Concerns stalking and related restraining order protections for adoptive children and their adoptive parents victimized by persons whose parental rights to the adoptive children have been terminated.

A4079

ASSEMBLY, No. 4079

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman� ANNETTE QUIJANO

District 20 (Union)

SYNOPSIS

���� Concerns stalking and related restraining order
protections for adoptive children and their adoptive parents victimized by
persons whose parental rights to the adoptive children have been terminated.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

concerning stalking and related restraining order protections for certain
victimized persons, amending P.L.1992, c.209 and supplementing Title 2C of the
New Jersey Statutes.

����
Be It Enacted

by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New
Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 1 of P.L.1992,
c.209 (C.2C:12-10) is amended to read as follows:

���� 1.��� a.� As used in this act:

���� (1)�� "Course of
conduct" means repeatedly maintaining a visual or physical proximity to a
person; directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method,
device, or means, following, monitoring, observing, surveilling, threatening,
or communicating to or about, a person, or interfering with a person's
property; repeatedly committing harassment against a person; or repeatedly
conveying, or causing to be conveyed, verbal or written threats or threats
conveyed by any other means of communication or threats implied by conduct or a
combination thereof directed at or toward a person.�
�Course of conduct�
shall include any of the aforementioned acts and any repeated communications or
attempts to communicate, by any means, with an adoptive child under the age of
18, made by a person whose parental rights for that child have been terminated,
and being done contrary to the instructions of that child�s adoptive parent.

���� (2)�� "Repeatedly"
means on two or more occasions.

���� (3)�� "Emotional
distress" means significant mental suffering or distress.

���� (4)�� "Cause a reasonable
person to fear" means to cause fear which a reasonable victim, similarly
situated, would have under the circumstances.

���� b.��� A person is guilty of
stalking, a crime of the fourth degree, if he purposefully or knowingly engages
in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a
reasonable person to fear for his safety or the safety of a third person or
suffer other emotional distress.

���� c.���� A person is guilty of a
crime of the third degree if he commits the crime of stalking in violation of
an existing court order prohibiting the behavior.

���� d.��� A person who commits a
second or subsequent offense of stalking against the same victim is guilty of a
crime of the third degree.

���� e.���� A person is guilty of a
crime of the third degree if he commits the crime of stalking while serving a
term of imprisonment or while on parole or probation as the result of a
conviction for any indictable offense under the laws of this State, any other
state or the United States.

���� f.���� This act shall not
apply to conduct which occurs during organized group picketing.

(cf: P.L.2009, c.28, s.1)

���� 2.��� (New section)� a.� If a
person whose parental rights for a child have been terminated commits one or
more of the following acts upon a parent who has adopted that child, a court
may order, as a condition of pre-trial release or in a judgment of conviction,
that the person refrain from any contact with the adoptive parent:

����� (1)� Homicide
N.J.S.2C:11-1 et seq.

����� (2)� Assault
N.J.S.2C:12-1

����� (3)� Terroristic
threats N.J.S.2C:12-3

����� (4)� Kidnapping
N.J.S.2C:13-1

����� (5)� Criminal restraint
N.J.S.2C:13-2

����� (6)� False imprisonment
N.J.S.2C:13-3

����� (7)� Sexual
assault N.J.S.2C:14-2

����� (8)� Criminal sexual
contact N.J.S.2C:14-3

����� (9)� Lewdness
N.J.S.2C:14-4

����� (10) Criminal mischief
N.J.S.2C:17-3

����� (11)
Burglary N.J.S.2C:18-2

����� (12) Criminal trespass
N.J.S.2C:18-3

����� (13)
Harassment N.J.S.2C:33-4

����� (14)
Stalking P.L.1992, c.209 (C.2C:12-10)

����� b.�� Restraints that a court
may impose pursuant to subsection a. of this section may include:

����� (1)� restraining the
defendant from entering the residence, property, school, or place of employment
of the adoptive parent and requiring the defendant to stay away from any place
specifically named and frequented regularly by the adoptive parent;

����� (2)� restraining the
defendant from making contact with the adoptive parent, including forbidding
the defendant from personally or through an agent initiating any communication
likely to cause annoyance or alarm including, but not limited to, personal,
written, or telephone contact, or contact via electronic device, with the
adoptive parent, the adoptive parent's employers, employees, or fellow workers,
or others with whom communication would be likely to cause annoyance or alarm
to the adoptive parent. As used in this paragraph,
"communication" shall have the same meaning as defined in subsection
q. of N.J.S.2C:1-14; and

����� (3)� any other relief
necessary to protect the adoptive parent at the discretion of the court,
including but not limited to requiring the defendant to pay to the victim
monetary compensation for losses suffered as a direct result of the act or
requiring the defendant to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

����� c.�� (1) Restraints imposed
by a court pursuant to this section shall remain in effect for the period of
time fixed by the court, which shall not be longer than the maximum term of
imprisonment, incarceration, or probation allowed by law for the offense for which
the person subject to the order was convicted.

����� (2)� When the court imposes
restraints pursuant to this section and the defendant is sentenced to any form
of probationary supervision or participation in the Intensive Supervision
Program, the court shall make compliance with the restraints an express condition
of probation or the Intensive Supervision Program, and this condition shall not
dissolve sooner than the conclusion of the probationary supervision or
participation in the Intensive Supervision Program.

����� (3)� When the court imposes
restraints pursuant to this section and the person is also sentenced to a term
of incarceration, compliance with the terms and conditions of the restraints
shall be made an express condition of the person's release from confinement or
incarceration on parole, and this condition shall not dissolve sooner than the
conclusion of that period of parole.

����� d.�� Notice of any restraints
imposed pursuant to this section shall be sent by the clerk of the court or
other person designated by the court to appropriate law enforcement
agencies. The restraints ordered by the court shall be in effect
throughout the State, and shall be enforced by all law enforcement officers.

����� e.�� A violation by the
convicted defendant of any restraints imposed shall constitute an offense under
subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:29-9 and each order which includes restraints imposed
pursuant to this section shall so state.

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect on the first day of the third month next following enactment.

STATEMENT

���� �This bill concerns stalking
and related restraining order protections with regard to situations involving
adoptive children, their adoptive parents, and the persons whose parental
rights for those adoptive children have been terminated.

���� First, the bill would amend
provisions under the current law with respect to stalking in order to make the
crime of stalking and related restraining order protections expressly
applicable to situations involving contact or attempted contact between an adoptive
child and former parent whose parental rights have been terminated, which has
occurred or is occurring contrary to the instructions of the child�s adoptive
parent.� By doing so, the bill would expressly make such unwanted contact a
crime of the third or fourth degree, depending upon various circumstances
associated with the stalking.� A crime of the third degree is ordinarily
punishable by a term of imprisonment of three to five years, a fine of up to
$15,000, or both; a crime of the fourth degree is ordinarily punishable by a
term of imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

���� By amending the current law�s
stalking provisions, the bill would also permit an adoptive parent to obtain a
temporary restraining order against the person whose parental rights to the
child have been terminated.�
See
P.L.1999, c.47, s.2 (C:2C:12-10.2).�
Such an order could also be converted into a permanent restraining order upon a
judgment of conviction against the person based on a conviction for the crime
of stalking.�
See
P.L.1996, c.39, s.3 (C.2C:12-10.1).

���� The bill would also establish
restraining order protections for the parent of an adoptive child who is
victimized by harassing or violent acts by the person whose parental rights for
that adoptive child have been terminated.� The bill presents a range of
criminal acts that could trigger the imposing of restraints, including assault,
terroristic threats, kidnapping, false imprisonment, harassment, and stalking.

���� Restraints that a court may
impose pursuant to the bill include:

����� (1)� restraining the
defendant from entering the residence, property, school, or place of employment
of the adoptive parent and requiring the defendant to stay away from any place
specifically named and frequented regularly by the adoptive parent;

����� (2)� restraining the
defendant from making contact with the adoptive parent, including forbidding
the defendant from personally or through an agent initiating any communication
likely to cause annoyance or alarm including, but not limited to, personal,
written, or telephone contact, or contact via electronic device, with the
adoptive parent, the adoptive parent's employers, employees, or fellow workers,
or others with whom communication would be likely to cause annoyance or alarm
to the adoptive parent; and

����� (3)� any other relief
necessary to protect the adoptive parent at the discretion of the court,
including but not limited to requiring the defendant to pay to the victim
monetary compensation for losses suffered as a direct result of the act or
requiring the defendant to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

����� Restraints imposed by a court
pursuant to the bill shall remain in effect for the period of time fixed by the
court, which shall not be longer than the maximum term of imprisonment,
incarceration, or probation allowed by law for the offense for which the person
subject to the order was convicted.

����� When the court imposes
restraints pursuant to the bill and the defendant is sentenced to any form of
probationary supervision or participation in the Intensive Supervision Program,
the court shall make compliance with the restraints an express condition of
probation or the Intensive Supervision Program, and this condition shall not
dissolve sooner than the conclusion of the probationary supervision or
participation in the Intensive Supervision Program.

����� When the court imposes
restraints pursuant to the bill and the person is also sentenced to a term of
incarceration, compliance with the terms and conditions of the restraints shall
be made an express condition of the person's release from confinement or incarceration
on parole, and this condition shall not dissolve sooner than the conclusion of
that period of parole.

����� Notice of any restraints
imposed pursuant to the bill shall be sent by the clerk of the court or other
person designated by the court to appropriate law enforcement agencies.� The
restraints ordered by the court shall be in effect throughout the State, and
shall be enforced by all law enforcement officers.

���� A violation of any restraints
imposed pursuant to the bill would constitute a criminal act of contempt, and
each order including restraints would so state.� Criminal contempt is graded as
a crime of the fourth degree (term of imprisonment of up to 18 months, fine of
up to $10,000, or both).