EXPANDING THE CHILD PROTECTION TEAM
THE PROMISE OF SB 236

By Representative Mary Margaret Oliver
(portions of this article will appear in an upcoming Georgia CASA publication)

Governor and Mrs. Perdue have demonstrated through their own personal roles as foster care parents their commitment to improving the lives of children in Georgia's foster care system. Their public and private discussions document their concerns, their hopes, and their plans for protecting children from violence both in the family home and in the placements assigned to children by the state.

The Governor's leadership in his first General Assembly Session after his November 2002 election has proven his commitment to foster care children through both budget enhancements and legislative reforms. Despite severe statewide budget cutbacks, Governor Perdue submitted a budget request that was adopted without change by the General Assembly for significant increases in levels of care for placements, additional clothing allowances, and additional child protective caseworkers. If properly spent, these additional funds and other enhancements will produce improvements in the timeliness and quality of services provided to children brought into the state's custody based on abuse and neglect. A new task for all child advocates, after thanking the Governor for his leadership and compassion, is to monitor these new expenditures to insure their most effective use.

The Governor's 2003 legislative leadership also was demonstrated through his introduction and passage of SB 236, which in many ways improves the procedures and placement opportunities for foster care children moving through the court and bureaucratic machinery of the state. Perhaps most important, SB 236 for the first time specifically addresses the rights of foster care parents to appear and give testimony in the juvenile court for children in their care. This clearly identified right expands the children's protection team to include foster care parents in a more inclusive and substantive manner. To review the full text of SB 236, go to the General Assembly web site: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2003_04/sum/sb236.htm.

SB 236 includes other important provisions:

• Section 2 provides that DFCS must conduct a "reasonably diligent search for a parent or relative of the child or persons who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the child... within 90 days from the date the child was removed form the home..." This required search within a specific time frame ultimately will shorten the time a child remains in custody. Prior to the Governor signing SB 236, Georgia Code Section 15-11- 103(a)(1) required specifically that a relative placement be preferred and that relatives be sought at the time of termination of parental rights proceedings, but there is no time table nor is there a definition of relative. HB 41, introduced by me but not passed in 2003, included this mandatory search for a relative at the time of the child coming into custody and added that the searches are completed in 90 days. During the Session, the Governor graciously included this important provision of HB 41 into his SB 236 which enhanced if not guaranteed the relative search portion of HB 41.
  Thank you, Governor Perdue!

• Sections 3 and 5 set forth additional permanent placement options for children not being adopted or returned to a parent. Specifically, based on the leadership and advocacy of Truett Cathey and his Winshape Program, the Governor was led to include additional permanent placement options for foster care children in a "planned permanent living arrangement" (Section 5) or a narrowly defined "agency or organization." (Section 3) Under Section 3, relating to reunification placement decisions prior to termination of parental rights actions, the court must find compelling reasons why all other options (adoption, placement with a relative, or placement with a custodian) are not in the child's best interests before placing custody with an agency, not just that reunification is not in the child's best interests. Section 5, relating to permanent placements after entry of termination of parental rights order, establishes a placement hierarchy or list of preferences permanent custody or adoption with relative first, then with agency for purposes of adoption, then guardianship, then with agency for purpose of placing in foster home, then custody of "An agency or organization...operated in a manner that provides such care, guidance, and control as would be provided in a family home." There are some incidences, perhaps not many, when a child, particularly an older child, will most successfully be served by a permanent group home or nonprofit home such as the Winshape Homes where lifetime commitments are made for each child. This option is now preserved for those few lucky children.
  Thank you, Truett Cathey!

• Section 4 provides that "in advance of any review or hearing....the court shall provide a written notice for such review or hearing ... and the right to be heard" in such proceeding to the foster parents or any pre-adoptive parents for the child. The 1997 federally enacted Adoption Assistance and Safe Families Act (ASFA) provided that foster care parents had a right to be heard in proceedings relative to the children in their care and this provision was enacted in OCGA 15-11-58(k) by the Georgia General Assembly in 1998. But no policy regulations or state manuals were written and there was no uniformity in its application across the state. There has been an honest confusion on what was required by ASFA that was evidenced by a survey conducted by the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic in 2002.

The Barton Clinic conducted a survey of foster care parents and juvenile court judges, and these two groups gave different answers in their responses as to whether foster care parents were given an opportunity to participate in juvenile court proceedings. This survey which demonstrated a need for legislative clarification can be reviewed on the Barton Clinic web site at http://childwelfare.net/activities/research/fosterparents/ASFA4_index.html.

Foster Care parents and pre-adoptive parents are most in touch with their children's current circumstances and the hopeful progress these children have made through the trauma of removal from their family, court proceedings, and in general, their recovery from the facts of abuse and neglect. Their input will improve the quantity and quality of information that the juvenile judges receive. We ask juvenile judges every day to make life or death decisions about children in the state's custody and they need all the help we can provide. The passage of SB 236 creates new improved procedures for the judges to learn more about the children before them and in a more timely manner. And the specific inclusions of foster care parents in the children's protection team by giving them statutorily the right to appear and testify in court, demonstrates the state's valuation of their voices.

Thank you, Governor Perdue, and thank you foster care parents!

June 10, 2003