SCS/SB 795 - Under this act, a court may terminate the parental rights of a biological father if he is an alleged perpetrator of forcible rape or rape in the first degree that resulted in the conception and birth of the child if the court finds: (1) by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence that the biological father committed the act against the biological mother; (2) by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence that the child was conceived as a result of that act; and (3) by the preponderance of the evidence that the termination of parental rights is in the best interests of the child. In any action to terminate the parental rights of a father under this act, the court may order, with the mother's consent, that the mother and child are entitled to obtain from the father payment for the reasonable expenses of pregnancy, childbirth or early child care; child support; inheritance rights under the probate code; the designation of the child as beneficiary of the father's life insurance; or any other reasonable payments. The father shall not be entitled to any custody, guardianship, visitation, or other parent-child relationship. No state agency shall require the mother to seek child support if the mother declines to do so under this act and such refusal shall not render the mother or child ineligible to receive public assistance benefits.
This act is identical to a provision in the truly agreed to and finally passed HCS/SB 800 (2018) and HCS/HB 1399 (2018) and similar to HB 1399 (2017) and HB 1087 (2017).
SARAH HASKINS