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Administration of Justice Bulletin No. 98/03 December 1998 Since the new section refers to filing the petition as a motiom it is not clear whether the pleading to which it refers is fundamentally a petition or a motion. The section does not make any reference to a new summons, and it would be unusual to have a summons issued and served with a motion in the cause. G.S. 7A- 289.27. however, continues to reqUU'e that a sunununs be issued to the parent upon the filing oft petition to terminate parental rights. S.L. 1998-229 does not amend G.S~ 7A-565 to include in the summons in the original juvenile case any notice or information about the possible termination of parental rights. Unless the summons provision in the termination statute, G.S. 7A- 289.27. applies when the termination petition is filed as a motion, there is no provision for giving the parents the kinds of notice that section requires. On the other hand. some parts of that notice--such as, ,IT]his is a new case"--are not appropriate when the petition is filed as a motion. While other statutory changes in the Adoption and Safe Families Act are effective January l, 1999, this new section became effective when the act became law. November 6. 1998. This earlier effective date was probably inadvertent. During the session, this provi- sion was added to the original bill as section 9.1. The act makes sections I through 9 (dealing with abuse. neglect, and dependency) and sections l0 and ! 1 (dealing with termination of parental rights) effective January I. 1999. After specifying other effective dates tot other sections, it provides that the remainder of the act is effective when it becomes law. It is likely that tiffs part of the bill simply was not adjusted when sec- tion 9. ! was added, especially since the act also fails to provide for the section to expire on July 1, [999, when the new Juvenile Code becomes effective, as it does for the amended termination of parental rights provisions. Summons S,L, 1998-229 amends G.S. 7A-289.27 to reqmre that an)' coun ,ty depm'tment of social services to which a court has given placement responsibility for the child be named as a respondent and served with summons unless the department is the petitioner. Upon service, the department is deemed a party and must file a wrinen answer to the petition for termination of parental fights. Amended Grounds for Terminating Parental Rights S.L. 1998-229 amends G.S. 7A-289.32(3) to allow termanation when a parent has willfully left the child in 6 placement outside the home for more than twelve months without showing reasonable progress to correct the conditions that led to the child's removal, Previ- ously, this ground referred only to willfully leaving the child in foster care, The act also rewrites G,S. 7A-289.32(8). which allows termination when a parent has willfiflly aban- doned the child for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of the petition. It de- letes the remainder of the sutxlivision, which (I) pro- dded that a child could be abandoned by the natural father ff he had willfully abandoned the child's mother at the time of the child's birth, even if he did not know of the child's birth, and (2) required that the child be over the age of three months when the petition was filed. New Grounds for Terminating Parental Rights S.L. 1998-229 adds as new G.S. 7A-289.32(9) and (10) the following new grounds for terminating paren- tal rights: (9) The parent has comrmtted murder or volan- tary manslaughter ofdnother child of the parent or other child residing in the home: has aided, abetteck attempted, conspire& or solicited to commit murder or volunta~.' manslaughter of the child, another child of the parent, or other child residing in the home: or has cormmtted a felony assault that results in serious bodily injmy to the child. another cMld of the parent, or other child re- siding in the home. (10) The parental fights of the parent ',,,ith respect to another child of the parent have been ter- rain&ed involuntarily by a court of compe- tent jurisdiction and the parent lacks the ability, or willingness to establish a safe home. Adoption The Adoption and Safe Families Act amends vari- ous sections of G.S. Chapter 48 to prox4de that a minor who is in the custody or placement responsibility ora county department of social services may be placed with a prospective adoptive parent only after I. completion of an investigation of the pro- specfive adoptive parent's criminal history. and