SB 256

Under current law, when a child is the subject of a child or juvenile in need of

protection or services (CHIPS or JIPS) proceeding, the county social or human

services department, a child welfare agency, or the Department of Children and

Families in Milwaukee County is required to prepare a permanency plan for the

child. The permanency plan is reviewed every six months by either a review panel

or at a court hearing. Before the review or hearing, the agency is required to provide

a copy of the plan, and any written comments that the agency receives about the plan,

to the following people: the members of the review panel; the child's parent,

guardian, or legal custodian; the person representing the interests of the public; the

child's counsel, guardian ad litem, or court-appointed special advocate; and, if the

child is an Indian child who is placed outside the home of his or her parent or Indian

custodian, the child's Indian custodian and tribe.

This bill allows an agency to provide a copy of a child's permanency plan and

comments on the plan to a child's out-of-home care provider in the context of a

permanency review and a permanency hearing. An out-of-home care provider

includes a foster parent, guardian, relative other than a parent, or nonrelative in

whose home a child or juvenile is placed, or the operator of a group home, residential

care center for children and youth, or shelter care facility in which a child or juvenile

is placed.

Under this bill, any information that is required to remain confidential under

federal or state law must be redacted from the permanency plan before it is provided

to the out-of-home care provider.