oregon Department of Human Services from placing a child in foster care based solely on a parents' disability.

The Senate Interim Committee On Human Services held a hearing on the bill last week, at this point known as "Legislative Concept 106."

"It basically just says you cannot remove a child solely on the basis that a person has a disability," said committee chair Sen. Sara Gelser (D - Corvallis). "There has to be an actual threat or an actual behavior that is related to that."

The bill has bipartisan support. Committee vice chair, Sen. Tim Knopp (R - Bend), told The Oregonian/Oregonlive last year he would support a law preventing a parent's disability alone from being the basis for placing a child in foster care.

"Every member of the committee last fall individually contacted me and asked if we could have a bill to do this," Gelser said.

She mentioned coverage in The Oregonian/Oregonlive about a case in Redmond in which two parents, both with lower than average IQs, lost custody of their children over concerns that their limited cognitive abilities made them unsafe to parent. In December, a Deschutes County judge dismissed the state's jurisdiction over couple's 10-month-old boy. This month, the same judge denied the state's request to terminate their parental rights to their 4-year-old son.

Attorneys for the state argued in court that the parents, Amy Fabbrini and Eric Ziegler, were unable to parent. Examples given in testimony included that they had to be told to put sunscreen on the baby's arms, their home smelled of dog, and their choice of snacks was criticized. After they provided chicken nuggets during a supervised visit with their toddler, the state argued the fried food was unhealthy.

"Tremendous gratitude to that judge and tremendous apologies to that family for the disruption that they went through on simply the basis that they had an intellectual disability," Gelser said. "I cannot imagine losing my children on the basis of my intellectual disability or that I chose to give them chicken nuggets."

The bill would prevent an "emotional illness, mental illness, intellectual or developmental disability or other disability" from being the sole reason to place a child under the state's jurisdiction "if the court does not find any additional conduct or conditions seriously detrimental to the children."

Bob Joondeph, executive director of Disability Rights Oregon, testified in support of the bill.

"A person's parental rights may not be taken away merely because the person has a disability," he said. "The behaviors or limitations that may result from a disability make certainly be considered, but the findings should not be based solely upon the identity of having a disability."

The language of the current law, Joondeph said, "creates a presumption that once a disability is identified, now it is the parents' responsibility to overcome a presumption that that's a problem in terms of parenting ability."

Gelser said the bill will be scheduled for a hearing at the beginning of the 2018 Oregon Legislative session, which starts Feb. 5.

-- Samantha Swindler is a columnist for the Oregonian/Oregonlive