FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE // August 13, 2020 // Washington, D.C. – On Friday, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) introduced a bill on the floor of the US House, which would suspend a federal provision that generally requires states to file for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) against parents whose children have spent 15 or more of the last 22 months in foster care or other state custody.

Moore's bill is H.R. 7976, the "Suspend the Timeline Not Parental Rights During a Public Health Crisis Act."

Proponents of the bill, who hail from all sides of the political spectrum, argue that suspending the arbitrary timeline just makes sense in this season of unintended and often-inescapable delays caused by reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Before the pandemic, many of these children would have been returned to their families," Jey Rajaraman, chief counsel for the Family Representation Project, Legal Services of New Jersey, said for a press release from the Congresswoman's office. "But agencies have been unable to provide the services needed to facilitate reunification. We should not allow this pandemic to lead to unnecessary permanent termination of parent-child relationships." 

Andrew Brown, with the Texas Family Policy Foundation, agrees. "Parents who were diligently working services required to provide a safe, stable home for their children suddenly, and through no fault of their own, found themselves unable to access these services due to COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns. . . . A temporary suspension of termination timelines gives these parents a fair opportunity to restore their families and honors their decision to take personal responsibility by doing the hard work necessary to achieve reunification."