SB 347

Introduction

Under current federal law, to be eligible for foster care and adoption assistance

under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act (Title IV-E), a state must have a state

plan that meets certain conditions specified in Title IV-E. Recently, Congress

amended Title IV-E by enactment of the Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of

Foster Children Act of 2006, the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006,

and the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.

This bill amends certain provisions of the Children's Code and the Juvenile Justice

Code relating to permanency planning for children placed in out-of-home care to

conform those provisions to the requirements of Title IV-E, as affected by those acts.

Also, under current federal law, to be eligible for a grant under the Child Abuse

Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) a state must have in effect a state plan that

meets certain conditions specified in CAPTA, including a requirement that a health

care provider report to the child protective services system infants who are affected

by illegal substance abuse or withdrawal symptoms resulting from prenatal drug

exposure. This bill conforms current state law relating to the reporting of infants

whose bodily fluids contain a controlled substance to that requirement of CAPTA.

Finally, the bill authorizes a circuit court commissioner assigned to assist in

juvenile matters to review a child's permanency plan, which is a plan designed to

ensure that the child is reunified with his or her family whenever appropriate or that

the child quickly attains a placement or home providing long-term stability;

specifies certain placements for purposes of determining whether the child has been

placed in an out-of-home placement for 15 of the most recent 22 months, which

triggers a requirement that a termination of parental rights (TPR) petition be filed;

and permits disclosure of information to a relative of a child for purposes of

facilitating placement of the child with the relative or to a public or private agency

in this state or any other state for purposes of investigating a proposed foster or

adoptive placement.

Permanency planning for children in out-of-home care

Current law.

Under current law, for each child living in an out-of-home

placement, the county department of human services or social services (county

department), the licensed child welfare agency, or, in Milwaukee County, the

Department of Children and Families (DCF) that placed the child or arranged the

placement of the child or the agency assigned primary responsibility for providing

services to the child (collectively "agency") must prepare a permanency plan for the

child. A permanency plan must describe, among other things, the goal or goals of the

permanency plan, with those goals being either the safe return of the child to the

home or placement of the child for adoption, with a guardian, in the home of a

relative, or in some other alternative permanent placement.