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An Act
ENROLLED SENATE
BILL NO. 1806 By: Paxton, Nice, and Goodwin
of the Senate
and
Lawson and Hill of the
House
An Act relating to foster care; directing the
Department of Human Services to implement extension
of foster care services; providing that services
shall be voluntary; providing that services shall be
available to certain individuals; providing
requirements for receiving extended services;
directing the Director to promulgate rules; amending
10 O.S. 2021, Sections 7505-1.1, as amended by
Section 1 of Enrolled Senate Bill No. 1655 of the 2nd
Session of the 60th Oklahoma Legislature, and 7510-
1.5, which relate to children; providing that
provisions of section shall not prohibit the
Department from sharing adoptive information in
certain circumstances; modifying provisions related
to payment to parents; providing for codification;
providing an effective date; and declaring an
emergency.
SUBJECT: Foster care services
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-7-112a of Title 10A, unless
there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
ENR. S. B. NO. 1806 Page 2
A. The Department of Human Services shall implement an
extension of foster care services to support individuals
transitioning into adulthood who meet the requirements provided by
this section. Participation in extended services under this section
shall be a voluntary election by the qualifying individual.
Services shall be available to any individual in this state who
meets the requirements of subsection B of this section and who:
1. Was in the custody of the Department at the time of the
individual’s eighteenth birthday but is less than twenty-one (21)
years of age; or
2. Achieved legal permanency by guardianship or adoption at
sixteen (16) years of age or older but is less than twenty-one (21)
years of age and the individual does not receive care from the
parent or legal guardian.
B. Any individual described in subsection A of this section may
receive extended services from the Department under this section if
the individual is:
1. Completing secondary education or a program leading to an
equivalent credential;
2. Enrolled in an institution that provides postsecondary or
vocational education;
3. Participating in a program or activity designed to promote,
or remove barriers to, employment;
4. Employed for at least eighty (80) hours per month; or
5. Incapable of doing any of the activities described in
paragraphs 1 through 4 of this subsection due to a medical
condition, which incapability is supported by regularly updated
information in the case plan of the individual. In such a case, the
individual shall be in compliance with a course of treatment as
recommended by the Department.
C. 1. The Director of the Department of Human Services shall
promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this section.
ENR. S. B. NO. 1806 Page 3
2. The Department of Human Services shall seek available
funding to implement the provisions of this section.
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 10 O.S. 2021, Section 7505-1.1, as
amended by Section 1 of Enrolled Senate Bill No. 1655 of the 2nd
Session of the 60th Oklahoma Legislature, is amended to read as
follows:
Section 7505-1.1. A. Unless otherwise ordered by the district
court exercising jurisdiction over the adoption proceeding, all
hearings held in proceedings pursuant to the Oklahoma Adoption Code
shall be confidential and shall be held in closed court without
admittance of any person other than interested parties and their
counsel.
B. All papers, records, and books of proceedings in adoption
cases and any papers, records, and books relating to such
proceedings:
1. Shall be kept as a permanent record of the court and
maintained in a separate file by the court clerk; and
2. Shall be confidential and shall not be open to inspection or
copy except as authorized in Sections 7504-1.2, 7505-3.2, 7505-6.6,
7508-1.2, and 7508-1.3 of this title or upon order of a court of
record for good cause shown.
C. Upon application and notice to the person or agency in whose
possession the records being sought are held, and for good cause
being shown, any court of record may, by written order reciting its
findings, permit the necessary information to be released, or may
restrict the purposes for which it shall be used. The findings
shall include the reasons the information being sought cannot be
obtained through the methods authorized by Sections 7504-1.2, 7505-
3.2, 7505-6.6, 7508-1.2, and 7508-1.3 of this title.
D. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit:
1. Persons employed by the court, the Department of Human
Services, a child-placing agency, an attorney participating or
assisting in a direct placement adoption, or any physician,
ENR. S. B. NO. 1806 Page 4
minister, or other person or entity assisting or participating in an
adoption from providing partial or complete identifying information
between a biological parent and prospective adoptive or adoptive
parent if a biological parent and a prospective adoptive or adoptive
parent mutually agree to share specific identifying information and
each gives written, signed notice of their agreement to the court,
the Department of Human Services, the child-placing agency, or any
attorney participating or assisting in the direct placement adoption
pursuant to the Oklahoma Adoption Code; or
2. Persons employed by the Department of Human Services from
sharing the contact information of an adoptive parent of an adopted
child enrolled in the Children’s Specialty Plan, and other relevant
information necessary for the continuity of care of the child, with
the contracted entity that administers the Children’s Specialty
Plan. As used in this paragraph, the terms “Children’s Specialty
Plan” and “contracted entity” have the same meanings as provided in
Section 4002.2 of Title 56 of the Oklahoma Statutes; or
3. The Department from sharing adoptive information necessary
to ensure continuity of care for an adoptee who wishes to
participate in extended foster care services under Section 1 of this
act or sharing adoptive information necessary to carry out the
Department’s duties under Section 7510-1.5 of this title.
E. Any person in charge of adoption records or having access to
adoption records or information who discloses any information,
including, but not limited to, all records and reports relevant to
the case and any records and reports of examination of the minor’s
parent or other custodian pertaining to an adoption proceeding,
contrary to the provisions of this section, upon conviction thereof,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
SECTION 3. AMENDATORY 10 O.S. 2021, Section 7510-1.5, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 7510-1.5. A. 1. When a parent or parents are found
and approved for adoption of a child who is determined by the
Department of Human Services to be eligible for adoption assistance
pursuant to the Oklahoma Adoption Assistance Act, and before the
final decree of adoption is entered, there must be a signed written
ENR. S. B. NO. 1806 Page 5
agreement between the prospective adoptive parent or parents and the
Department.
2. Adoption assistance in individual cases may commence with
the adoptive placement or at the time of finalization of the
adoption. Adoption assistance may be for special services only, or
for monthly money payments, and either for a limited period, or for
a long term, or for any combination of the foregoing.
Eligibility for and the rate of monthly adoption assistance
payments shall be determined by the Department in accordance with
rules promulgated by the Commission for Director of the Department
of Human Services.
B. When an otherwise eligible child is determined to have a
causative, preexisting condition which was not identified or known
prior to the legal finalization of the adoption and which has
resulted in a severe medical or psychiatric condition that requires
extensive treatment, hospitalization, or institutionalization, an
adoption assistance agreement may be approved by the Department
after the final decree of adoption has been entered. In the event
an adoption assistance agreement is approved that provides for
monthly adoption assistance payments, the adoptive parents may also
be entitled to receive retroactive adoption assistance payments for
a period not to exceed the two (2) months prior to the date the
adoption assistance agreement was approved.
C. Any child who met the requirements of the provisions of
Sections 7510-1.2 and 7510-1.4 of this title, and was determined
eligible for Oklahoma adoption assistance with respect to a prior
adoption, and is available for adoption because the prior adoption
has been dissolved and the parental rights of the adoptive parents
have been terminated or because the adoptive parents of the child
have died, shall be eligible for Oklahoma adoption assistance with
respect to any subsequent adoption.
D. 1. When adoption assistance benefits are for more than one
(1) year, the Department shall send the adoptive parent or parents
an Adoption Assistance Annual Review request and assure that the
child who has attained the minimum age for compulsory school
attendance and is eligible for an adoption assistance payment under
ENR. S. B. NO. 1806 Page 6
Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C., Section 670 et
seq. is:
a. enrolled in an institution that provides elementary or
secondary education as determined under the law of
this state or other jurisdiction in which the
institution is located,
b. instructed in elementary or secondary education by any
other means legally authorized,
c. in an independent study elementary or secondary
education program in accordance with the law of this
state or other jurisdiction in which the program is
located, that is administered by the local school or
school district, or
d. incapable of attending school on a full-time basis due
to a documented medical condition supported by regular
updates.
2. The adoptive parent or parents shall at all times keep the
Department informed of circumstances including, but not limited to,
whether the adoptive parent or parents continue to be legally
responsible for support of the child which would make them
ineligible for such assistance payments or eligible for assistance
payments in a different amount.
3. The Department is authorized and directed to make a review
of each adoption assistance agreement annually to assure that the
parents are fulfilling their obligations under the agreement.
4. No payment may be made to any parents with respect to any
child who has attained the age of eighteen (18) years, except:
a. with respect to an adoption assistance agreement
entered into prior to the effective date of this act,
a child may continue to receive assistance until the
child reaches the age of nineteen (19) years if the
child:
a.
ENR. S. B. NO. 1806 Page 7
(1) continues to attend high school or pursues
General Education Educational Development, or
b.
(2) meets the criteria for an adoption assistance
difficulty of care rate as determined by the
Department, or
b. with respect to all other adoption agreements, an
individual who attained sixteen (16) years of age
prior to the effective date of the adoption assistance
agreement may continue to receive assistance until the
individual reaches twenty-one (21) years of age if the
individual is:
(1) completing secondary education or a program
leading to an equivalent credential,
(2) enrolled in an institution that provides
postsecondary or vocational education,
(3) participating in a program or activity designed
to promote, or remove barriers to, employment,
(4) employed for at least eighty (80) hours per
month, or
(5) incapable of doing any of the activities
described in divisions (1) through (4) of this
subparagraph due to a medical condition, which
incapability is supported by regularly updated
information in the case plan of the individual.
5. Termination or modification of the adoption assistance
agreement may be requested by the adoptive parent or parents at any
time.
6. No payment may be made to adoptive parents if the Department
determines that the parents are no longer legally responsible for
ENR. S. B. NO. 1806 Page 8
the support of the child or that the child is no longer receiving
any financial support from such parents.
E. A child for whom an adoption assistance agreement has been
reached with the Department shall remain eligible and receive
adoption assistance benefits regardless of the domicile or residence
of the adopting parent or parents at any given time.
F. All records regarding adoption assistance shall be
confidential and may be disclosed only in accordance with the
provisions of the Oklahoma Adoption Code; provided, that nothing in
this subsection shall be construed to prohibit the Department from
disclosing the amount of adoption assistance paid on behalf of a
child to:
1. A judge presiding over a matter in which support or custody
of the subject child is at issue; or
2. The Department’s Office of Inspector General, for purposes
of investigating allegations of fraud against the State of Oklahoma
or its programs.
SECTION 4. This act shall become effective July 1, 2026.
SECTION 5. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and
be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
ENR. S. B. NO. 1806 Page 9
Passed the Senate the 14th day of May, 2026.
Presiding Officer of the Senate
Passed the House of Representatives the 6th day of May, 2026.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Received by the Office of the Governor this ____________________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________
Approved by the Governor of the State of Oklahoma this _________
day of ___________________, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
_________________________________
Governor of the State of Oklahoma
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Received by the Office of the Secretary of State this __________
day of __________________, 20 _______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _________________________________