State Rep. Terri Collins: Legislature could streamline adoption, foster care next session

Championing post-birth infant support, such as adoption and foster care, has long been a central tenet of the national pro-life movement.

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark abortion case of Roe v. Wade, efforts to modernize the adoption and foster care processes could be in the cards during the next session of the Alabama Legislature.

During a recent appearance on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” State Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur), author of the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, detailed how the growing efforts to support infants post-birth could soon be addressed by state lawmakers.

Earlier this year, the legislature appropriated $4 million in the general fund budget to the Alabama Medicaid Agency for the establishment of a pilot program to extend postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months.

When asked by host Todd Stacy if lawmakers could further extend the program, Collins indicated that the political will would exist to accomplish this as well as measures to streamline adoption and foster care.

“I think it could be. I think we’ll look at a lot of things like that, that make it better,” said Collins. “[I] think you’re going to see more and more things to where we’re trying to uplift that and make sure our families are being taken care of. And that our mothers that are expecting, and our mothers that are deciding to keep the babies or are deciding to send those babies to adoption and all, that we have a pathway that’s clear.”

Collins, who is one of the legislature’s leading pro-life advocates, asserted that the cost of adoption would need to be addressed as the state moved forward with the implementation of its full-near abortion ban.

“There’s been a group with the Alabama Law Institute for the last several years that are experts in working with adoption and foster law, and they’ve been working to rework the laws that we have so we get rid of some of the bureaucratic tape — so that we not put anybody in a place that’s unsafe, but that we still streamline the process itself,” she outlined. “And I hope that those will be ready to present by next session as well.”