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Minutes for SB221 - Committee on Health and Human Services
Short Title
Amending the revised Kansas code for care of children and the newborn infant protection act and amending certain powers and duties of the secretary for children and families.
Minutes Content for Mon, Mar 12, 2018
Eileen Ma, Assistant Revisor, Office of Revisor of Statutes explained the bill which would amend the Revised Kansas Code for Care of Children and the Newborn Infant Protection Act within the Code. She further explained the bill would amend definitions in the Code for extended out-of-home placement to mean removal from the child's home, kinship care changed to kinship care placement, and the term relative would remove language indicating the term does not include the child's other parent when referring to a relative of a child's parent. She also said since the bill was introduced in the 2017 legislative session, all date references required updating.
Proponent:
Kathy Armstrong, Assistant General Counsel for Prevention Services, Kansas Department for Children and Families appeared before the committee as a proponent and said she supports SB211 which would amend the Revised Kansas Code of Care of Children, the Newborn Infant Protection Act, and the statute that defines certain social welfare duties of the Secretary of the Department for Children and Families (DCF), and it would delete the required approval of the guardian ad litem and require the consent and approval of the Secretary when parents choose to relinquish their right, prior to a hearing to consider termination of parental rights when the plan for the child is either adoption or appointment of a custodian. She further explained that the bill would also clarify processes for adoption of children who are in the custody of the Secretary and adoption of those who are no longer in the custody of the Secretary. The bill would clarify that extended out-of-home placement can be used to make a determination of parental unfitness when the court is considering termination of parental rights or appointment of a permanent custodian (Attachment 1.
Opponents:
No opponents appeared before the committee.
Neutral:
No neutral parties appeared before the committee.
Proponent written:
No proponent written testimony was submitted.
Opponent written:
No opponent written testimony was submitted.
Neutral written:
No neutral written testimony was submitted.
Questioning followed the oral testimony and one committee member asked if we were consistent with other states concerning the code for care of children. Another committee member asked who determines that a person has a close relationship to a certain child; the answer to the question was that it is not easy to determine kinship and it could even be a coach or a teacher.
After all questions were answered. the Chairperson closed the hearing on SB221.
