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IN HB1446
Bill
Status
1/15/2019
Primary Sponsor
Charles Burton
Click for details
AI Summary
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Expands placement priorities for children in need of services to include households where a sibling has already been placed, in addition to the existing priority for relatives or de facto custodians
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Requires juvenile courts and the Department of Child Services (DCS) to consider whether the child's best interests would be served by sibling co-placement before considering other out-of-home options
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Applies to both initial detention placements and dispositional decree placements for children alleged or found to be in need of services
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Maintains existing requirements for home evaluations and background checks before placing a child with relatives, de facto custodians, or in sibling households
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Effective date: July 1, 2019
Legislative Description
Child placement involving siblings. Provides that a juvenile court or the department of child services (DCS), when placing a child alleged to be a child in need of services in an out-of-home placement after detaining the child, shall consider whether the child's best interests would be served by placing the child: (1) with a relative or de facto custodian; or (2) in a household in which a sibling of the child has been placed; before considering any other placement for the child. (Current law provides that the juvenile court or DCS must consider placing the child with a relative or de facto custodian before considering any other placement for the child.) Provides that a juvenile court, when placing a child in need of services in an out-of-home placement under a dispositional decree, shall consider whether the child's best interests would be served by placing the child: (1) with a relative; or (2) in a household in which a sibling of the child has been placed; before considering any other placement for the child. (Current law provides that the juvenile court must consider placing the child with a relative before considering any other placement for the child.)
Last Action
First reading: referred to Committee on Family, Children and Human Affairs
1/15/2019