STAND. COM. REP. NO. 854

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1441

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1441 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CERTIFICATION OF CHILD PLACING ORGANIZATIONS, CHILD CARING INSTITUTIONS, FOSTER BOARDING HOMES, AND ADOPTIVE HOMES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to require foster and adoptive parents to complete a child abuse and neglect clearance as a condition of approval in accordance with federal law.

 

     The Department of Human Services, the Child Welfare Services State Advisory Council, Kokua Ohana Foster Care Program, and one individual submitted testimony in support of this measure.

 

     Your Committees find that this measure will ensure the State is in compliance with the requirements of the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.  The measure requires that child abuse and neglect clearances are conducted for all adults living in a foster or adoptive home in every state the adult or family has resided in during the previous five years as a condition of approval.  Your Committees further find that this measure will help ensure that child abusers do not evade detection by moving from one state to another.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date from July 1, 2007, to upon approval; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1441, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1441, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Public Housing and Judiciary and Labor,

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair