Foster care placement notification requirements advanced
Senators advanced a bill April 5 that would establish notification requirements for child foster care placement court reviews and hearings.
LB648, introduced by Imperial Sen. Mark Christensen, would require the state Department of Health and Human Services or contract agency to make a child’s placement information available for courts to use when notifying foster parents of foster placement hearings. The notice must be mailed or personally delivered to the counsel or party within five days prior to the review or hearing.
The bill also would require the court to ask any present and willing foster parent, preadoptive parent or relative caring for the child about the well-being of the child at the hearing.
A Judiciary Committee amendment, adopted 38-0, eliminated a provision in the bill allowing a foster parent to call and cross-examine witnesses at the hearing and to appeal an adverse decision.
The committee was concerned that hearings or reviews would be held after the placement was determined and not prior to removing the child from the foster home, said Omaha Sen. Brad Ashford, chairperson of the committee. The amendment provides clarification and ensures the bill would not require the courts to hold a placement hearing, he said.
Christensen offered — and later withdrew — an amendment to the committee amendment, which would allow a foster parent to be active in foster placement hearings, but only after a foster child has been placed in their home for at least six months.
Omaha Sen. Gwen Howard opposed the amendment, saying decisions on placing foster children are made by the department and not the courts.
Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill offered an amendment containing provisions she originally introduced in LB80. The amendment would require the department to establish that a child’s case plan would be approved and would allow the court to approve the department’s proposed plan.
The McGill amendment was adopted 37-0 and the bill advanced on a 35-0 vote.
