HB 1078 Summary

• Lowers transition planning age from 16 to 14 years old for children in foster care and requires transition planning for children age 14+ to prepare for successful adulthood

• Restricts planned alternative permanent placements to children age 16 or older and requires courts to document compelling reasons at each hearing for this placement type

• Establishes policies and procedures for identifying children at risk of sex trafficking, requires reporting runaway/missing children to law enforcement within 24 hours, and mandates immediate reporting of identified sex trafficking victims

• Allows children age 14+ to choose up to two permanency planning team members and designate an advisor/advocate; grants children the right to receive important documents (birth certificate, social security card, health insurance info, medical records, ID) when leaving foster care

• Requires Department to notify additional relatives (including sibling parents and first cousins) of child removal and modifies foster care placement standards to follow reasonable and prudent parent principles for age-appropriate activities