HCS SS SCS SB 923, 828, 876, 694 & 736 -- CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

SPONSOR:  Sims (Barry)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Children,
Families and Health by a vote of 15 to 1.

This substitute contains various provisions pertaining to
children and families.

FEES FOR ADOPTION DOCUMENTS

The substitute limits the allowable fees charged by the Secretary
of State for processing certain adoption documents to $100 per
child per adoption or per multiple children adopted at the same
time.  Currently, the Secretary of State can charge a fee of $10
per document.

SPECIAL NEEDS ADOPTION TAX CREDIT

Currently, a person can claim the sale of a special needs
adoption tax credit to a not-for-profit entity at a discount rate
of 75% or greater of the amount sold.  The substitute removes the
limitation that the discount rate must apply to a sale made to a
not-for-profit entity.

NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING

The substitute revises a provision pertaining to hearing
screening for newborns.

Effective January 1, 2002, any facility which transfers a newborn
to a different facility for further acute care prior to the
completion of the newborn hearing screening is required to notify
the receiving facility of the current status of the hearing
screening.  If the hearing screening is incomplete, the receiving
facility is responsible for completing the hearing screening for
newborns.

Currently, hospitals or ambulatory surgical centers are required
to perform the hearing screening for newborns delivered in their
facilities prior to discharge.

CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

The substitute extends the sunset date for the Children's Health
Insurance Program from July 1, 2002, to July 1, 2007.

This section of the substitute contains an emergency clause.

REGIONAL CHILD ASSESSMENT CENTERS

The substitute adds the Clay-Platte Child Assessment Center and
the Camden County Child Assessment Center to the list of regional
child assessment centers funded by the Department of Social
Services.

CHILD ABUSE REGISTRY

The substitute prohibits a parent, guardian, or custodian from
being listed in the child abuse central registry if a juvenile
court or family court determines that during a custody proceeding
the child requires mental health services and the parent,
guardian, or custodian is unable to afford or access the
appropriate mental health services or care for the child.

EXEMPTION FROM LICENSURE FOR CERTAIN CHILD FACILITIES

Residential care facilities or child-placing agencies accredited
by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Children and
Families, the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Hospitals, or
the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities are
exempt from the licensure requirements of the Division of Family
Services.

FOSTER PARENTS

Currently, the Division of Family Services in the Department of
Social Services is the state agency responsible for providing
foster care services in Missouri.  The substitute specifies the
rights and responsibilities of foster parents, the division, and
contractors pertaining to foster care services.  The substitute:

(1)  Requires the division and its contractors to treat foster
parents with respect.  Foster parents are required to treat
foster children, their birth families, and the child welfare team
with respect;

(2)  Requires the division and its contractors to provide foster
parents with training and support.  The division and its
contractors are required to disclose to foster parents all
relevant information about the foster child, the birth family,
and the case plan for assisting in the proper placement of a
foster child.  Except in emergencies, the division and its
contractors are required to arrange pre-placement visits;

(3)  Allows foster parents to inquire about a child's case plan,
encourage a placement, or refuse a placement without reprisal
from a caseworker or agency;

(4)  Requires the division to provide new information about a
foster child to foster parents after placement;

(5)  Requires foster parents to seek all necessary information
and to participate in pre-placement meetings when considering
whether to accept a foster child for placement.  Foster parents
are required to receive proper notice of scheduled meetings and
staffings consistent with Section 210.761, RSMo, pertaining to
foster care hearings;

(6)  Requires the division to establish procedures for reasonably
accessible respite care for children in foster care consistent
with Section 210.545, pertaining to respite care facilities;

(7)  Requires foster parents to provide care that respects a
child's values, needs, and cultural identity and to make daily
decisions about the living concerns of the child.  Discipline
should be administered in a humane and sensitive manner and must
be consistent with state laws and regulations.  Foster parents
are not prohibited from practicing their family values and
routines and are allowed to help plan the visitation of the
child's biological family.  Flexibility and cooperation are
required of foster parents concerning family visits;

(8)  Gives a foster child's family preferential consideration for
adoption if the child becomes free for adoption while in foster
care.  If adoption is not pursued, foster parents are required to
support the placement of the child in a permanent home;

(9)  Maintains the confidentiality rights of the child and the
foster parents;

(10)  Authorizes foster parents to request information from the
state about a child's progress after leaving foster care.  The
current policy of the division concerning the disclosure of
reasons for removing a child from a foster family is maintained.
If the child re-enters the foster care system, the child's foster
parents are given the option for placement; and

(11)  Requires that foster parents be informed in a timely manner
of all court hearings and their right to attend and to
participate in the hearings.  Foster parents are allowed access
to a placement agency's appeals process and retaliation against
foster parents who exercise their right to appeal is prohibited.

FAMILY CARE SAFETY REGISTRY

The substitute requires persons and entities licensed as foster
parents, child placing agencies, and residential care facilities
to be automatically registered with the Family Care Safety
Registry at no additional cost.

SAFE PLACE FOR NEWBORNS

The substitute establishes the Safe Place for Newborns Act of
2002, which protects newborn children from injury and death
caused by abandonment by a relinquishing parent and provides
alternatives to abandonment.

A parent is immune from prosecution for charges of criminal
abandonment or endangering the welfare of a child if the parent
voluntarily delivered the child safely to the physical custody of
an authorized person.

Authorized persons are required to take physical custody of a
newborn without court order if they believe that the child is no
more than 30 days old and that it is delivered by a person
purporting to be a parent.  If delivery of a child is made to a
place other than a 24-hour medical facility licensed under
Chapter 197, a person taking custody is required to immediately
transport the child to the nearest such facility.  The 24-hour
medical facility is required to notify the Division of Family
Services and the local juvenile officer upon receipt of a child.
The local juvenile officer is required to begin protective
custody proceedings and request that the child be made a ward of
the court during the child's stay in the medical facility.  Upon
discharge from the medical facility and the continuance of the
protective custody order, the division is required to take
physical custody of the child.

Voluntary delivery of the child according to provisions of the
substitute constitutes implied consent of a parent to actions
performed by licensed 24-hour medical facilities which are
necessary to protect the physical health and safety of the child.
The voluntary delivery of a child according to the provisions of
the substitute also constitutes a voluntary relinquishment of the
relinquishing parent's parental rights.

In any termination of parental rights proceedings initiated after
the voluntary relinquishment of a child, the juvenile officer is
required to make public notice of a child that has been
relinquished, and the non-relinquishing parent has 30 days to
identify himself or herself to the court and to state his or her
intentions regarding the child.  The court is required to
initiate proceedings to establish paternity.  The juvenile
officer is required to examine the Putative Father Registry
contained in Section 192.016 in order to determine if attempts
have been made to preserve parental rights.  If attempts have
been made, the juvenile officer is required to make reasonable
efforts to provide the notice of abandonment to the child's
putative father.

If the child is voluntarily delivered to the custody of an
authorized person, the non-relinquishing parent is required to
take necessary steps to establish parentage within 30 days after
the juvenile officer has filed the required public notice
concerning the relinquishment of the child.  If the
non-relinquishing parent fails to take the necessary steps to
establish parentage as required, the non-relinquishing parent may
have all of his or her parental rights terminated concerning the
child.

Authorized persons listed in the substitute are immune from
civil, criminal, and administrative liability for accepting
physical custody of children in good faith.  The immunity will
not extend for acts or omissions, whether negligent or
intentional, which occur after acceptance of the child.

The division is required to work with the Children's Trust Fund
Board, subject to the board's approval, and other child advocacy
and community groups and health organizations for the purpose of
providing information to the public about the substitute.  The
division can use other means to deliver information contained in
the substitute.

The provisions of the substitute do not conflict with Section
210.125, pertaining to the protective custody of children.

HAZARDOUS CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS

The Department of Health and Senior Services is required to
provide child care facilities with a comprehensive list of unsafe
children's products identified by the Consumer Products Safety
Commission.  Initial notification for facilities must occur on or
before July 1, 2003, and quarterly thereafter.  If a child care
facility fails to dispose of an unsafe product after notice is
given by the department, the facility will be cited with a
violation.

HOME AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES FOR CHILDREN

The substitute allows the court to order that a child receive
certain care and treatment in the least restrictive setting,
based on an individualized treatment plan which is consistent
with Section 211.081, pertaining to certain institutional
placements for children.

CHILD LABOR

The substitute makes changes to provisions pertaining to child
labor.  The substitute:

(1)  Revises the definition of "employ";

(2)  Revises the provision pertaining to the issuance of a work
certificate for a child employed during the school year;

(3)  Limits some exemptions only to children working in the
entertainment industry;

(4)  Requires employers to keep records on employed children and
their work hours for at least two years; and

(5)  Makes records obtained by the Division of Labor Standards
confidential.

GRANDPARENT VISITATION

Currently, the court can grant visitation privileges to
grandparents based on certain factors.  The substitute adds the
following to the factors the court can consider when granting
visitation rights to grandparents:

(1)  One parent of the child is deceased and the surviving parent
denies visitation to a parent of the deceased parent of the
child;

(2)  The child has lived in the grandparent's home for at least
six months within the previous two years which immediately
precede the filing of the petition for visitation;

(3)  A grandparent has been denied visitation for over 90 days.
If the natural parents are married and living together, the
grandparent may not file for unsupervised visitation; or

(4)  The child is adopted by a stepparent, another grandparent,
or relative.

Current law requires that the court decide if grandparent
visitation privileges would be in the best interest of the child.
The substitute also requires that if the natural parents are
currently married and living together, then a rebuttable
presumption exists that the parents know what is in the best
interest of the child.

CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT

The substitute makes several changes to the law governing how
health insurance premiums are collected by employers as part of
court-ordered child support.  The substitute:

(1)  Requires the Division of Child Support Enforcement to use
federal guidelines in notifying employers of their obligation to
enroll the obligor's child in their health benefits plan.  The
division must notify the employer within two days of the
employee's name appearing on the state's directory of new hires;

(2)  Requires an obligor who wants to contest the withholding of
funds for required employee contributions to do so in writing
within 30 days;

(3)  Requires the employer to notify its health plan within 20
days of the order for health benefits coverage, and the health
plan must respond within 40 days of the order;

(4)  Requires the health plan to provide the custodial parent and
the division with a description of coverages that are available;

(5)  Requires the division and custodial parent to select a plan
option within 20 days, or the child will be enrolled in the
health plan's default option;

(6)  Requires employers to promptly notify the division when the
obligor leaves its employ and provide it with the last known
address for the obligor and the obligor's new employer, if known;
and

(7)  Removes the obligation to provide health benefits for the
child if the obligor's employer eliminates family health coverage
for all of its employees.

There is an emergency clause on the extension of the Children
Health Insurance Program.

FISCAL NOTE:  Estimated Net Cost to General Revenue Fund of
Unknown, over $13,015,766 in FY 2003; Unknown, over $13,603,424
in FY 2004; and Unknown, over $14,199,351 in FY 2005.  Estimated
Net Cost to Criminal Record System Fund of $4,167 in FY 2003,
$5,000 in FY 2004, and $5,000 in FY 2005.  Estimated Net Cost to
Health Initiatives Fund of $4,598,000 in FY 2004, $4,804,910 in
FY 2004, and $5,021,131 in FY 2005.  Estimated Net Cost to
Pharmacy Rebates Fund of $789,580 in FY 2003, $825,111 in FY
2004, and $862,241 in FY 2005.  Estimated Net Cost to Premium
Fund of $1,045,000 in FY 2003, $1,092,025 in FY 2004, and
$1,141,166 in FY 2005.  Estimated Net Cost to Intergovernmental
Transfer Fund of $1,405,257 in FY 2003, $1,468,494 in FY 2004,
and $1,534,576 in FY 2005.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that the main purposes of the
substitute are to facilitate child adoptions and appropriate
foster care placements; strengthen certain protective, foster
care and child support enforcement provisions; facilitate the
appropriate placement of children who need social support
services and to facilitate grandparents visitations when the
visits are in the best interests of the child.  Supporters also
state that parents should not be penalized if they have exhausted
all available means or are unable to obtain the appropriate
social support services for their children.

Testifying for the bill were Senator Sims; Citizens for
Missouri's Children; Foster Care and Adoptive Care Coalition;
Missouri Statewide Parent Advisory Network; Midwest Foster Care
and Adoptive Care Association; LDS Family Services; and KID'S
Harbor Child Assessment Center.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the substitute say that allowing
adoptees to have access to their original birth records violates
the promise of confidentiality made to original birth parents who
have made the life-changing decision to place their child for
adoption.  Opponents also state that current Missouri law
governing the disclosure of adoptive records (Section 453.121) is
sufficient and that the proposed language contained in the
substitute violates the confidentiality rights of birth parents
who placed their child for adoption under existing law.  The
provision authorizing adoptees aged 50 years or older to have
access to their original birth record was removed from the
substitute.

Testifying against the bill were National Council for Adoption;
and Jonathan Pingree.

Joseph Deering, Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated October 11, 2002 at 9:04 am