HF 2671 (LSB 5659HV (4) 90)

HOUSE FILE 2671

BY  COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

(SUCCESSOR TO HF 2242)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to aid, processes, services, and support staff for children in, adopted from, or in need of foster care, including the establishment of a legal representation for juvenile cases interim study committee, and making appropriations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 232.96A, subsection 6, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   6.  The child is in need of treatment to cure or alleviate a serious chemical dependency or mental illness or disorder, or emotional damage as evidenced by severe anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or behavioral health disorder that compromises the child’s safety or causes untoward aggressive behavior toward the child’s self or others in the household, and the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian is unwilling to provide such treatment or the parent’s, guardian’s, or custodian’s efforts to secure needed treatment have been exhausted and unsuccessful.
    Sec. 2.  Section 232.96A, subsections 11, 12, and 13, Code 2024, are amended by striking the subsections.
    Sec. 3.  Section 234.38, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   234.38  Foster care reimbursement rates.
   The department shall make reimbursement payments directly to foster parents for services provided to children pursuant to section 234.6, subsection 1, paragraph “e”, subparagraph (2), or section 234.35. In any fiscal year, the reimbursement rate shall be based upon sixty-five percent of the United States department of agriculture estimate of the cost to raise a child in the calendar year immediately preceding the fiscal year. The department may pay an additional stipend for a child with special needs. The department shall review reimbursement payment rates paid to foster parents under this section no less than once every three years. The department shall adopt rules to implement this section.
    Sec. 4.  Section 234.39, subsection 2, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  a.  A person entitled to periodic support payments pursuant to an order or judgment entered in any action for support, who also is or has a child receiving foster care services, is deemed to have assigned to the department current and accruing support payments attributable to the child effective as of the date the child enters foster care placement, to the extent of expenditure of foster care funds. The department shall notify the clerk of the district court when a child entitled to support payments is receiving foster care services pursuant to chapter 234. Upon notification by the department that a child entitled to periodic support payments is receiving foster care services, the clerk of the district court shall make a notation of the automatic assignment in the judgment docket and lien index. The notation constitutes constructive notice of assignment. The clerk of court shall furnish the department with copies of all orders and decrees awarding support when the child is receiving foster care services. At the time the child ceases to receive foster care services, the assignment of support shall be automatically terminated. Unpaid support accrued under the assignment of support rights during the time that the child was in foster care remains due to the department up to the amount of unreimbursed foster care funds expended. The department shall notify the clerk of court of the automatic termination of the assignment. Unless otherwise specified in the support order, an equal and proportionate share of any child support awarded shall be presumed to be payable on behalf of each child subject to the order or judgment for purposes of an assignment under this section.
   b.  This subsection shall not apply when a child is placed with a relative or fictive kin as those terms are defined in section 232.2, who is not licensed under chapter 237 to provide child foster care.
    Sec. 5.  Section 600.8, subsection 3, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  a.  The department, an agency, or a certified adoption investigator shall conduct all investigations and reports required under subsection 2.
   b.  The department shall pay the costs of the preplacement investigation and the postplacement investigation under subsection 2, up to a maximum of two thousand dollars for the preplacement investigation and up to a maximum of two thousand dollars for the postplacement investigation.
   c.  The department shall not pay the costs of the preplacement investigation or the postplacement investigation as required under paragraph “b” until a prospective adoption petitioner has been approved under subsection 1, paragraph “a”, subparagraph (3), by the person making the investigation.
    Sec. 6.  2023 Iowa Acts, chapter 112, section 7, subsection 7, is amended to read as follows:
   7.  For child and family protective services:
   ...................................................................... $ 32,380,654

                                                                        35,380,654

   Of the funds appropriated in this subsection, up to $3,000,000 shall be used for the kinship caregiver stipend program.
    Sec. 7.  DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES —— SUPERVISOR TO SOCIAL WORKER RATIO REDUCTION.  There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of health and human services for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, and ending June 30, 2025, the following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:
   To lower the required ratio of supervisors to social workers from one supervisor for every six and one-half social workers to one supervisor for every five social workers:
   ...................................................................... $  2,623,748

   Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys appropriated under this section shall not revert at the close of the fiscal year, but shall remain available for the purposes designated.
    Sec. 8.  DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES —— FOSTER FAMILY CARE PER DIEM RATE INCREASE.  There is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the department of health and human services for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, and ending June 30, 2025, the following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes designated:
   To increase foster care reimbursement rates paid pursuant to section 234.38, ten percent higher than the rates in effect on June 30, 2024:
   ...................................................................... $    617,530

   Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys appropriated under this section shall not revert at the close of the fiscal year, but shall remain available for the purposes designated.
    Sec. 9.  DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES —— ADOPTION SUBSIDY RATE INCREASE.  The department of health and human services shall amend its administrative rules pursuant to chapter 17A to increase the adoption subsidy paid to persons pursuant to section 600.17 ten percent higher than the rates in effect on June 30, 2024, provided that the person qualified for the payments by adopting a child on or after the effective date of this Act.
    Sec. 10.  DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES —— LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR JUVENILE CASES INTERIM STUDY COMMITTEE.
   1.  The department of health and human services shall establish a legal representation for juvenile cases interim study committee for the 2024 interim to investigate, study, and propose legislation relating to client-directed representation for children in juvenile court cases.
   2.  The committee shall consist of the following voting members:
   a.  Two members of the house of representatives, one of whom shall be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and one of whom shall be appointed by the minority leader of the house of representatives.
   b.  Two members of the senate, one of whom shall be appointed by the majority leader of the senate and one of whom shall be appointed by the minority leader of the senate.
   3.  The committee shall also following ex officio, nonvoting members:
   a.  The state public defender.
   b.  A person who works for an organization providing advocacy for kids, appointed by the governor.
   c.  A juvenile court judge, appointed by the judicial branch.
   d.  A county attorney working in juvenile courts, appointed by the Iowa county attorneys association.
   4.  The committee shall submit a report to the general assembly by January 10, 2025.
    Sec. 11.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  The section of this Act amending 2023 Iowa Acts, chapter 112, section 7, subsection 7, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
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 aid, processes, services, and support staff for children in, adopted from, or in need of foster care, including the establishment of a legal representation for juvenile cases interim study committee.
   The bill allows a court to adjudicate a child in need of assistance when the child requires treatment to cure or alleviate a serious chemical dependency or mental or behavioral health disorder that compromises the child’s safety or causes untoward aggressive behavior toward others in the household, and the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian is unwilling to provide such treatment, or the parent’s, guardian’s, or custodian’s efforts to secure needed treatment have been exhausted and unsuccessful. Under current law, the child would need treatment to cure or alleviate a serious mental illness or disorder, or emotional damage as evidenced by severe anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or untoward aggressive behavior toward the child’s self or others and the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian is unwilling to provide such treatment.
   The bill eliminates certain circumstances when a child may be adjudicated as a child in need of assistance.
   The bill removes the requirement that certain reimbursements to foster parents must be based on 65 percent of the United States department of agriculture estimate of the cost to raise a child in the calendar year immediately preceding the fiscal year. The bill also removes the additional stipend for special needs children. Instead, the bill requires the department of health and human services (HHS) to adopt rules relating to the foster parent reimbursements and requires HHS to review the foster parent reimbursement rates no less than once every three years.
   Under current law, if a person is entitled to periodic support payments pursuant to an order or judgment entered in any action for support, and the person also is or has a child receiving foster care services, then the support payments are automatically assigned to HHS. The bill exempts support payments from automatic assignment to HHS if the support payments are related to a child placed with a relative or fictive kin as those terms are defined in Code section 232.2, who is not licensed under Code chapter 237 (child foster care facilities) to provide child foster care. 
   The bill requires HHS to reimburse an adoption petitioner for the costs of the preplacement and postplacement investigations related to the adoption up to a maximum amount of $2,000 per investigation. The bill prohibits HHS from making such reimbursements until the person performing the preplacement background check approves the adoption petitioner’s initial required background checks.
   The bill renames the 2023 appropriation for child and family services from the federal temporary assistance for needy families block grant to “child protective services”. The bill also adds an additional $3 million to the appropriation and requires up to $3 million to be used from the appropriation for the kinship caregiver stipend program. This section of the bill is effective upon the bill’s enactment.
   The bill makes an appropriation from the general fund of the state to HHS for FY 2024-2025 in the amount of $2,623,748 to be used to lower the required ratio of supervisors to social workers from one supervisor for every six and one-half social workers to one supervisor for every five social workers. Moneys so appropriated do not revert at the close of the fiscal year, but remain available for the purposes designated.
   The bill makes an appropriation from the general fund of the state to HHS for FY 2024-2025 in the amount of $617,530 to increase reimbursement rates paid to foster parents for foster care provided to a child, or when the state is otherwise obligated to pay for a child’s foster care, 10 percent higher than the rates in effect as of June 30, 2024. The appropriated moneys do not revert at the close of the fiscal year, but remain available for the purposes designated.
   The bill requires HHS to amend its administrative rules to increase the adoption subsidy 10 percent higher than the rates in effect as of June 30, 2024, provided that the person to receive the adoption subsidy qualified for payments by adopting a child on or after the effective date of the bill.
   The bill requires HHS to establish a legal representation for juvenile cases interim study committee for the 2024 legislative interim to investigate, study, and propose legislation relating to client-directed representation for children in juvenile court cases. The bill details who shall be the voting committee members. The bill requires the committee to submit a report to the general assembly by January 10, 2025.