Committee advances bill to shorten foster‑care review timelines, speed permanency

The House Health and Welfare Committee voted to send Senate Bill 1090 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation after testimony from sponsors, a Department of Health and Welfare official and a foster parent who brought the bill forward.

Representative Healy, sponsor of SB 1090, said the measure shortens judicial review intervals and adjusts custody timelines in the Child Protective Act "so we can help every foster child into a supportive permanent home in a timelier manner." He described specific changes in the draft: the legislation shortens the time between review hearings from six months to two months, adds statutory consideration of the child’s bond with a substitute caretaker, and adjusts custody timelines cited in the bill (pages cited in committee: changes on page 5 and 7 and page 9, per sponsor remarks).

Natalie Baum, a constituent and foster parent who helped draft the bill, testified about two boys in her care who experienced lengthy delays in permanency. She described court delays that extended the boys' time in care to 22 months even after a judge expressed that returning the children to their mother was not in their best interest. "Children deserve safe permanent homes," Baum told the committee.

Jared Larson of the Department of Health and Welfare said the department supports more frequent hearings as a form of intensive case management and argued such check‑ins can result in quicker resolutions and potential state savings: "We think that you end up with a resolution that either returns the child back to permanent placement with the biological parent or another alternative, including adoption, quicker if you're having these check‑ins more frequently."

Representative Wheeler moved to send the bill to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation; the committee agreed by voice vote. Sponsors and witnesses said the bill aims to reduce stagnation in court dockets, shorten time children spend in temporary placements and reduce long‑term foster‑care costs, but the committee did not discuss specific appropriations in the hearing.

Key bill changes discussed in committee include shortening review hearings from every six months to every two months, directing courts to consider the bond between child and foster caregiver when making permanency decisions, and altering custody‑timeline triggers identified in the bill text to promote earlier permanency.