‘A giant leap forward’: Utah governor signs adoption reform bill
"A couple of the agencies have damaged relationships with a couple of hospitals, moving from one hospital to the next, and they never addressed those concerns with those hospitals and moved onto another facility,” she added during the hearing. “And the same practices have continued. As a result, concerns have continued to escalate, and the behaviors become a little more brazen.”
Adoption-related concerns weren’t just catching the attention of health care workers.
During a Senate committee hearing on the bill, Criminal Deputy Attorney General Stewart Young noted that the office had been exploring criminal charges against some Utah agencies.
"We looked at coercion, fraud, human trafficking, and human smuggling, and so forth, and each one of those had their own kind of issues,” he said.
Mitchell, who has been among the most vocal advocates for adoption reform in the state, said she's thrilled to see how much change will come after this year’s session.
“We’re all still in shock that it even happened,” she said. “I feel like it’s so rare and unique to overhaul a system in legislation like this."…
And while she’s confident the new law will help prevent many future abuses, she believes the ramifications of Utah’s previous rules will continue to reverberate for many years to come.