HB 450 Summary

• Establishes "rights in trust" for children within the Child Protective Act, defining constitutional rights held by custodians until children reach age of majority.

• Changes family court custody proceedings to require appointment of a guardian ad litem to represent children's interests (previously discretionary).

• Expands grounds for protective custody by adding "probable harm" standard alongside existing "harm" and "imminent harm" standards for police officer custody decisions and Department of Human Services investigations.

• Lowers threshold for Department of Human Services to assume temporary foster custody of children by including "probable harm" (defined as reasonable cause to believe harm is more likely than not to occur).