Report Title:

Foster Children; Bill of Rights

Description:

Establishes a Foster Children's Bill of Rights. (HB2052 HD1)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2052

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to foster children.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Chapter 587, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§587- Foster children's bill of rights. The department has the duty as foster custodian or permanent custodian to ensure that children living under its care have the following rights protected and enforced:

(1) The right to live in a safe and healthy home, free from physical, sexual, emotional, or other abuse;

(2) The right to receive adequate and healthy food, adequate clothing, medical care, dental and orthodontic care, corrective vision care, and appropriate mental health services;

(3) The right to be placed with foster care providers who have received standardized pre-service training and appropriate ongoing training ensuring that the providers have the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the child's needs;

(4) The right to be placed with foster care providers who have been adequately informed of the child's circumstances, so as to provide appropriate care for the child. Prior to placement, foster care providers shall verbally receive information relating to any serious medical, emotional, and behavioral problems of the child. Within seven days of placement, foster care providers shall receive written information explaining the child's relevant medical and social history. The written information shall include:

(A) A statement of why the child was removed from the child's parents' care;

(B) A statement of the child's past instances of abuse or neglect in the child's home or previous foster care placements;

(C) Pending and past juvenile adjudications or charges;

(D) Current school information;

(E) Past history of behavioral problems;

(F) Current therapy and any known mental health diagnoses;

(G) Complete medical records in the department's physical custody; and

(H) A statement of the child's cultural and family background.

The foster care provider shall keep all such information in strict confidentiality. Provision of such information to a foster care provider shall not have any effect on the information's legal confidentiality.

The department shall develop a checklist to document the time and date that such information was submitted to a new foster care provider and furnish the information to the family court in its reports on safe family home guidelines submitted pursuant to section 587-40 at the following review hearing;

(5) The right, while in foster care, to supervised in-person contact and telephone or mail correspondence with the child's parents and siblings, unless prohibited by court order;

(6) The right, following an adoption, to supervised in-person contact and telephone or mail correspondence with the child's parents and siblings, unless prohibited in the adoption decree;

(7) The right to direct contact with social workers, guardians ad litem, and probation officers;

(8) The right to submit letters or testimony through the child's court-appointed guardian ad litem, at any court hearing or trial, and the right to attend court hearings at the discretion of the family court judge considering the emotional and mental health of the child;

(9) The right to attend religious activities and services of the child's choosing, and the right to refuse to attend any religious activities or services;

(10) The right to maintain a personal bank account and manage personal income, consistent with the child's age and development, unless prohibited due to safety or health concerns;

(11) The right to attend school and participate in appropriate extracurricular activities, and if a child is moved during a school year, the right to complete the school year at the same school, if practicable;

(12) The right to have foster care providers actively involved in the child's pending child welfare case. Foster care providers shall receive notice of review hearings, including the date and time, location, docket number, and purpose of the hearing, and shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings as a party for any child under the provider's care, and at the first review hearing following the removal of a child from the provider's care. Foster care providers shall have the right to submit any relevant letters or documents to the court at any hearing in which the providers are entitled to participate;

(13) The right to have the child's foster care providers receive reasonable notice before the child is removed from a provider's care, except in cases of a court order or when the child is threatened with harm. The department shall provide a written explanation of the child's removal to the child and the child's former foster care provider within seven days of the child's removal;

(14) The right to early identification of family members interested in serving as foster care providers or in permanent custody of the child. The department shall conduct an ohana conference within six months of the child's removal from a foster care provider for the express purpose of identifying interested family members. The department shall contact, in writing, both maternal and paternal relatives that can be identified for this conference;

(15) The right to stability of placements, as far as practicable. Current foster care providers shall be considered the presumptive choice for adoption, legal guardianship, or permanent custody of any child who is in the permanent custody of the department and has been placed in the foster home for more than one year. Prior to the removal of a child in the permanent custody of the department who has been placed with a foster care provider for more than one year, the department shall prove to the family court by a preponderance of the evidence that removal is in the best interests of the child, unless there are immediate concerns for the child's safety. If the removal is due to immediate concerns for the child's safety, the department, within seven days of the child's removal, shall prove to the family court by a preponderance of the evidence that removal is in the best interests of the child; and

(16) The right to life skills training and a transition plan starting at age fourteen to provide adequate transitioning for foster children aging out of the foster care system.

The family court shall have the authority to issue any necessary orders sua sponte, or upon motion of the guardian ad litem, to the department, the department of health, or the department of education, to ensure that these rights are upheld, if such orders are in the child's best interests."

SECTION 2. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.