Use of the reasonable and prudent parent standard for making decisions concerning the participation of a child placed in out-of-home care in age or developmentally appropriate activities, permanency planning for a child 14 years of age or over, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, and granting rule-making authority. (FE)

1. Requiring a foster parent, guardian, relative other than a parent, or nonrelative in whose home a child is placed; the operator of a group home, residential care center for children and youth, or shelter care facility in which a child is placed;

and, in the case of a child placed in a group home, residential care center for children and youth, or shelter care facility, a staff member employed on the site of that home, center, or facility who has been designated by the operator of that home, center, or facility as an out-of-home care provider for purposes of making decisions concerning the child's participation in age or developmentally appropriate activities (out-of-home care provider) to use the reasonable and prudent parent standard in making decisions concerning a child's participation in age or developmentally appropriate extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and social activities. The bill defines "reasonable and prudent parent standard" as a standard for an out-of-home care provider to use in making decisions concerning a child's participation in those activities that is characterized by careful and sensible parental decisions that maintain the health, safety, best interests, and cultural, religious, and tribal values of the child while at the same time encouraging the emotional and developmental growth of the child.

2. Requiring the agency that places, or that arranges the placement of, a child with an out-of-home care provider or the agency assigned primary responsibility for providing services to the child, at the time of placement, to: a) provide to the out-of-home care provider information that is specific to the child for the out-of-home care provider to consider in making reasonable and prudent parenting decisions concerning the child's participation in age or developmentally appropriate extracurricular, enrichment, cultural, and social activities; and b) explain to the out-of-home care provider the parameters of those considerations. The bill requires that information to be prepared in consultation with the child and, if reasonably possible to do so, the child's parent and requires that consultation to also occur and those parameters to also be explained at the time the permanency plan is prepared and each time the permanency plan is revised.

3. Requiring the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to promulgate rules: a) requiring all foster parents to receive training in the use of the reasonable and prudent parent standard in making decisions concerning a child's participation in age or developmentally appropriate activities; b) requiring all residential care centers for children and youth, group homes, and shelter care facilities to employ on the site of that center, home, or facility at all times a staff member designated as an out-of-home care provider for purposes of making those decisions (designated out-of-home care provider) and requiring those designated out-of-home care providers to receive that training; and c) requiring foster parents and designated out-of-home care providers who have received that training to make those decisions in accordance with the reasonable and prudent parent standard.

4. Providing that an out-of-home care provider who grants permission for a child to participate in an age or developmentally appropriate activity is immune from civil liability for any act or omission in granting that permission if in granting that permission the out-of-home care provider applied the reasonable and prudent parent standard in accordance with the requirements of the bill and any rules promulgated by DCF under the bill.

5. Requiring the permanency plan for a child whose permanency goal is not to be returned to his or her home or to be placed for adoption, with a guardian, or with a fit and willing relative, but rather to be placed in some other planned permanent living arrangement, to include a plan to ensure that the child has regular, ongoing opportunities to engage in age or developmentally appropriate activities determined in accordance with the reasonable and prudent parent standard.

6. Requiring the court assigned to exercise jurisdiction under the Children's Code and the Juvenile Justice Code (juvenile court) or a permanency plan review panel (panel), in reviewing the permanency plan of a child placed in a planned permanent living arrangement, to determine the steps taken by the agency to ascertain whether the child has regular, ongoing opportunities to engage in age or developmentally appropriate activities and to ensure that the child's caregiver is applying the reasonable and prudent parent standard to decisions concerning the child's participation in those activities.

Permanency planning This bill incorporates the changes that the federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act made with respect to permanency planning into the Children's Code and the Juvenile Justice Code by doing all of the following:

1. Permitting the permanency goal of placement of a child in a planned permanent living arrangement, other than the child's own home or the home of an adoptive parent, guardian, or fit and willing relative, only in the case of a child 16 years of age or over. Current law does not specify an age limit for that permanency goal.

2. Requiring the agency that prepared the permanency plan for a child placed in a planned permanent living arrangement to present to the juvenile court or panel, on review of the permanency plan, information showing that intensive and ongoing efforts were made by the agency, including searching social media, to return the child to the child's home or to place the child for adoption, with a guardian, or with a fit and willing relative and that those efforts have proved unsuccessful.

3. Requiring the juvenile court or panel, in determining the continuing necessity for and the safety and appropriateness of a placement in a planned permanent living arrangement, to include in that determination an explanation of why the planned permanent living arrangement is the best permanency goal for the child and why it continues not to be in the best interests of the child to be returned to his or her home or to be placed for adoption, with a guardian, or with a fit and willing relative.

4. Requiring the agency primarily responsible for providing services for a child who has been placed in out-of-home care for six months or more to ensure that the child is in possession of a certified copy of the child's birth certificate, a social security card, information on maintaining health care coverage, a copy of the child's health care records, and either a driver's license or a state-issued identification card (identification documents and other important information) during the 90 days before the child attains 18 years of age or the child's juvenile court order terminates, whichever is later.

5. Requiring the agency responsible for preparing the permanency plan for a child 14 years of age or over to prepare the plan in consultation with the child, requiring the permanency plan for such a child to include a plan to prepare the child for the transition from out-of-home care to a successful adulthood (transition plan), and requiring a child's transition plan to include a document that describes the rights of the child with respect to education, health, visitation, and participation in juvenile court proceedings, the right of the child to receive identification documents and other important information as required under the bill, the right of the child to receive a copy of his or her credit report, and the right of the child to stay safe and to avoid exploitation. Current law requires a transition plan only for a child 15 years of age or over.

6. Eliminating placement in sustaining care as a permanency goal for a child following a termination of parental rights. The bill, however, permits: a) a child 16 years of age or over who is in sustaining care under a sustaining care contract entered into before the effective date of the bill to remain in sustaining care until the termination date of the contract; and b) a child under 16 years of age who is in sustaining care under a sustaining care contract entered into before the effective date of the bill to remain in sustaining care until the next permanency plan review or hearing for the child, at which time the child's permanency plan must be amended to provide for a permanency goal other than placement in sustaining care.