SB-1001, As Passed House, June 12, 2018
SB-1001, As Passed Senate, May 29, 2018
May 16, 2018, Introduced by Senator MACGREGOR and referred to the Committee on Oversight.
A bill to amend 1994 PA 203, entitled
"Foster care and adoption services act,"
by amending section 8 (MCL 722.958), as amended by 2015 PA 106.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 8. (1) The department shall promulgate rules under the
administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to
24.328, to ensure the comprehensive, high-quality training of
foster care and adoption workers. The department shall consult and
may contract with colleges and universities, child placing
agencies, and professional organizations for the design and
implementation of the training. The training shall stress cultural
sensitivity, interagency cooperation, and respect for individuals
and families.
(2) The department shall maintain a directory of children
under the jurisdiction of the department who are available for
adoption. The department shall ensure that interested individuals
have reasonable access to the directory.
(3) The department shall maintain a registry of adoptive homes
to be used as a central clearinghouse for information about
prospective adoptive parents. The department shall accept
information from a prospective adoptive parent who has received a
preplacement assessment with a finding that the individual is
suitable to be the parent of an adoptee. The information shall be
filed in a form and manner that will permit it to be readily
accessible to biological parents or child placing agencies seeking
adoptive homes for children. The department shall provide
information in the registry without charge to biological parents or
child placing agencies who request it.
(4) The department may establish as pilot projects foster
parent resource centers. Each resource center shall provide at
least support for and coordination of respite care and assistance
to
foster parents in obtaining day child
care. Resource center
staff shall pursue other activities designed to promote permanency
for children, particularly children with special needs, such as
support aimed at retaining foster parents. The department may fund
the pilot foster parent resource centers using money appropriated
to the department for the current fiscal year. After the pilot
project has been in operation for 2 years, the department shall
evaluate the pilot project on its organization, effectiveness, and
success.
The department shall report the results of this evaluation
to
the legislature, including in the report the number of foster
parents
who utilized the particular resource center and the top 10
concerns
raised by those foster parents and how those concerns were
handled.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.