State Child Welfare System - Reporting

EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
amendment.
*hb1305*

HOUSE BILL 1305
O4, F1, F2 6lr3355

By: Delegates Kaiser, Kaufman, Palakovich Carr, Simmons, Wilson, and Woods
Woods, Ebersole, Mireku–North, Pasteur, and Wims
Introduced and read first time: February 12, 2026
Assigned to: Ways and Means
Committee Report: Favorable with amendments
House action: Adopted
Read second time: March 4, 2026

CHAPTER ______

AN ACT concerning 1

State Child Welfare System – Reporting 2

FOR the purpose of requiring the State Department of Education to include certain 3
information in a certain report; requiring the State Department of Education, in 4
cooperation with the Department of Human Services, to develop and submit a certain 5
report to the General Assembly on improving outcomes for students in the State child 6
welfare system; and generally relating to children and foster youth in the State child 7
welfare system. 8

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 9
Article – Family Law 10
Section 5–1312(c) and (d) 11
Annotated Code of Maryland 12
(2019 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 13

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 14
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 15

Article – Family Law 16

5–1312. 17

(c) Subject to subsection (d) of this section, on or before December 1 each year, 18
the State Department of Education shall report to the General Assembly, in accordance 19
2 HOUSE BILL 1305

with § 2 –1257 of the State Government Article, and to the Department the following 1
information regarding children and foster youth in the State child welfare system: 2

(1) the stability of school placements; 3

(2) the number of children with individualized education plans 4
PROGRAMS; 5

(3) the number of children with a plan under § 504 of the federal 6
Rehabilitation Act; 7

(4) the number of children who have been retained a grade, disaggregated 8
by grade; 9

(5) the number of children who graduate from high school; 10

(6) dropout rates; 11

(7) the number of children who are truant students, as defined in § 7–302.2 12
of the Education Article; 13

(8) the rates of absenteeism; 14

(9) the rates of suspension; 15

(10) the rates of expulsion; [and] 16

(11) the number of school–based arrests; AND 17

(12) THE NUMBER OF FOSTER YOUTH WHO ENROLL IN COLLEGE AND 18
GRADUATE WITHIN 6 YEARS. 19

(d) (1) In reporting the information required under subsections (b) and (c) of 20
this section, the Department and the State Department of Education shall: 21

[(1)] (I) maintain the confidentiality of information on children and 22
foster youth in the State child welfare system; 23

[(2)] (II) ensure that no personally identifiable information is disclosed; 24
and 25

[(3)] (III) disaggregate the information by county, age, gender, race, and 26
ethnicity. 27

(2) IN REPORTING THE INFO RMATION REQUIRED UNDER 28
SUBSECTION (C) OF THIS SECTION, THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SHALL 29
HOUSE BILL 1305 3

INCLUDE, WHERE APPROPRIATE, COMPARISON DATA FOR CHILDREN AND STUDENTS 1
NOT IN THE STATE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM. 2

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That: 3

(a) In this section, “foster youth” has the meaning stated in § 5–304 of the Human 4
Services Article. 5

(b) On or before December 1, 2026, the State Department of Education, in 6
cooperation with the Department of Human Services, shall develop and submit a report to 7
the General Assembly, in accordance with § 2 –1257 of the State Government Article, on 8
improving outcomes for students in the State child welfare system. 9

(c) The report required under subsection (b) of this section shall: 10

(1) identify each State agency that provides services for foster youth; 11

(2) specifically for children and foster youth students, identify needs and 12
gaps in services that could improve educational outcomes; 13

(3) identify best practices from other states that have demonstrated 14
success with college and career readiness for foster youth; 15

(4) provide recommendations for improving educational outcomes for foster 16
youth students in the State; 17

(5) evaluate the effectiveness of the information reported under § 5 –1312 18
of the Family Law Article; and 19

(6) provide recommendations for improving data collection and reporting 20
requirements on foster youth students. 21

SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 22
October 1, 2026. Section 2 of this Act shall remain effective for a period of 1 year and, at 23
the end of September 30, 2027, Section 2 of this Act, with no further action required by the 24
General Assembly, shall be abrogated and of no further force and effect. 25