Committee approves suite of foster-care rules to speed licensing, clarify appeals and visitation

The House Health and Welfare Committee approved a package of Department of Health and Welfare rule changes that alter foster-care licensing, add a temporary crisis payment authority for high-needs placements, tighten visitation supervision for parents substantiated for abuse and clarify appeals to the Child Protection Central Registry.

Department Director Alex Adams, in opening remarks, said the department wants to reduce its regulatory footprint and prioritize core services. "Quality over quantity," Adams said, adding the department has a goal "of doubling the ratio of foster families relative to the number of foster kids in the state." He told the committee the department has used temporary rules and proposed statutory changes to remove barriers to recruitment and licensure.

The committee voted, by voice, to approve several dockets that the department said would remove duplicative requirements, consolidate chapter text and adopt the National Model Licensing standards that the department said will give caseworkers more flexibility. The package includes temporary and pending dockets that (per the department) allow faster reactivation of previously licensed foster homes, permit 18-year-old sibling placements in some cases, and streamline background- and home-evaluation timelines.

Among the substantive changes discussed:

- Crisis-level payments: The temporary rulemaking for crisis placements allows the department discretion to provide additional time-limited payments to Family Alternate Care providers when there is a shortage of appropriate placements, especially for large sibling groups or children with high acuity. Andy Blackwood, Bureau Chief with the Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee such payments are to be funded within the department's existing budget. "The way that we've used this in the past is when foster parents maybe were struggling and needed additional…