Hello,

What is a conditional surrender?

How is that different than a termination of parental rights (TPR)?

A conditional surrender is the surrender of a child in court to a department/agency with conditions. The surrender can include terms and conditions such as adoption by a particular person and/or contact. If conditioned upon adoption by a particular person, the person must be certified or approved as a foster parent or “fully investigated and approved” as adoptive parent. If a particular person(s) is designated to adopt then the addendum will contain a written agreement to that effect. Also, the court will determine if the proposed terms of surrender are in the child s’ best interest.

A TPR is the termination of parental rights and with a TPR comes a series of hearings. The court may agree to change the child’s goal to “freed for adoption” which will initiate the TPR. But note, that this does not always happen for various reasons. There must be “compelling reasons” that, if documented and substantiated, can be utilized as a reason not to file a TPR petition. It is up to the legal counsel involved to “compel” the court and the law states, if a child has been in care for 15 of the last 22 months.

For more information on this topic, call the Coalition Helpline 888-354-1342.