CITY CAN TAKE CHILDREN FROM DRUG MOMS FASTER

A Family Court proceeding to strip negligent mothers and fathers of
their parental rights -- the first step in placing children up for
adoption -- increased by 25% last year, newly compiled records show.

The number of termination of parental rights petitions filed by
adoption agencies that contract with the city rose from 3,209 in
fiscal year 1998 to 4,000 in fiscal year 1999.

Experts say a new federal law designed to move children quickly
through the foster care system is driving the increase in parental
terminations.

The federal Adoption and Safe Families Act, implemented in New York in
February, restricts the amount of time adoption agencies have to
create a permanency plan for youngsters.

Under the law, if a child remains in foster care for 15 of 22 months,
a termination of parental rights may be filed. Previously, there was
no deadline.

Lillian Delapenha, a Queens mother, lost two of her children five
years ago when she was found to be using crack. She lost her parental
rights in November 1995 and now opposes the law because, she said, it
doesn't give parents enough time or help to clean up.

"[The city] had a right to remove my children," said Delapenha, who
was referred to a drug treatment program that she said was inadequate.
"They could have worked with us, but they didn't."

But on Staten Island, a foster mother who has been trying to adopt her
8-year-old foster daughter since her birth is about to lose the child
to the girl's biological mother -- a scenario that would not have
happened under the law. Her case predates the law.

A one-time drug abuser, the natural mother lost parental rights to
three other children but has stopped using drugs. "I'm heartbroken
that a woman judged unfit to care for three kids is being considered
to care for this child," the foster mother said.

The law's impact will be discussed today at a forum held by the Center
for an Urban Future at New School University.

Nicholas Scoppetta, commissioner of the Administration for Children's
Services, attributed the increase in petitions to the agency's
aggressive strategy to reducing a backlog of cases.

"The law has altered the entire system by saying, 'Listen, you have 15
months -- you have to make a determination about this child,'" he said.