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TOPEKA — One of the state’s top adoption attorneys on Tuesday asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to strike a balance between protecting a non-custodial parent’s rights and doing what’s best for a child.

Martin Bauer, a partner in the Wichita law firm Martin, Pringle, Oliver, Wallace & Bauer, said current law favors non-custodial parents because their rights are protected in the state constitution.

In court, he said, a non-custodial parent’s rights trump a child’s best interest.

Bauer cited a 2009 Kansas Court of Appeals ruling that reversed a lower court’s decision to terminate a father’s parental rights even though the father had “caused the death of a 2-year-old child in his sole care while his son was watching” and later sent his son inappropriate letters from prison, asking him to spy on his mother.

Because the father retained his parental rights, he was able to block his son’s adoption, Bauer said.

“We need certainty for these kids,” Bauer said.

Bauer urged committee members to favorably consider and slightly modify Senate Bill 522, which, he said, would clarify the law in ways designed to balance the interests of a child with those of a non-custodial parent.

The bill, too, would set similar criteria for stepparents and non-stepparents to meet before adopting. Now, Bauer said, the criteria are different.

No one testified against the bill. Committee members are expected to work the bill Thursday.