SB 354 Summary

• Court Authority for Relative Placements: Courts may order emergency placement of children with relatives or nonrelative extended family members regardless of criminal record exemption or resource family approval status, if the court finds the placement does not pose a risk to the child's health and safety.

• Reasonable Efforts for Placement Resources: County welfare departments must use reasonable efforts to assist relatives or nonrelative extended family members in obtaining necessary items (cribs, car seats, etc.) when lack of resources is the only barrier to emergency placement.

• Criminal Record Exemptions: Limits convictions for which exemptions cannot be granted to those occurring within the last 10 years for foster care providers, and expands criteria allowing exemptions for specific relative child placements with stricter timeframes on certain felonies.

• Financial Ability Requirement: Waives the financial ability requirement for relative and nonrelative extended family member resource families on a case-by-case basis, with no minimum income requirement.

• Expanded Funding Eligibility: Expands the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Program and emergency caregiver funding to include relatives approved by court order when resource family approval is denied, and requires foster family agencies to report criminal exemption data to the state by July 1, 2024.