A bipartisan plan introduced by state Rep. Doug Wozniak that would correct an unintentional result of 2017 legislation preventing attorneys from legally serving people in adoption court hearings was approved today by the Michigan House.

In 2017, legislation to prevent underground adoptions without court supervision was signed into law. Wozniak said the Legislature unintentionally failed to include language to protect attorneys who regularly represent adoptive parents and biological parents in legal court-supervised adoptions.

If the law is not updated, attorneys could be violating the law and subject to felony prosecution for advertising their services.

“Licensed attorneys who help families and biological parents undergoing court-supervised adoptions provide invaluable support for families in need while undergoing the complicated process,” Wozniak said. “Without them, the great majority of adoptions would not be possible. This is a very straightforward solution to an unintended problem.”

Wozniak’s legislation would amend the existing law to allow adoption attorneys to continue to lawfully advertise for and perform their services in court-supervised adoptions without the threat of prosecution.

The bipartisan bill package, House Bills 5148-5149, now moves to be considered by the state Senate.