S.B. 822 Summary

• Establishes "rights in trust" concept defining constitutional rights of children held by their custodian that cannot be disrupted or postponed except when exercise would damage the child's future autonomy.

• Mandates family courts shall appoint a guardian ad litem to represent children's interests in custody disputes (changed from discretionary "may appoint" to mandatory "shall appoint").

• Expands grounds for police to take children into protective custody without court order to include cases where child "has been harmed" or "may suffer probable harm," in addition to existing "imminent harm" standard.

• Lowers threshold for Department of Human Services to assume temporary foster custody and conduct investigations by adding "probable harm" standard, defined as reasonable cause to believe harm is more likely than not to occur.

• Takes effect upon approval.