Sec. 07.02.11.16-1. Guardianship Notice Requirements

A. Notice to Birth Parent of Petition for Guardianship.

(1) When a local department decides to petition the court for guardianship, the local department shall advise both birth parents, regardless of marital status, of that decision and that unless waived, they shall receive the types of notices described in this section, whether or not they are consenting to the court action.

(2) The local department shall notify a birth parent who is consenting to the termination of parental rights that the birth parent has the right to revoke the consent at any time within 30 days after the consent is filed.

(3) The local department shall notify the following of the filing of the petition:

(a) The birth parent, unless the birth parent waived, in writing, the right to be notified of that action as a part of the consent; and

(b) The attorney who represented the birth parent in a prior juvenile proceeding in which the child was adjudicated to be a child in need of assistance, a neglected child, or an abused child.

(4) The local department shall notify a birth parent of the right, unless waived in writing, to be notified of the child's status when:

(a) Placement for adoption has not been made within 9 months of the date of the decree of guardianship;

(b) Placement for adoption has been made within 9 months of the date of the decree of guardianship, but before an adoption decree was issued, the adoption placement discontinued and the local department has not made a new placement for adoption within 120 days of the removal from the adoptive home; or

(c) Decree of adoption has not been issued by the court within 2 years of placement for adoption.

(5) In the case of a missing birth parent, the local department shall:

(a) Make reasonable efforts to locate the birth parent to explain the plan for the child and to attempt to obtain the birth parent's consent; and

(b) Document those efforts in the case record.

(6) Within the 6 months preceding the filing of the petition, the local department shall make reasonable efforts to locate a missing birth parent, which shall include an inquiry of the following:

(a) The State Motor Vehicle Administration;

(b) Maryland local departments of social services;

(c) The State Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services;

(d) The State Division of Parole and Probation;

(e) The detention center for the local jurisdiction in which the petition is filed;

(f) The records of the juvenile court for the jurisdiction in which the petition is filed;

(g) A particular social services agency, if the local department is aware that the parent has received benefits from that social services agency within 9 months preceding the filing of the petition;

(h) A detention facility, if the local department is aware that the parent has been confined to that facility within 9 months preceding the filing of the petition;

(i) Each of the following individuals that the local department is able to locate and contact:

(i) The other parent of the child,

(ii) Known members of the parent's immediate family, and

(iii) The parent's current or last known employer;

(j) The Federal Parent Locator Service; and

(k) Certified letters to last known address of missing parent.

(7) Efforts to locate a missing parent shall be by personal contact, a search of the computer files of the agencies listed and the Federal Parent Locator Service, or by written inquiry by regular mail. If there is no response to a written inquiry within 30 days after it is mailed, the failure to respond is to be considered a negative response.

(8) When the local department completes its inquiry of the agencies and individuals listed in §A(6) of this regulation and does not locate the missing parent, the local department staff shall:

(a) Refer the case to counsel for filing of a petition for termination of parental rights; and

(b) Verify by affidavit or testimony that these inquiries have been made and that they were made within the 6 months preceding the filing of the petition.

(9) The local department shall comply with the order of the court requiring publication of the show cause order in at least one or more newspapers of general circulation published in the county in which the petition is filed. The petition must show notice of filing that the Department has on its website for guardianship and mutual consent adoption.

B. Local Department Responsibilities After Award of Guardianship.

(1) Once the local department has been awarded guardianship, the local department shall make every effort to locate an adoptive family for the child, as stated in COMAR 07.02.12, through:

(a) The Maryland Adoption Resource Exchange;

(b) Local department and central office recruitment efforts; and

(c) Registration with regional and national exchanges.

(2) When any of the conditions set forth in §A(4) of this regulation occur, the local department shall file a written report with the circuit court and forward a copy to Administration, which shall:

(a) State the reasons for the delay in placement; and

(b) Include a summary of the efforts to locate an adoptive home for the child and a report of the child's placement status.

(3) The local department shall notify birth parent at their last known address:

(a) In all cases when guardianship was awarded on or after July 1, 1982; and

(b) When the birth parent did not waive the right to notice of the child's status as set forth in §A(4) of this regulation.

(4) Once the legal rights of the birth parent of a child in out-of-home placement have been terminated by the court, the child's caseworker shall notify the appropriate office of child support enforcement that termination of parental rights has been achieved, unless an arrangement exists by which the court makes the notification.