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Maryland Judiciary panel considers wide-ranging family law, child welfare measures
Summary
The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday heard hours of testimony on an array of family‑law and child‑welfare bills, from codifying custody factors to changing how the Department of Human Services discloses records after child fatalities.
The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday heard hours of testimony on multiple family-law and child-welfare bills, with advocates, judges and agency officials disagreeing over how best to balance child safety, parental due process and agency capacity.
Committee members examined proposals that would change how courts weigh custody, expand when Department of Human Services (DHS) must disclose records in child-fatality cases, let foster families receive certain criminal-history information about children placed with them, create a statutory list of custody factors, and allow grandparents broader access in some family disputes.
Why it matters: Lawmakers said the measures would make decisions clearer for judges and families and close gaps that leave children exposed or impede reunification. Opponents warned that some changes risked unintended privacy invasions, would be costly to administer and could cut against federal requirements if not carefully written.
Key items discussed - Custody standards (House Bill 1191): Testimony from…
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