HB 48 Summary

• Amends Alabama Code Sections 12-15-312 and 12-15-319 to create "Jessi's Law," requiring reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families prior to foster care placement, with exceptions for certain serious crimes.

• Exempts cases from reasonable efforts requirements when a parent has been convicted of rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree, or incest against the child.

• Requires juvenile courts to make findings that a parent is unable to properly care for a child and terminate parental rights when a parent has been convicted of rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree, or incest, with court verification that the crime actually occurred against the child.

• Lists aggravated circumstances that eliminate reasonable efforts requirements, including child abuse, substance abuse by parent, extreme parental disinterest, abandonment, parental incarceration, and various violent felonies against the child or siblings.

• Becomes effective the first day of the third month following passage and approval by the Governor.