ND SB2080

Licensed child-placing agencies must obtain and consider foster care assessments when investigating adoptive placements, and adoptive homes are presumed suitable if the petitioner has been continuously licensed as a family foster home for more than one year without correction orders, fiscal sanctions, or license revocation proceedings.

Investigation reports for adoptions must include the child's history, preplacement adoption assessment with criminal history check, postplacement evaluation, the petitioner's foster care assessment if considered, and any other court-required information.

Courts may waive adoption investigations for stepparent petitioners, adult adoptees, court-appointed legal guardians, or relatives (other than stepparents) if the child has lived with the petitioner for at least nine months with no abuse or neglect allegations and the home is appropriate.

Human service zone directors or licensed child-placing agencies must consider granting adoptive placement to qualified family foster home providers if no fit and willing relative is found, provided the provider gave foster care for one year or longer without sanctions and sibling placement would not be separated.

Legislative management shall study child welfare system laws and practices during the 2023-24 interim, with findings due to the sixty-ninth legislative assembly; the Department of Health and Human Services shall report on foster care and adoption redesign by January 1, 2024, and every six months thereafter.