Child Well-Being Legislative Enactments

California

2014 Cal. Stats., SB 977, Chap. 219

Specifies the fact that a parent is enrolled in a certified abuse treatment facility that allows a dependent child to reside with his or her parent is not, prima facie evidence of detriment or substantial danger. Requires a related social study or evaluation and a supplemental report required in existing law to include a discussion of whether a child may be returned to such parent. Specifies that welfare services may include residential substance abuse treatment facilities that accept families.

California

2012 Cal. Stats., SB 1014, Chap. 

Declares the state’s interest in the Women and Children's Residential Treatment Services WCRTS program, recognizes the eight current programs, and allows for the establishment of additional programs for the purpose of pursuing four primary goals: 1) demonstrate that alcohol and other drug abuse treatment services delivered in a residential setting and coupled with primary health, mental health, and social services for women and children, can improve overall treatment outcomes for women, children, and the family unit as a whole, 2) demonstrate the effectiveness of six-month or 12-month stays in a comprehensive residential treatment program, 3) develop models of effective comprehensive services delivery for women and their children that can be replicated in similar communities, and 4) provide services to promote safe and healthy pregnancies and perinatal outcomes. 

Colorado

2013 Colo. Sess., Laws, SB 278, Chap. 300

Requires the State Methamphetamine Task Force to develop a definition of a drug-endangered child with respect to child abuse or neglect.

Iowa

2008 Iowa Acts, HF

2310, Chap. 1121

Requires the Departments of Public Health and Human Services to collect data and develop a protocol to address the relationship between substance misuse, abuse or dependency by a child’s parent, guardian, custodian or other person responsible for the child’s care and child abuse. The departments shall make an initial report to the governor and the Standing Committees on Human Resources of the Senate and House of Representatives concerning the initial data collected, preliminary recommendations and the status of protocol implementation.

Maryland

2013 Md. Laws, HB

245, Chap. 90

Requires a health practitioner involved in the delivery or care of a substance-exposed newborn to make a report to a local department of social services except under specified circumstances. Provides that such report does not create a presumption that a child is abused. Relates to a positive toxicology screen for a controlled drug. Relates to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Relates to the number of mothers referred to drug abuse treatments and the number of terminations of parental rights. 

Michigan

2014 Mich. Pub. Acts, HB 4696, Act 276

Specifies the services available in the mental health court programs for adults and juveniles, including substance abuse programs and vocational opportunities and provides that an exit evaluation should be performed to determine the continuing need for specified services.

Michigan

2014 Mich. Pub. Acts, HB 5039, Act 243

Allows the ombudsman to request substance use disorder records if a valid consent or court order is obtained, when investigating a concern.

Minnesota

2014 Minn. Laws, HB 2402, Chap. 291

Sec. 38: Reports required. Amends § 626.5561, subd. 1. Requires local welfare agencies to accept reports of prenatal exposure to controlled substances made by reporters notwithstanding the refusal of the reporter to provide the reporter’s name and address, as long as the report is otherwise sufficient.

New Mexico

2009 N.M. Laws, HB

117, Chap. 2009-259 

Provides that exposing a child to methamphetamine use is prima facie evidence of child abuse. 

New York

2014 N.Y. Laws, SB 7903, Chap. 32

Require Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), in consultation with the Department of Health, to create a heroin and opioid addiction wraparound services demonstration program that would provide services to adolescents and adults for up to nine months after the successful completion of a treatment program. Provides for case management services, social services, child care, transportation and employment support, legal and financial services and educational resources and an evaluation to address the overall effectiveness of the program. Specifies that Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) diversion services, in cases where the petitioner alleges the child has a substance use disorder or is in need of immediate detoxification or substance use disorder services, may include assessment for substance use disorders.

New York

2014 N.Y. Laws, HB 7909, Chap. 38

Relates to assessment services for youth alleged to be suffering from substance use disorder, amends the Family Court Act, relates to assessments and diversion services, relates to a substance use disorder which could make a youth a danger to himself or herself or others.

Oklahoma

2010 Okla. Sess.

Laws, HB 1741,

Chap. 278

Authorizes district courts to establish family drug courts. Requires the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) to assist in developing family drug courts. Provides for procedural guidelines, fees and costs. The law authorizes each county treasurer to create a Family Drug Court Revolving Fund and allows the ODMHSAS to contract for family drug court treatment services if funds are available. It provides for treatment of both children adjudicated as deprived and their families, in cases where the parent has a substance abuse disorder. It also modifies various judicial and procedural requirements regarding children alleged to be deprived.  

South Dakota

2008 S.D. Sess.

Laws, HB 1201,

Chap. 26

Allows the courts to consider whether the apparent, alleged or adjudicated abuse or neglect of a child was related to the use of alcohol, marijuana or any controlled drug or substance. The placement or return of the child may be subject to the condition, if the court so orders, that a parent, guardian, custodian or any other adult residing in the home submit to tests for alcohol, marijuana or any controlled drug or substance prior to or during the placement or return of the child. If a parent, guardian, custodian or any other adult who resides in the home and has been ordered by the court to submit to testing for alcohol, marijuana or any controlled drug or substance tests positive for alcohol, marijuana or any controlled drug or substance or fails to submit to the test as required, the Department of Social Services may immediately remove the child from the physical custody of the parent, guardian or custodian. This may occur without prior court order and is subject to a review hearing, which may occur by telephone, within 48 hours excluding Saturdays, Sundays and court holidays.

South Dakota

2008 S.D. Sess.

Laws, SB 69, Chap. 26

Adds marijuana to the list of abusive substances for the purposes of determining child abuse.

Utah

2011 Utah Laws, HB

216, Chap. 167

Creates a presumption that reunification services should not be provided to a birth mother if the court finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that the child has fetal alcohol syndrome or was exposed to an illegal or prescription drug that was abused by the child’s mother while the child was in utero and if the child was taken into custody for that reason, unless the mother agrees to enroll in, is currently enrolled in, or has recently and successfully completed a substance abuse treatment program. The law further permits a judge to waive the provisions of this bill if the judge finds that the substance abuse treatment was not warranted.

Utah

2009 Utah Laws, HB

26 

Provides that a person who knowingly or intentionally causes or permits a child or a vulnerable adult to be exposed to, inhale, ingest or have contact with a controlled substance, chemical substance or drug paraphernalia is: Guilty of a third-degree felony; guilty of a second-degree felony if, as a result of the conduct described above, a child or vulnerable adult suffers bodily injury, substantial bodily injury or serious bodily injury; or guilty of a first-degree felony if, as a result of the conduct described above, a child or vulnerable adult dies.  Provides an affirmative defense to the crime described above, if the controlled substance is obtained by lawful prescription.

Virginia

2012 Va. Acts, SB

299

Provides that a local board or child-placing agency may approve as a kinship foster care parent an applicant convicted of drugs or arson under certain circumstances.

Florida

2014 Fla. Laws, Chap. 161

Relates to human trafficking. Requires screening by the Department of Children and Families to determine services for sexually exploited children. Allows for placement of children in safe houses or safe foster homes. Requires department inspections and training for persons providing services. Allows for trauma-informed services for sexually exploited children in the child and adolescent mental health system of care.

Maryland

2008 Md. Laws, HB

790, Chap. 91

Requires Maryland Child Abuse Medical Providers to collaborate with child advocacy centers and forensic nurse examiner programs to ensure that medical professionals have information on cooperating with social services departments, child advocacy centers and local law enforcement officers to protect children from trauma during child abuse and neglect investigations and prosecutions.

New Mexico

2011 N.M. Laws, HB

196, Chap. 98

Creates the Uniform Child Witness Protective Measures Act to give judges authority to allow a child to testify other than in an open courtroom to protect a child witness from the emotional trauma that may be associated with giving testimony. If a judge determines in a criminal case that an alleged child victim would suffer serious emotional trauma that would substantially impair the ability to communicate or, in a noncriminal case, that it would be in the best interests of the child, the child may testify in an alternative manner, and the testimony may be taken by alternative means, such as videotaping.

Texas

2013 Tex. Gen.

Laws, SB 245, Chap. 136

Relates to eligibility of children's advocacy centers for contracts to provide services for children and family members in child abuse and neglect cases. Relates to trauma-oriented mental health services and case tracking. Provides that a public entity operated as a center or nonprofit entity is eligible if the center implements a family advocacy and victim support services that include comprehensive case management and victim support services for each child and the child's non-offending family members. 

Washington

2011 Wash. Laws,

HB 1965, Chap. 32

Sec. 1: States that adverse childhood experiences determine a child’s ability to be successful at school, to avoid behavioral and chronic physical health conditions, and to build healthy relationships. The law identifies the primary causes of adverse childhood experiences and mobilizes public and private support to prevent harm to young children and to reduce accumulated harm of adverse experiences throughout childhood. The law notes that a focused effort is needed to: 1) identify and promote the use of innovative strategies based on evidence-based and research-based approaches and practices; and 2) align public and private policies and funding with approaches and strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness. Sec. 2: Defines adverse childhood experiences to include indicators of severe childhood stressors, including child physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or neglect; alcohol or other substance abuse in the home; mental illness, depression or suicidal behaviors in the home; incarceration of a family member; witnessing intimate partner violence; and parental divorce or separation. The law states that adverse childhood experiences have been demonstrated to affect the development of the brain and other major body systems. 

California

2014 Assembly Bill 1623, Act No. 85

Authorizes any city, county, or community-based nonprofit organization to establish a multiagency, multidisciplinary family justice center to assist victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, elder or dependent adult abuse, and human trafficking. Specifies additional confidentiality provisions relating to information disclosed by a victim in a family justice center. Requires each center to maintain a mandatory training for all staff members, volunteers and agency professionals.

Colorado

2014 House Bill 1273, Act No. 282

Repeals and reenacts, with amendments, existing provisions concerning human trafficking, relates to trafficking for involuntary servitude, trafficking of minors, sexual servitude, prosecution for trafficking, defenses to prosecution, creation of a Human Trafficking Council, evidence in criminal prosecutions, false reporting of sexual assaults, and restitution orders, including restitution for deceased victims.

Connecticut

2014 House Bill 5040, Act. No. 14-186

Expands the actions DCF can take to help children it identifies or believes are victims of trafficking to include (1) providing services, (2) forming multidisciplinary teams to review trafficking cases, and (3) providing training to law enforcement officers about trafficking. It also expands the category of children or youths a court may find to be "uncared for" to include child-trafficking victims.

Delaware

2014 Senate Bill 197, Act No. 276

Relates to trafficking of individuals, forced labor and sexual servitude. Provides penalties. Relates to coercion, abuse of the legal process, use of drugs, debt bondage, threatened loss of identification documents, commission of civil or criminal fraud and use of a person's physical, cognitive disability or mental impairment. Provides for minors.

Florida

2014 House Bill 561, Act No. 2014-227

Finds that though there are organizations that provide representation to children in dependency proceedings, a child with certain special needs in this system has a particular need for legal services. Requires the court to appoint an attorney for a dependent child who: resides in, or is being considered for placement in, a skilled nursing facility, is prescribed a psychotropic medication and declines it, has a developmental disability, is being placed in, or is considered for placement in, a residential treatment center, or is a victim of human trafficking. Requires the court to ask the Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Office to recommend an attorney willing to work without additional compensation prior to the court appointing an attorney on a compensated basis. Details the requirements of the attorney appointed. Clarifies who will contract with the appointed attorney, the compensation for the appointed attorney and requires the Department of Children and Families to identify and request attorney representation for qualifying children and make rules to administer the bill.

Florida

2014 House Bill 989, Act No. 2014-160

Prohibits the buying and selling children into prostitution. Details the confidentiality of court records concerning offenses involving human trafficking and children. Makes victims of human trafficking eligible for crime victim compensation awards and financial relocation assistance. Prohibits employment of minors in adult theaters. Removes the statute of limitation and increases the penalty for conviction of human trafficking offenses.

Florida

2014 Fla. Laws, HB 7141, Chap. 2014-161

Relates to human trafficking. Requires screening by the Department of Children and Families to determine services for sexually exploited children. Allows for placement of children in safe houses or safe foster homes. Requires department inspections and training for persons providing services. Allows for trauma-informed services for sexually exploited children in the child and adolescent mental health system of care.

Louisiana

2014 House Bill 1025, Act No. 564

Relates to human trafficking, trafficking of children for sexual purposes, and commercial sexual exploitation. Requires certain people convicted of the offense to register and provide notification as a sex offender. Relates to the confidentiality of victims of human trafficking-related offense. Authorizes the interception of wire, electronic, or oral communications in investigations of offenses involving commercial sexual exploitation. Relates to debt bondage.

Michigan

2014 House Bill 5012, Act No. 336

Creates a presumption that a minor prosecuted for prostitution was a victim of human trafficking, was subject to the temporary protective custody provisions of the juvenile code, and was eligible for services provided to dependent minors subjected to abuse and neglect.

Michigan

2014 Senate Bill 587, Act 337

Amends the Foster Care and Adoption Services Act to require a supervising agency that develops a medical passport for a child under its care to indicate in the passport that the child could be a victim of human trafficking. If a child were alleged to be a victim of human trafficking, the bill requires the supervising agency to have an assessment or evaluation of the child performed by an experienced and licensed mental health professional who was trained in children's psychological assessments. If the assessment or evaluation indicated that the child could have been a victim of human trafficking, the supervising agency would have to provide appropriate counseling services, in addition to any other services.

Michigan

2014 Senate Bill 593, Act 338

Requires a supervising agency, before placing a child in its care, to give special consideration to information that the child might have been a victim of human trafficking. Allows a supervising agency to find that adoption, reunification, or other traditional foster care services might not be suitable for a child who was a human trafficking victim. Requires the supervising agency to provide other necessary services for the child.

New Hampshire

2014 Senate Bill 317, Act No. 2014-257

Makes changes to the law on trafficking in people. Authorizes a person injured as a result of trafficking to initiate a civil action for damages or injunctive relief. Provides that a person shall be guilty of a class A felony if such person maintains or makes available an individual under 18 years of age for the purpose of engaging the individual in a commercial sex act or sexually-explicit performance for the benefit of another. Provides that certain information concerning victims shall be confidential.

Ohio

2014 House Bill, 130 Act No. 139

Authorizes a judge or magistrate to order the testimony of a minor victim of human trafficking to be taken by closed circuit television equipment. Prohibits disclosure of identifying information in a police report concerning a delinquent offender or abused minor. Enacts the offense of commercial sexual exploitation of a minor. Deals with obscenity, developmentally disabled victims and penalties for solicitation. Allows a victim of trafficking to be eligible for intervention in lieu of conviction.

Utah

2014 House Bill, 254 Act No. 140

Amends provisions related to human trafficking and prostitution. Details that a child is not subject to a delinquency proceeding for prostitution unless a law enforcement officer has referred the child to the Division of Child and Family Services on at least one prior occasion for an alleged act of prostitution or sexual solicitation. Allows the victim of human trafficking or human smuggling to bring a civil action against the perpetrator. Details the requirements for the civil action.

Wisconsin

2014 Assembly Bill 620, Act No. 362

Relates to human trafficking. Relates to human trafficking victims. Relates to property forfeitures. Relates to rights of victims. Relates to admitting evidence of past actions. Relates to definitions of certain offenses. Provides for penalties.

Colorado

 2008 Colo. Sess.

Laws, SB 99, Chap. 329

Extends Medicaid eligibility for people who are in the foster care system prior to emancipation. Allows a person younger than age 21 for whom the state made subsidized adoption payments when the person attained age 18 to continue to be eligible for Medicaid.

Connecticut

2009 Conn. Acts, HB

6476, P.A. 166

Requires the General Assembly's Program Review and Investigations Committee to begin a pilot project study that assessed selected human services programs using the Results Based Accountability (RBA) framework. RBA is a policy-making method that begins with the identification of societal goals and then moves on to analyze the specific means of achieving those goals. These societal goals (sometimes called results) tend to be broadly-defined and not specific to particular programs (for example, healthy children or safe cities). These results concern entire populations, which may be defined as broadly as all the state's residents, or restricted to a group such as children with learning disabilities.  Programs are evaluated based on how much, and how efficiently, they contribute to achieving the societal goal identified.  Connecticut began the first of five phases of RBA in

2005, when the Appropriations Committee of the General Assembly began a pilot program to implement RBA with Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection Long Island Sound program and the Early Childhood Cabinet's Ready by Five program.  In the fifth year of the project (2009), each agency proposed three to five programs to be analyzed under the RBA framework. The Appropriations Committee generally approved the proposals. Connecticut continues to integrate the RBA framework across agencies.

Illinois

2010 Ill. Laws, SB

3420, P.A. 1127

Allows the appropriation of funds paid to the state by the federal government under titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act for child welfare services delivered by community mental health providers that were certified and paid as Medicaid providers by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for child welfare services related to Medicaid-eligible clients and families served, consistent with the purposes of the DCFS.  

Indiana

2009 Ind. Acts, SB

365, P.L. 131 

Establishes that the Department of Child Services is responsible for the cost of treatment or maintenance of a child under the department’s custody or supervision who is placed by or with the consent of the Department of Child Services in a state institution, only if the costs are reimbursable under the state Medicaid program. 

Maine

2010 Me. Laws, HB

1204, Chap. 204

Requires the departments of Corrections, Education, Health and Human Services and Labor to work with the coordinated services district system to ensure flexible funding and timely response and provision of services, to develop a plan that will detail a statewide system for in-home and out-of-home placements for youth in the juvenile justice system, and to develop a plan that identifies an ongoing mechanism for providing flexible funding for youth who are served by multiple state agencies.

Maine

2008 Me. Laws, HB

1971, Chap. 683

Creates the Children’s Growth Council, and defines both the membership provisions and the council’s duties. These include to develop and evaluate a plan for sustainable social and financial investment in the healthy development of the state’s young children and their families. Offers a voluntary universal home-visiting program for new families with children.

Montana

2013 Mont. Laws,

HB 262, Chap. 387

Extends Medicaid eligibility for minors placed in a subsidized guardianship.

New Hampshire

2014 House Bill 572 Act No. 2014-80

Establishes a commission to study public-private partnerships to fund medical care for abused and neglected children.

Texas

2011 Tex. Gen.

Laws, SB 218, Chap. 598

Sec. 11: Authorizes the Health and Human Services Commission to use alternative payment rates for foster care under the newly redesigned system for 24-hour residential child care. The law also allows the alternative rates to include incentive payments and funding for additional services. It prohibits the alternative rates from exceeding the amounts appropriated for foster care and other purchased services for any fiscal year, except to the extent that an increase in total foster care expenditures is the direct result of caseload growth.  

Washington

2009 Wash. Laws, 2SHB 2106, Chap. 520

Creates the child welfare transformation design committee to establish a transition plan containing recommendations to the legislature and the governor for the provision of child welfare services by supervising agencies. Addresses conversion of DSHS current contracts for child welfare services into performance-based contracts and reinvestment of savings into evidence-based prevention and intervention programs to prevent the need for or reduce the duration of foster care placements. 

Washington

2012 Wash. Laws,

HB 2263, Chap. 204

The Child and Family Reinvestment Account (Account) is created and may be used to: (1)  safely reduce entries and prevent reentry into the foster care system; (2) safely increase  reunifications; (3) achieve permanency for children unable to reunify; and (4) improve outcomes for youth who age out of care. Revenues to the Account consist of savings from reductions in the foster care caseload and per capita costs and other public or private funds. The Department of Social and Health Services must develop a methodology for calculating state savings for deposit into the Account for the 2013-15 biennium. The methodology must include any relevant provision of a federal Title IV-E demonstration waiver. The savings calculation must be based on actual caseload and per capita expenditures.

West Virginia

2010 W.V. Acts, SB

636, Chap. 25

Creates a commission to study the residential placement of children who are in need of or at risk of needing social, emotional and behavioral health services. The law finds that the existing categorical structure of government programs and their funding streams discourage collaboration, resulting in duplication of efforts and a waste of limited resources. It establishes a mechanism to achieve systemic reform by which all the state’s child-serving agencies involved in the residential placement of at-risk youth jointly and continually study and improve the current system and make recommendations to their respective agencies and to the Legislature regarding funding and statutory, regulatory and policy changes.  

Connecticut

2009 Conn. Acts, SB

877 P.A. 205 

Implements the recommendations of the Program Review and Investigations Committee concerning the Department of Children and Families by improving the Department’s monitoring and evaluation system. Requires that the Department of Children and Families develop a single, comprehensive strategic plan for meeting the needs of children and families served by the Department and identify agency goals and indicators of progress in achieving such goals.

Louisiana

La. Acts 2008, SB 701, Act 775

Establishes that state departments, including the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Social Services, shall guide the implementation of service delivery integration designed to meet the needs of children and their families. Authorizes the state leadership group to establish a Neighborhood Place to implement the service integration delivery model. Identifies the goals of the integrated case management delivery model, including to provide citizens with timely access to an array of health care, education and human services and to address foster care and adoption as well as family safety and stability.

Michigan

2011 Mich. Pub.

Acts, HB 4526, Act

63

Sec. 580: Instructs the Department of Human Services and the Department of Community Health to initiate efforts to identify mental health programs and activities where the services of the two departments overlap or are uncoordinated, with a goal of providing adequate and stable mental health services that address the needs of the individual child without duplicate, confusing or needlessly complex services.

Montana

2009 Mont. Laws,

HB 243, Chap. 190 

Directs the Children’s System of Care Planning Committee to study the system of care for high-risk children with multi-agency service needs; requires a report to the Legislature.

Nebraska

2012 Neb. Laws, L.B.

1160

Requires the implementation of a web-based, statewide automated child welfare information system to integrate child welfare information into one system, requires the system to include integration across related social services programs through automated interfaces, including, but not limited to, the courts, Medicaid eligibility, financial processes, and child support; and provides for a report concerning access of individuals with co-occurring intellectual disability and mental illness to services.

Oregon

2009 Or. Laws, HB

244, Chap. 540 

Requires child services entities to participate in a wraparound initiative for the provision of services to youth identified as having been or being at risk of developing emotional, behavioral or substance use-related needs who are involved with multiple systems of care. Imposes requirements on state agencies to ensure cultural competence in provision of services and to collect and evaluate data; establishes the Children’s Wraparound Initiative Advisory Committee and requires an annual report.

Texas

2009 Tex. Gen. Laws, SB 1646,

Chap. 819 

Establishes the Council on Children and Families to coordinate the state’s health, education and human services systems to ensure that children and families have access to needed services; improve coordination and efficiency in state agencies, advisory councils on issues affecting children, and local levels of service; prioritize and mobilize resources for children; and facilitate an integrated approach to providing services for children and youth.

Virginia

2008 Va. Acts., SB

472, Chap. 873

Eliminates the interdepartmental regulation of children’s residential facilities and group homes, and provides that the Departments of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, Social Services, and Juvenile Justice shall regulate and license children’s residential facilities and group homes for which they are the primary licensing agency. Each licensing agency shall conduct background checks of persons working or volunteering at facilities. Requires the Department of Education to be solely responsible for licensure of educational programs in children’s residential facilities and group homes.