Topeka ? To some, a bill designed to get adoptive parents to pick up some of the delivery-room costs now paid by the state sounds like a good idea.

State coffers, after all, are desperately short of cash.

But one of the state’s top adoption attorneys on Thursday said the plan is sure to hurt middle-class couples.

“Many, many couples are right on the edge of being able to adopt, financially,” said Alan Hazlett, a Topeka lawyer and past president of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. “For them, this bill would create a barrier.”

Testifying before the House Public Health and Welfare Committee, Hazlett said he doubted the bill would bring in enough money to offset to social consequences of linking wealth with the ability to adopt.

“If you believe that even one family will not be able to adopt because of this bill, then it should not be passed,” Hazlett said.

Sponsored by Rep. Patricia Lightner, R-Overland Park, the bill would give judges the authority to order families to reimburse the state if the mother’s prenatal care and the baby’s birth were paid by Medicaid.

The average Medicaid birth costs $3,900. It’s unclear how much the bill would raise because no one knows how many Medicaid-funded births lead to adoption.

Lightner, who testified in favor of the bill, said she is willing to amend the bill to “prevent babies being sold to the highest bidder.”

The committee agreed to give the bill further consideration.

“It needs some refinement,” said Rep. Garry Boston, chairman of the committee. “I don’t know how far it’ll go, but we’ll work it.”

Rep. Dale Swenson, R-Wichita, said he’s skeptical.

“I’m not an adoptive parent, but this is one of those bills that scares me,” he said.

Lightner and her husband have two adopted children.

Staff writer Dave Ranney can be reached at 832-7222.