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Committee hears bill to shorten foster-care permanency hearings to nine months
Summary
The Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare heard testimony on House Bill 2,075, which would amend K.S.A. 38-2264 to require an initial permanency hearing within nine months of a child's removal and subsequent hearings every six months, committee staff and the Department for Children and Families said.
The Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare heard testimony on House Bill 2,075, which would amend K.S.A. 38-2264 to require an initial permanency hearing within nine months of a child's removal from the home and subsequent hearings every six months, committee staff and the Department for Children and Families said.
Committee staff summarized the bill's changes, saying it would move the initial permanency hearing from 12 to nine months and require subsequent hearings every six months rather than every nine months. "House Bill 2,075 . . . would amend these requirements that such permanency hearings and subsequent hearings be held within 9 months of the court authorizing the removal of the child," Jenna, a committee staff member, told the committee.
Tanya Keyes, deputy secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, testified in support and said the bill's purpose is to reduce the length of time children are separated from their families and to help Kansas's performance on national measures. "The purpose is to help children achieve timely permanency in foster care," Keyes said, adding that courts use hearings to "review the status of permanency and placement and services." She told senators other states hold permanency hearings more frequently than 12 months.
Keyes also discussed the fiscal estimate included with the bill. Asked about a projection in the fiscal note of roughly $7,000,000 in all funds (about $4,800,000 in state general funds), Keyes said the agency's estimate assumes that if half of children in foster care experienced two fewer months in care because of the change, that would produce the projected savings. "The projection for $7,000,000 is all funds, which I believe is $4,800,000 state general funds," Keyes said. "The rationale we used is that if half of children in foster care would be able to have two fewer months in care . . . that that would be the savings."
Federal law requires permanency hearings at least every 12 months, Keyes told the committee; HB 2,075 would set a state schedule that accelerates the initial hearing to nine months and shortens intervals thereafter. The department told senators it is agreeable to the House committee's amendment that sets subsequent hearings every six months.
The committee closed the public hearing on HB 2,075 and noted proponent written testimony in the file. No committee vote on passage was recorded in the hearing transcript.
