HB21-1101 Summary

• Creates new law requiring courts to order reasonable parent-child visitation upon child removal, with contact commencing within 72 hours of hearing through telephone, virtual, or in-person visits.

• Establishes procedural protections for parents granted visitation, including right to hearing before suspension or reduction of visits, with emergency order hearings within 72 hours.

• Allows post-adoption contact agreements between adoptive parents and birth parents or relatives, enforceable by court, with child consent required if 12 years or older at adoption.

• Creates Task Force on High-Quality Parenting Time to study current policies, best practices, and recommend statutory changes to improve parent-child contact standards in dependency and neglect cases.

• Appropriates $13,879 in general fund and anticipates $7,473 in federal funds for implementation by Department of Human Services; sections relating to visitation and post-adoption contact take effect September 1, 2021.