The House Health and Family Services Committee has unanimously approved far-reaching legislation to revamp Kentucky’s adoption and foster care programs.
One of the many provisions sets out stricter standards in removing drug addicted infants from families. The measure comes before lawmakers after a multi-month review.
Bill Sponsor David Meade of Stanford said it is one of many pressing issues related to caring for children.
“I had a nurse that came to me to talk to me about this the other day and she said at one point just a couple of months ago they had either three or four drug addicted babies in the hospital at the same time. And she said, at that point, nothing had really been done to try to protect those children,” said Meade.
Bill Sponsor David Meade told the committee the measure also seeks uniformity for the home study process for both private and state adoptions and foster care placements.
Among other things, it calls for tighter timelines in making decisions about placement of children in foster care. Committee Member Robert Benvenuti thanked state cabinet officials for collaborating well with lawmakers.
“It is never easy as someone who is trying to run an executive branch agency to have the legislature looking and poking around and saying ‘you could do this better, you could do that better’, when you’re doing it every day in the trenches,” said Benvenuti.
The far-reaching measure allows for greater involvement of foster parents with state social workers. It also calls for a privatization study to examine ways to increase efficiency within the foster care system.
