Imagine a 16 year old boy whose parents lost parental rights when he was an infant. The biological mother, however, maintained a good and productive relationship with him through a post adoption contact agreement. Imagine then, too, that the adoptive parents both pass away and the child, now 16, has to go back into foster care and be told that his biological mother can no longer contact him, nor can she file for custody or restoration of her parental rights despite the fact that she has an ongoing relationship with him and has drastically improved her circumstances. He wants to go home with his mom, but the law won’t allow it. That’s the narrow circumstance this bill is meant to address. If the purpose of our social services is to strengthen families, we need to close this gap. This bill is narrowly focused and will not lead to a flood of re-litigating abuse and neglect cases. In over 30 years of litigating CPS cases, my experience has been that only one has ever seen a parent maintain contact through a post adoption agreement. Under the circumstances described above, a child is being traumatized repeatedly. Losing adoptive parents is bad enough, but then being told that as a result of that you also lose contact with the biological mother who has never stopped loving you is compounding the tragedy. If the biological parent can show by clear and convincing evidence that she (or he) has maintained a positive relationship with the child and can properly care for him/her, we strengthen our communities by allowing the child to return home. This bill won’t allow every parent who has lost parental rights to file for custody. Only those few who’ve shown the grit and determination to maintain a healthy relationship with the child. And only in the rare circumstances that the final adoption is disrupted. Surely, allowing the child to return to a loving family is far superior to forcing a teenager back into foster care. I urge passage of this bill. Respectfully, Michael J. Sobey, Esq.

Mr. Chair and members of the Subcommittee: My name is Rick Dwyer and I am the Executive Director of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, an organization that supports the vast military and federal presence in our region. I am also a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and served over 20 years on active duty. Our organization and the communities of Hampton Roads collectively support 18 military installations, all six branches of the military services, 120,000 active duty, reserve and civilian personnel, over 125,000 military dependents, and nearly 220,000 veterans. In 2023, the Department of Defense spent over $68.5 billion in Virginia and directly employed over 247,000 people. Needless to say, supporting the military and our national defense is part of who we are in Hampton Roads and the Commonwealth. I am here today to express our support for House Bill 1882. The military takes incidents of violence, abuse, sexual assault, and harassment seriously and is committed to a timely response regarding reports of violence. With military service members, often both civilian and military authorities are involved in addressing domestic violence cases. The impact of interpersonal violence extends beyond the individual victim, as it can also undermine the mission readiness of military units and compromise national security. A military family’s personal well-being is a critical factor when it comes to their ability to effectively serve the country. This bill ensures civilian authorities treat the issuance of a military protective order (MPO) by a commanding officer as good cause to issue a preliminary protective order. It also ensures coordination between civilian law enforcement and military law enforcement when a civilian law enforcement officer has reason to believe a military member has violated a MPO. This ensures military commanders are made aware if one of their service members has violated an MPO and can take appropriate actions to maintain good order and discipline in their units. This bill sends a clear signal that Virginia values its strong relationship with the military and is willing to continuously support efforts to make the Commonwealth the most military-friendly state in the country. We humbly request your support of HB1882. Thank you.