Kinship/Guardianship » Legislation & Policies » Legislation

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Enacted Kinship/Guardianship Legislation

Grandparents Access to Grandchildren

State: Arkansas

Bill: HB 2013, Act 1311; Status: Enacted

Summary: Requires the Department of Human Services to identify and provide notice to all adult grandparents and other adult relatives within 30 days of a juvenile transferred to the custody of the department. Requires court reports to include information and recommendations concerning placement and visitation with a grandparent or other adult relative.

Guardianship Subsidy

State: Arkansas

Bill: SB 351, Act 325; Status: Enacted

Summary: Amends Arkansas' relative guardianship subsidy program to add those children who are eligible for Title IV-E foster care maintenance payments and who have been in the care of a relative for at least six months to the list of eligible children under the state's program.

Sponsored by Senator J. Key, Representative J. Dickinson

Fostering Connections to Success Act

State: California

Bill: AB 12; Status: Enacted

Summary: Requires the department to amend its foster care state plan to extend care to specified individuals up to 21 years of age. Requires the court to ensure that the child's transitional case plan is reviewed periodically and includes a plan for the child to meet one or more criteria that would allow the child to remain a nonminor dependent, and to ensure that the child has been informed of his or her right to seek the termination of dependency jurisdiction. Extends the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) to include children under 21 years of age who turned 16 years of age before the adoption assistance agreement became effective.

Sponsored by Assembly Members Beall and Bass, with principal co-author, Senator Liu

Dependent Children & Relative Caregivers

State: California

Bill: AB 938, Chapter 261; Status: Enacted

Summary: Requires a social worker, when a child is removed from the home, to immediately begin conducting an investigation in order to identify and locate all grandparents, adult siblings, and other adult relative of the child, in order to provide those persons with specified information, including that the child has been removed from the custody of his or her parents or guardians and an explanation of various options to participate in placement of the child.

Sponsored by Assembly Judiciary Committee

Child Welfare Services for Foster Care & Adoption

State: California

Bill: SB 597, Chapter 339; Status: Enacted

Summary: Makes amendments necessary to be consistent with the requirements set forth in the federal Fostering Connections Act. These include requiring the State Department of Social Services to exercise diligence to identify and provide notice to all adult grandparents and close relatives of the child; requiring the Department, in consultation with pediatricians, health care experts, and experts in and recipients of child welfare services to develop a plan for the ongoing oversight and coordination of health care services for a child in a foster care placement; and requiring the department or licensed adoption agency to provide information regarding the federal adoption tax credit for any individual who is adopting or considering adopting a child in foster care.

Kinship Placement and Guardianship

State: Colorado

Bill: SB 245, Chap. 436; Status: Enacted

Summary: Amends portions of the Colorado Children's Code to comply with the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 concerning kinship placements and due diligence. Allows the court to order the Department of Human Services to exercise due diligence in contacting all grandparents and other adult relatives 30 days following the removal of the child and to inform them about placement possibilities for the child. Establishes a kinship guardianship assistance program in the department of human services.

Department of Children and Families

State: Connecticut

Bill: HB 5421, Chap. 185; Status: Enacted

Summary: Establishes that at the temporary custody hearing regarding the placement of a child, the court shall identify any person or persons related to the child or youth by blood or marriage who might serve as licensed foster parents, certified relative caregivers or temporary custodians and order the Commissioner of Children and Families to investigate and determine, not later than thirty days after the preliminary hearing, the appropriateness of placement of the child or youth with such relative or relatives.

Parental Termination Orders

State: Georgia

Bill: HB 254; Status: Enacted

Summary: Determines that within 30 days after the removal of a child from the custody of the parent or parents of the child, the department shall exercise due diligence to identify a parent or relative of the child or other persons who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the child.

Kinship Navigator Act

State: Illinois

Bill: HB 2365, Public Act 276; Status: Enacted

Summary: Creates the Kinship Navigator Act. Defines "kinship care" as the full time care and of children by relatives, members of their tribes or clans, grandparents, godparents, stepparents, or any adult who has physical custody and a kinship bond. Establishes a program, to be administered through a grant to a not-for-profit organization, to serve as liaison among State agencies and groups, to promote kinship care and provide diversity services.

Sponsored by Representative Eddie Washington

Department of Human Services

State: Iowa

Bill: SB 152; Status: Enacted

Summary: Relates to administrative and planning requirements involving children for whom the Department of Human Services has responsibility under state or federal law. Revises transition planning for older children in foster care who are age 16 or older and approaching adulthood to include health care coverage planning, opportunities to have a mentor, and education and housing assistance. Requires documentation of the educational stability of the child while in foster care. Mandates the department to send a notice to all adult relatives of the child in custody explaining their options to provide care for the child.

Sponsored by Senate Human Resources Committee

Guardianship Assistance Act

State: Michigan

Bill: SB 227, Public Act 15; Status: Enacted

Summary: Creates the Guardianship Assistance Act to provide a negotiated, binding agreement for financial support for children who meet the qualifications for guardianship assistance. Sets eligibility of child and guardian. Specifies that only a relative who is a licensed foster parent caring for a child who is eligible to receive Title IV-E funded foster care payments for 6 consecutive months is eligible for federal funding under Title IV-E for guardianship assistance. States that a child not eligible for Title IV-E funding who is placed with a relative is eligible for state-funded guardianship-assistance.

Sponsored by Senators Clark-Coleman, Jansen, Pappageorge, Birkholz, Switalski, Gleason, Hunter, Anderson, Whitmer, Jacobs, Basham, Cherry, Olshove, Scott, Thomas, Prusi, Brater, Clarke, and Allen

Guardianship Assistance Program

State: Michigan

Bill: SR 27; Status: Enacted

Summary: Urges Congress to take certain actions with regard to the federal guardianship assistance program by revising the funding to allow the six-month residency requirement to begin to run prior to licensing of the home, provided that both the home is licensed and the residency requirement is met before federal funding begins.

Human Services

State: Minnesota

Bill: SB 1503, Chap. 163; Status: Enacted

Summary: Companion to HB 1709. Establishes that the responsible social services agency shall make diligent efforts to identify and locate both parents of any child who is the subject of child welfare proceedings, as well as conduct a relative search to identify and provide notice to adult relatives. Diligent efforts include asking the custodial or known parent to identify any nonresident parent of the child and provide information that can be used to verify the nonresident parent's identity. Efforts also must be made to place siblings removed from their home in the same home for foster care, adoption, or transfer permanent legal and physical custody to a relative.

Foster Care

State: Missouri

Bill: HB 154; Status: Enacted

Summary: Requires the state to make diligent efforts to contact and locate the grandparents of a child for emergency placement, except when the children's division determines this to not be in the best interest of the child. Defines "diligent efforts" to include a good faith attempt documented in writing by the children's division, which exercises reasonable efforts and care to utilize all available services and resources related to meeting the ongoing health and safety needs of the child, to locate a grandparent or grandparents of the child. Creates a "Foster Care Education Bill of Rights" which designates an educational liaision from each school district to each child in foster care. Establishes that each child placing agency shall promote the educational stability for foster care children when making placement decision by considering their current school attendance area.�

Education, Labor, and Family Assistance Budget

State: New York

Bill: AB 153, Chap. 53; Status: Enacted

Summary: Makes appropriations for the support of government - Education, Labor and Family Assistance Budget, including appropriations for developing and implementation of a new subsidized kinship guardianship program consistent with the federal fostering connections to success and increasing adoptions act of 2008.

Foster Care Sibling Placement

State: North Dakota

Bill: HB 1094, Chap. 267; Status: Enacted

Summary: Relates to placement of siblings in foster care and a guardian's duty to exercise due diligence to identify and provide notice to all potential relative caregivers.

Sponsored by Human Services Committee; Rep. Delzer and Sen. Erbele

Kinship Notification and Sibling Placement

State: Oklahoma

Bill: SB 339, Chap. 160; Status: Enacted

Summary: Requires the court, at the emergency custody hearing of the child, to mandate the parent, legal guardian, or custodian to list all parents and relatives as potential placements for the child. Requires the Department to exercise due diligence to identify all relatives of the child and notify them that the child has been removed from their parent's custody and alert them to the requirements to becoming a potential foster care provider for the child. Requires the Department to make reasonable efforts to place any siblings in state custody together.

Parent Child Relationship

State: Texas

Bill: HB 1151, Chap. 1118; Status: Enacted

Summary: Extends adoption assistance to a child's adoptive parents after age 18 and until age 21. Establishes that the department shall include training in trauma-informed programs and services in any training the department provides to foster parents, adoptive parents, kinship caregivers, and department caseworkers. The department shall pay for the training provided under this section with gifts, donations, and grants and any federal money available through the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. Extends foster care payments after a youth is age 18 until age 22. Develops the permanency care assistance program which will provide for the reimbursement of the nonrecurring expenses a kinship provider incurs in obtaining permanent managing conservatorship of a foster child; the program must conform to the requirements for federal assistance as required by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.

Extension of Services

State: Texas

Bill: SB 2080, Chap. 1238; Status: Enacted

Summary: Develops the permanency care assistance program which authorizes foster care payments for relative caregivers who meet the eligibility criteria under federal and state law and department rule. Permanency care assistance may be extended after age 18 and until age 21 if the original agreement was first entered after the youth was age 16. Extends adoption assistance to a child's adoptive parents after age 18 and until age 21 if the original adoption assistance agreement was first entered after the youth was age 16. Allows the department to continue to pay the cost of foster care after a youth is age 18 until age 22.

Fostering Connections to Success Act

State: Washington

Bill: HB 1961, Chap. 235; Status: Enacted

Summary: Expands foster care up to age 21, expands the current relative guardianship program, and expands their current child welfare services. Clarifies the authority of the Department of Social and Health Services to provide continuing foster care placement services with youth ages 18-21 enrolled in post-secondary programs. Authorizes qualified relatives to receive a guardianship subsidy on behalf of a dependent child placed in the home under a guardianship order. Establishes the authority of the DSHS, beginning October 1, 2010, to provide foster care placement services for youth aging out of foster care who are engaged in qualified activities consistent with federal law.

Post-Adoption Contact

State: Washington

Bill: HB 1938, Chap. 234; Status: Enacted

Summary: Directs the court reviewing and approving an adoption agreement to encourage consideration of providing postadoption contact between siblings who will be separated by the adoption. Requires the court to inquire of attorneys and GALs representing children in adoption and other custody matters about the potential benefit of continuing contact between siblings and the potential detriment of severing contact. Requires the pre-adoption home study report to verify that discussions with adoptive parents included the relevance of sibling relationships.

Sponsored by Representatives Roberts, Kagi, Angel, Walsh, Dunshee, Pettigrew, Green, Goodman, Haler and Kenney

Child Abuse and Neglect Amendments

State: Wyoming

Bill: SB 103, Chap. 196; Status: Enacted

Summary: Establishes that notice be served of child protective proceedings, regarding a child who is alleged to have been abused or neglected, to a non-custodial parent or putative father who has not had parental rights to the child removed by a court, and who is not alleged in the petition to have abused or neglected the child.

Human Services

State: Vermont

Bill: HB 507; Status: Enacted

Summary: Proposes to modify the permanent guardianship law for children to comply with new federal provisions and enable guardians to access federal funds for guardianships.

Kinship / Guardianship Subsidy

State: Alabama

Bill: HB 617 Chapter 712; Status: Enacted

Summary: Establishes a kinship guardianship subsidy program. Sets procedures for establishing kinship guardianships and legal authority of kinship guardians.

Sibling Connection

State: Georgia

Bill: HB 1085; Status: Enacted

Summary: Determines that siblings removed from their home shall be placed in the same foster care, kinship, guardianship, or adoptive placement, unless the Division of Family and Children Services documents that such a joint placement would be contrary to the safety or well-being of any of the siblings. Includes provisions ensuring the educational stability of the child while in foster care, including an assurance that the state agency has coordinated with appropriate local educational agencies to ensure that the child remains in the school in which the child is enrolled at the time of placement. Establishes that the Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services provide the child with assistance and support in developing a transition plan that is personalized at the direction of the child; includes specific options on housing, health insurance, education, local opportunities for mentors and continuing support services, and work force supports and employment services; and is as detailed as the child may elect in the 90 day period immediately prior to the date on which the child will attain 18 years of age.

Sibling Connection

State: Arizona

Bill: HB 2419; Status: Enacted

Summary: Relates to sibling connection

Sponsored by Representative Young Wright and Representative Sinema

Relatives; Disclosure; Dependent Children

State: Arizona

Bill: HB 2622; Status: Enacted

Summary: Makes additions to the required contents of a temporary custody notice and notice related to a dependency petition (Notice), and to the requirements of the court at preliminary protective hearings and dependency adjudication hearings.

Sponsored by Representative Chabin, Barnes, Murphy, et al.

Pending Kinship/Guardianship Legislation

Sibling Placement in Foster Care

State: California

Bill: AB 743; Status: Pending

Summary: Amends existing law that requires a social worker who takes a minor into custody to place the minor together within any siblings or half-siblings who are detained or to include a statement as to why that placement would not be appropriate. Requires the worker to make reasonable efforts to place the minor and his or her siblings or half siblings together or to include a statement why the placement would be contrary to the safety or well being of any of the siblings.

Family Connections Grants

State: California

Bill: AB 1402; Status: Pending

Summary: Requires the Department of Social Services to support one or more California-based applications for a federal matching grant for the purpose of helping children who are in, or at risk of entering, foster care reconnect with family members.

Human Services

State: Minnesota

Bill: HB 1709; Status: Pending-Carryover

Summary: Companion to SB 1503. Establishes that the responsible social services agency shall make diligent efforts to identify and locate both parents of any child who is the subject of child welfare proceedings, as well as conduct a relative search to identify and provide notice to adult relatives. Diligent efforts include (1) asking the custodial or known parent to identify any nonresident parent of the child and provide information that can be used to verify the nonresident parent's identity.Efforts also must be made to place siblings removed from their home in the same home for foster care, adoption, or transfer permanent legal and physical custody to a relative.

Kinship Guardianship

State: New York

Bill: AB 2084; Status: Pending

Summary: Amends the Family Court Act to establishes a kinship guardianship program. The act provides that the guardianship assistance be in the same amount as the foster care assistance. It also requires that the child live with the relative for 18 months prior to guardianship, as opposed to the six months required under the Fostering Connections Act. Same as SB 1092.

Kinship Guardianship

State: New York

Bill: SB 1092; Status: Pending

Summary: Amends the Family Court Act to establishes a kinship guardianship program. The act provides that the guardianship assistance be in the same amount as the foster care assistance. It also requires that the child live with the relative for 18 months prior to guardianship, as opposed to the six months required under the Fostering Connections Act. Same as AB 2084.

Implementation of the Federal Fostering Connections

State: New York

Bill: SB 3867; Status: Pending

Summary: Relates to implementation of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 with respect to subsidized kinship guardianship, educational stability, transition plans and sibling visitation and contact.

Subsidy Guardianship Program

State: Pennsylvania

Bill: SB 119; Status: Pending

Summary: Creates Subsidy Guardianship Program for grandparents or relative caregivers of children in custody.

Grandparent Caregiver Support Program

State: Pennsylvania

Bill: SB 120; Status: Pending

Summary: Creates a Grandparent Caregiver Support Program to provide assistance, support, and training to grandparent caregivers.

Relative Search

State: Washington

Bill: HB 2085; Status: Pending-Carryover

Summary: Directs the Department of Social and Health Services to contract with a statewide relative search service provider to identify appropriate and stable placement options for children in dependency cases being removed from home.

Sponsored by Representatives' Walsh, Kagi, and Kenney

Notice to Relatives of Child Taken into Custody

State: Wisconsin

Bill: AB 298; Status: Pending

Summary: Relates to requiring notice to relatives when a child is taken into custody and disclosure of information to relatives for the purpose of facilitating a relationship or placement.

Notice When a Child Is Taken into Custody

State: Wisconsin

Bill: SB 212; Status: Pending

Summary: Relates to requiring notice to relatives when a child is taken into custody and disclosure of information to relatives for the purpose of facilitating a relationship or placement.

Kinship Care

State: New Jersey

Bill: AB 707; Status: Pending

Summary: Requires that the Commissioner of Human Services, through the Kinship Navigator service in the Department of Human Services, ensures that information about federal and State benefits is made available to persons providing kinship care.

Sibling Placement in Foster Care

State: California

Bill: AB 743; Status: Pending-Carryover

Summary: Amends existing law that requires a social worker who takes a minor into custody to place the minor together within any siblings or half-siblings who are detained or to include a statement as to why that placement would not be appropriate. Requires the worker to make reasonable efforts to place the minor and his or her siblings or half siblings together or to include a statement why the placement would be contrary to the safety or well being of any of the siblings.

Kinship Guardianship

State: New York

Bill: AB 2084; Status: Pending-Carryover

Summary: Amends the Family Court Act to establishes a kinship guardianship program. The act provides that the guardianship assistance be in the same amount as the foster care assistance. It also requires that the child live with the relative for 18 months prior to guardianship, as opposed to the six months required under the Fostering Connections Act. Same as SB 1092.

Kinship Guardianship

State: New York

Bill: SB 1092; Status: Pending-Carryover

Summary: Amends the Family Court Act to establishes a kinship guardianship program. The act provides that the guardianship assistance be in the same amount as the foster care assistance. It also requires that the child live with the relative for 18 months prior to guardianship, as opposed to the six months required under the Fostering Connections Act. Same as AB 2084.

Implementation of the Federal Fostering Connections

State: New York

Bill: SB 3867; Status: Pending-Carryover

Summary: Relates to implementation of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 with respect to subsidized kinship guardianship, educational stability, transition plans and sibling visitation and contact.

Sibling Connection

State: Pennsylvania

Bill: HB 2258; Status: Pending

Summary: Determines that reasonable efforts must be made to place a child placed in foster care with any siblings, if appropriate. If siblings are in a different placement setting, the court shall enter an order to ensure visitation between the siblings occurs no less than twice a month, if appropriate.

Kinship Notification

State: Pennsylvania

Bill: HB 2429; Status: Pending

Summary: Establishes that the county child welfare agency shall, within 30 days of a child's removal from the child's home, exercise due diligence to identify and notify the child's adult grandparents and other adult relatives and explain options under Federal and State law to participate in the care and placement of the child, including becoming a foster parent, permanent legal custodian, adoptive resource or individual who will participate in the child's planning and other activities. Defines "adult relative" as an individual who is related within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity to the parent parent or stepparent of the child and is at least 21 years of age.