Adoption Reform in Ohio

This note will treat the three areas of the proposed Ohio Adoption Reform bill which seem significant: the need for agency consent in adoption proceedings; the rights of putative fathers in adoption proceedings; and independent adoptions. While a complete separation of the social and legal consequences of the proposed changes is not always possible, this note will focus primarily on the legal ramifications in these particular areas by sampling the laws of various states with an emphasis on Ohio law as it relates to the proposed adoption procedure