Committee adopts amendments on foster-care restoration and child-maltreatment registry but pulls bills for revision

Senators considered bills intended to promote family integrity in the foster-care system and to adjust processes related to restoration of parental rights and the child-maltreatment registry. Committee members adopted amendments developed with input from the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS), and judges, but ultimately the sponsor requested the amendments be engrossed and the measures were pulled from further consideration that day.

Jay Robertson of Opportunity Arkansas and Senator Matt McGee explained the amendment language and said stakeholders suggested changes to ensure alignment with court and DCFS procedures. The amendment reduces the time frame for parents seeking restoration of rights from three years to two years to align with Texas and provides a path for removal from the child-maltreatment registry for individuals whose registry placement arose solely from neglect, provided they have been reunited with their children for more than one year and there have been no subsequent findings.

Committee members raised questions about who could file a motion to seek restoration; the amendment replaced certain references and there was confusion on the floor about whether a child or another party retained that ability. The committee adopted the amendment, attempted to move the bill, but the chair noted five senators were required for a final vote and only four were present; the sponsor then asked to pull the bills so the amendments could be engrossed and clarified. The committee agreed to pull SB 3 25 and SB 3 26 for further drafting; no final passage occurred during the session.