SB1306 Summary

• Establishes kinship foster care services for children removed from their homes, with placement decisions based on the child's best interests.

• Requires kinship foster care parent applicants to be at least 18 years old and submit to fingerprint criminal background checks and home visits conducted by the Department of Child Safety.

• Makes kinship foster care parents eligible for full foster care benefits and automatically provides temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) cash assistance and supplemental financial support for eligible dependent children without requiring a separate application.

• Requires the Department of Economic Security to amend the TANF state plan to waive face-to-face application requirements for relative caregivers applying for child-only TANF cases.

• Appropriates $5,000,000 from the federal TANF block grant in fiscal year 2019-2020 to the Department of Child Safety for TANF payments to kinship foster care parents.