LA HB224

Changes terminology throughout the Children's Code from "foster parent" to "foster caregiver" and modernizes related language to clarify that foster care means a child is in department custody receiving temporary services

Requires courts to make written findings of fact or include in minutes whether proper notice was provided when parents, children, foster caregivers, pre-adoptive parents, or relatives providing care are absent from hearings (custody, disposition, case review, and permanency hearings)

Creates new Article 658.1 establishing a formal intervention process allowing relatives or other suitable individuals to participate in child in need of care proceedings if the court finds intervention is in the child's best interest and will facilitate permanency

Expands required advisements to children and parents in Families in Need of Services proceedings to include rights regarding notice of hearings, freedom from discrimination, interpreter services, disability accommodations, and attorney representation

Repeals three existing articles (650, 697, and 707) that authorized intervention and consolidates intervention procedures into the new Article 658.1