A bill to streamline the local adoption process and also allow licensed adoption agencies to place children into adoptive homes was heavily debated during today's legislative session. Senator Mary Torres's measure drew concerns from fellow republicans Telo Taitague and Joanne Brown.

They questioned the new, increased authority it would grant to adoption agencies. There was an exchange between Taitague and Torres over one of Taitague's concerns, with Taitague asking, "So my question is: is there anywhere in the proposed legislation that provides guidelines, standards and regulations on adoption agencies first, before surrendering any of our children to a private adoption agency?"

Torres responded, "You have to go back to what I've been trying to emphasize. The oversight and control of any issues that deal with the Child Protective Act fall under the purview of Department of Public Health and Social Services' Child Protective Services."

"Adoptions occur all the time on Guam. They occur with agents that are attorneys, they occur with relatives who place, they go between themselves. So bottom line is the laws are in place, Public Health has oversight, and that's what it is. Is there a specific law to how to set up an adoption agency? Not yet, but that's not to say that they're not set up lawfully, and they don't conform to all the guam laws that deal with child safety and adoption procedures," she added.

However, several senators were still concerned about the lack of rules and regulations for the licensing of private adoption agencies.

A motion was passed to temporarily set aside the bill until senators could get more clarification from the Department of Public Health regarding their position on the measure.