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that the existing Adoption Code could not be amended to make the necessary changes reflecting the CINA changes without changing the entire code. The procedure for public agency cases could not be merely amended to result in a coherent code or even extracted from the Adoption Code and still leave the remainder of the code intact. Therefore, the subcommittee realized that this of- fered an opportunity to update the entire code to make it more user friendly for all types of terminations of parental rights and adoptions in Maryland.


Changing the Code The first major decision of the sub-


committee in revising the code was to determine that it was best to divide the statute into three sections. Over a course of four painstaking years, the appropri- ate language was created, a separate section for each of the three types of ac- tions – public agency guardianship and adoption, private agency guardianship and adoption, and independent adop-


tion. While recognizing that they were creating a much longer statute because this change necessitated restating similar provisions in one or possibly all three sections, the subcommittee chose clarity as to what applied in each proceeding over brevity and the existing confusing amalgam.


presented a total rewrite of the statute to the legislature in 2004. Responding to legislative concerns, a revised version was presented and passed by both legis- lative bodies and signed by the governor in 2005, effective January 1, 2006. Once enacted, the termination of rights and adoption became somewhat


The code previously did not give any recognition to ge- netic testing in the definition and determination of a child’s biological father for purposes of notice and involvement in the case. The revision rectified this oversight to include a person to be a “father” of a child upon positive genetic testing (Sections 5-306(7), 5-3A-6(7), 5-3B-6(7)).


Once it had divided the code into


three sections, it scrutinized every provi- sion and proposed many other changes to offer a more cohesive and updated statute. After more then four years of study and hundreds of hours of tedious debate and review, the subcommittee


easier. A practitioner who now has such a case need only go to that specific section of the code to know what applies to that case, be it Public Agency Termination and Adoption (Family Law, Section 5- 301 et seq.), Private Agency Termination and Adoption (Section 5-3A-01 et seq.),


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