HF 1003 (LSB 2624HZ (2) 91)

HOUSE FILE 1003

BY  COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

(SUCCESSOR TO HF 638)
(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 146)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to child placements.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 232.84, subsection 2, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  a.  Unless the custody of a child is transferred from one of the child’s parents to another parent of the child, within thirty days after the entry of an order under this chapter removing a child from the custody of a parent or parents of the child, the department shall exercise due diligence in identifying and providing notice to the child’s grandparents, aunts, uncles, adult siblings, parents of the child’s siblings, and adult relatives suggested by the child’s parents, subject to exceptions due to the presence of family or domestic violence.
   b.  The department shall employ dedicated staff at the department’s central office for the sole purpose of exercising the department’s due diligence requirements under paragraph “a”.
    Sec. 2.  Section 232.102, subsection 1, paragraph c, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   c.  (1)  A court shall not order placement of a child in a category identified in paragraph “a”, subparagraph (2), (3), (4), or (5) without a specific finding that placement with an adult relative is not in the child’s best interests and providing reasons for the court’s finding. 
   (2)  Notwithstanding any provision under this subsection to the contrary, if the court finds, during the dispositional hearing, that the child has been placed with an individual licensed under chapter 237 to provide foster care for at least nine months immediately preceding the dispositional hearing, the court shall not order placement of a child in a category identified in paragraph “a”, subparagraph (1), (2), or (3), without a specific finding that such placement is in the child’s best interests and providing reasons for the court’s findings.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with

the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to child placements.
   Under current law, the department of health and human services (HHS) is required to exercise due diligence in identifying and providing notice to certain relatives of a child when the child has been removed from the child’s parent’s custody. The bill requires HHS to employ dedicated staff at HHS’s central office for the sole purpose of exercising HHS’s due diligence requirements related to identifying and providing notice to certain relatives of children removed from parental custody.
   Under current law, after a dispositional hearing for a child in need of assistance proceeding, if a court determines that placing a child’s custody with either of the child’s parents is not in the child’s best interests, the court must transfer the child’s custody to HHS for placement with certain persons as prioritized in Code section 232.102(1)(a) (transfer of legal custody of child and placement). If a child was placed with a licensed foster parent for at least nine months immediately preceding the dispositional hearing, the bill prohibits the court from placing the child with a different individual unless the court makes a specific finding that placement with the different individual is in the child’s best interests, and the court provides reasons for the finding.