HB 26-1314

HB 26-1314, known as the Family Stability and Kinship Care bill, aims to improve parenting time enforcement by allowing courts to impose penalties on parents who violate existing parenting time orders. It also encourages supervised family-time services for noncustodial parents who are up-to-date with child support payments. The bill updates definitions related to grandparents and great-grandparents in court-ordered family time situations, especially when a parent is deceased. Additionally, it prioritizes placing children removed from their homes with relatives or kin whenever possible, unless it's not in the best interest of the child. Signed into law, this bill will directly affect families involved in custody disputes and those seeking kinship care options.

Official Summary

In disputes concerning parenting time, the bill adds payment of a monetary penalty to the aggrieved party, community service, and the use of court-approved parenting time tracking or communication tools to the list of orders a court may issue to address noncompliance with an existing parenting time order. The bill clarifies that orders in these disputes must be proportionate to the frequency and severity of intentional noncompliance.      The bill requires the state department of human services, in coordination with the county departments of human or social services (county departments) and their delegate child support enforcement units, to develop protocols for referring a noncustodial parent who is in compliance with a child support obligation to supervised or facilitated family-time services.      The bill updates the definitions of 'grandparent' and 'great-grandparent' in the context of court-ordered family time. The bill expands the definitions to account for situations in which the child's father or mother is deceased.      To align with changes enacted in 2023 that address kinship and relative placements more broadly, the bill repeals language specific to grandparent placements in child welfare cases and the types of evidence a court considers in connection with a grandparent's past abusive or neglectful conduct.     When a child or youth is removed from the home, the bill requires the court to prioritize the child's or youth's temporary placement with a relative or kin, unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that temporary placement with the relative or kin is not in the best interests of the child. The bill authorizes modified safety and suitability assessments and a one-time placement stipend for approved emergency placement kinship caregivers under certain circumstances.      The bill requires a court, before entering a final adoption decree, to make written findings regarding any existing grandparent-grandchild relationship. The court may order a post-adoption contact agreement (agreement) granting reasonable contact or family time to the grandparent. The bill specifies procedures for the denial, modification, enforcement, or termination of the agreement.      The bill creates the foster care prevention services pilot program, which allows participating county departments to implement expedited kinship placement approval pathways, kinship navigator programs, one-time placement stipends for approved emergency placement kinship caregivers, and tools for tracking family time.(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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