Plain English Breakdown
The official text does not provide an effective date.
Kinship Family Approval Process
This law requires a new approval process called 'kinship family' for relatives and extended family members caring for children placed by child welfare or probation departments.
What This Bill Does
- Requires the State Department of Social Services to adopt a kinship family approval process by January 1, 2028.
- Defines a kinship family as someone who meets home environment and family engagement standards for caring for placed children.
- Allows courts to place children with nonrelative extended family members on an emergency or temporary basis if the court finds no risk to the child's health and safety.
- Makes personal information, evaluation reports, and court proceedings about kinship families confidential unless specific exceptions apply.
- Requires applicants to sign a declaration that their application is true; making false statements with intent to deceive becomes a misdemeanor crime.
- Adds kinship families to the list of people allowed access to school pupil records.
Who It Names or Affects
- Relatives, nonrelative extended family members, and extended family members of Indian children caring for placed children.
- County child welfare departments and probation departments responsible for placing children.
- Courts that order temporary or emergency placements of children.
- School districts required to share pupil records with approved kinship families.
Terms To Know
- Kinship family
- An individual or family who meets home environment and family engagement standards to care for a child placed by a county department or voluntarily by a parent.
- Resource family approval process
- The existing system used to approve individuals based on home environment assessment and permanency criteria.
- Nonrelative extended family member
- A person who is not a blood relative but has an emotional bond with the child, such as someone from their community or tribe.
Limits and Unknowns
- The bill does not specify when it will officially take effect.
- Reimbursement for costs to local agencies depends on future decisions by the Commission on State Mandates.
- Confidentiality rules have exceptions listed in other parts of the law.