---
type: "Bill"
title: "Post-adoption contact and communication agreements; involuntary termination of parental rights."
description: "Post-adoption contact and communication agreements;involuntary termination of parental rights. Provides that a child'sbirth parent or parents for whom parental rights were involuntarily terminated may enter into a post-adoption contact and communicationagreement with the child's pre-adoptive parent or parents."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 721"
citation: "Virginia HB 721 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David A. Reid"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 22
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-06"
last_action: "2020-03-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/391687f2-522d-47ac-af16-0dc1d868c21c"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB721"
source_hash: "1c4c72d837d1e71f3ab978c5ecf3a2ba68758f51c76ac46cf21d4a0c90b411cc"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 721 (2020) — Post-adoption contact and communication agreements; involuntary termination of parental rights.

Post-adoption contact and communication agreements;involuntary termination of parental rights. Provides that a child'sbirth parent or parents for whom parental rights were involuntarily terminated may enter into a post-adoption contact and communicationagreement with the child's pre-adoptive parent or parents.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0098)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0098)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB721ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB721ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (HB721)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB721)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Judiciary (14-Y 0-N 1-A) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- David A. Reid — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20101572D `introduction`
- **2020-01-06** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Impact statement from DPB (HB721)
- **2020-01-22** Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-27** Reported from Courts of Justice (20-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-29** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-30** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-31** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-01-31** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-03** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-03** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-12** Reported from Judiciary (14-Y 0-N 1-A) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-20** Enrolled
- **2020-02-20** Impact statement from DPB (HB721ER)
- **2020-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-21** Signed by President
- **2020-02-25** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 25, 2020
- **2020-02-25** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 3, 2020
- **2020-03-03** Approved by Governor-Chapter 98 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/391687f2-522d-47ac-af16-0dc1d868c21c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).