SB 313

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, if the child or juvenile is located in Milwaukee County, the Department of Children and Families is required to prepare a permanency plan for the child. The permanency plan is reviewed every six months either by 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, nonrelative in whose home a child or juvenile is placed, and 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.