Emergency Temporary Care For Children

The bill permits county departments of human or social services (county departments) to enter into an agreement with one or more facilities to provide emergency temporary shelter to children who are neglected and dependent, who are taken into temporary custody, or who have had contact with law enforcement and are unable to return home. "Emergency temporary shelter" is described in the bill as the temporary care of a child in a physically unrestricted setting for no more than 5 days, pending a return to the child's home or placement in an alternate setting. Receiving temporary care in emergency temporary shelter is voluntary, and a child may leave emergency temporary shelter at any time.A county department may contract with any of the following facilities to provide emergency temporary shelter in the county: Group care facilities and homes or a foster care home, homeless youth shelter, residential child care facility, respite child care center, specialized group facility, or any other licensed or certified 24-hour nonsecure care and treatment facility away from the child's parent or guardian. A county can enter into agreements with more than one facility, and 2 or more counties may jointly enter into an agreement with a facility.

The bill requires the general assembly to annually appropriate money to the state department of human services (state department) for emergency temporary shelter services sufficient to fund 5 nights of care for each juvenile screened to care in a licensed temporary shelter . The state department allocates the money to a county after approving the county's emergency temporary shelter plan. judicial districts in accordance with a formula developed by the working group for criteria for placement of juvenile offenders (working group).The bill requires a judicial district's juvenile services planning committee, or the judicial district if the judicial district has not established a juvenile services planning committee, to include a plan for providing temporary shelter in the judicial district in its local juvenile services plan.Under existing law, the working group is required to make recommendations regarding the placement of juveniles. The bill requires the house of representatives public and behavioral health and human services committee and the senate health and human services committee to annually hold a joint meeting to determine whether the working group's recommendations have been implemented in a manner that warrants discontinuing the annual appropriation for care in a licensed temporary shelter and the requirement that judicial districts develop a plan for providing temporary shelter.The bill defines temporary shelter as the temporary care of a child in a physically unrestricted setting pending a return to the child's home or placement in an appropriate alternate setting pursuant to applicable state law. Temporary care in a temporary shelter is voluntary and a child may not be placed in a licensed temporary shelter facility for more than 5 days. The bill requires a person providing temporary shelter to allow professionals to assess children in temporary shelter, and a child in temporary shelter must have access to educational services.The bill appropriates $137,308 to the state department.

(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.)