The bill establishes several measures that protect the best interests
of a child or youth and that will not hinder reunification with the child's or youth's family when the child or youth has been temporarily placed outside the family home with a relative or kin (relative), including:
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Permitting a relative to appeal when denied placement of the child or youth with the relative;
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Requiring the department of human services (department), to use reasonable efforts to help a relative whose barrier to caring for the child or youth is a lack of resources;
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Amending the court's advisement to the parent so it is consistent with changes to statute;
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Specifying what information should be included in a notice to relatives when the child or youth has been removed from the child's or youth home;
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Requiring that courts give preference to a relative unless placement with that relative would negatively affect the child's or youth's health, safety, or welfare or hinder reunification with the child's or youth's family;
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Providing options for a relative to be allowed to participate in a child's or youth's care and planning;
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Creating a rebuttable presumption that placement with a relative is in the child's or youth's best interest as long as the child's or youth's health or safety is not jeopardized by the placement; and
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Requiring that caseworkers inform the court of efforts to identify and place a child or youth with a relative.
