Legislature(2015 - 2016)GRUENBERG 120
04/12/2016 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB200 | |
| SB180 | |
| HB334 | |
| SB174 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 174 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 112 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 200 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 180 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 334 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SB 180-PARENT-GUARDIAN/CHILD: TEMP. POWER OF ATTY
2:31:03 PM
CHAIR LEDOUX announced that the next order of business would be
SENATE BILL NO. 180, "An Act relating to the temporary
delegation by a parent or guardian of powers related to a child;
relating to adoption; and relating to the distribution to a
parent or guardian in a child protection situation of
information on family support services."
2:31:30 PM
KARLE NORE, Staff, Senator Cathy Giesel, Alaska State
Legislature, said that SB 180 is commonly referred to as Safe
Families for Children. An issue considered when drafting this
legislation was to preserve families, which are the core unit of
society, because [families] are the best environment for
children. She remarked that life has challenges, such as loss
of work, divorce, homelessness, struggling with addiction,
medical emergencies, military deployment, or incarceration. Not
all Alaskan families have someone to care for their children,
who need a safe place while they solve these issues, she pointed
out. These parents do not necessarily want, or need, government
to take their children, and the bill establishes a safe and
healthy alternative to placing a child into the foster care
system. She said SB 180 allows parents to execute a power of
attorney over their minor child, for no more than one year, to
another family in order to prevent the child from entering the
foster care system. This legislation allows the parent, or
guardian, to retain all of their parental rights inside the
power of attorney. Either parent can revoke the power of
attorney immediately, at any time, regardless of who implemented
the power of attorney. Birth parents retain all rights and
responsibilities of the child, she said. It allows parents, or
guardians, struggling to seek help with unemployment,
homelessness, and/or eviction, without concern of losing their
children, or without being accused of abandonment, abuse, or
neglect of the child while these family challenges are resolved.
There are provisions in the bill allowing for military parents,
or guardians, as well as incarcerated parents, to execute a
power of attorney for their children's care. This bill creates
an exemption allowing for nonprofit organizations that help find
temporary care for children in struggling families. She
explained that it exempts the nonprofit from having a variance
in order to operate, and it is getting government out of the way
at the heart of these issues.
2:34:29 PM
CHAIR LEDOUX listed witnesses available to answer questions and
asked Ms. Nore to point out significant portions of the
sectional.
MS. NORE explained that the heart of the bill is the robust
version of the power of attorney that gives more stipulation,
and allows for military parents to execute the power of attorney
for the length of their active duty plus 30 days.
MS. NORE referred to the exemption for non-profit organizations,
and pointed to Sec. 7, AS 47.32.020, page 8, lines 3-6, which
read:
(c) If a nonprofit organization operates a
program that assists parents to find temporary care
for a child, the nonprofit organization is exempt from
the licensing and other requirements of this chapter
when operating the program.
2:35:47 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT described this as the "safe, soft,
surrender bill," when families are experiencing temporary crisis
they can find suitable parents to intervene for them while the
parent gets their life back together. She asked whether that is
the gist of the entire bill.
2:36:28 PM
MS. NORE agreed, and she said there was testimony within the
Senate Judiciary Standing Committee by a mother who utilized the
Safe Families for Children in Alaska program, which is operated
by Beacon Hill. This mother was facing an extended hospital
stay for several weeks and did not have anyone to care for her
children. She asked Safe Families for Children for temporary
care for her children; the children were temporarily place, and
once she was healed regained custody of her children.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER expressed gratitude for the work the
sponsor put into the bill, and noted he is the sponsor of HB
201, which is the House version of SB 180.
2:37:30 PM
CHAIR LEDOUX opened public testimony.
2:37:40 PM
ANDREW BROWN, Senior Fellow, Child Welfare Reform, Foundation
for Government Accountability, said the Foundation for
Government Accountability is a nonprofit nonpartisan
organization dedicated to promoting better lives for individuals
and families through improving health and welfare programs
nationwide. He advised that Safe Families for Children is
working in Alaska by rallying the local communities to come
along side families in crisis before problems get to the point
of OCS intervention. Statistically, he said, the majority of
children in foster care are there due to poverty and neglect,
rather than physical or sexual abuse. These children are there
because their families often have nowhere to turn to get the
help they need, and he related stories from his past. The
concept of Safe Families for Children is simple, it is neighbors
helping neighbors during times of trouble. It organizes through
the local community to recruit, screen, and train volunteer host
families to temporarily care for children while their parents
receive help. He noted that the families do not receive
compensation. Beacon Hill is overseen by professional staff and
it is often done through existing private child welfare agencies
to ensure the safety of all placements. When a parent, in
crisis, seeks the help of Safe Families for Children, they are
introduced to a host family willing and able to take care of
their children. In the event that parent is comfortable, the
parent authorizes the host family to care for their children
through a power of attorney. He described this arrangement as
unique, because the parent retains full legal parental rights
throughout the duration of the placement. It is important, he
pointed out, that this legislation allows parents to address
issues without fear their family will be torn apart.
2:42:32 PM
MR. BROWN pointed to Sec. 2, AS 13.26.023(h), page 5, lines 13-
17, which read:
(h) Except as otherwise determined under another
statute, the execution of a power of attorney by a
parent or guardian does not constitute abandonment,
neglect, or abuse of the minor child or ward under AS
47.10.013 - 47.10.015, unless the parent or guardian
fails, after the power of attorney terminates, to
retake custody of the child and does not execute a new
power of attorney.
MR. BROWN continued that the provision means that the parents
loving choice to ask for help cannot be held against them, as
opposed to being a bad parent and neglecting their child. He
said he has been told by families in crisis that they would not
go to the state for help due to fear the state would take their
children away from them. Safe Families for Children is an
important tool, this legislation is critical to get out in front
and help OCS do the work they are already doing to protect
children in Alaska. Nationwide, he explained, the Safe Families
for Children network is active in 27 states, it has served over
20,000 children, and of those children 90 percent successfully
returned home within an average of 45 days, never to enter the
child welfare system. Nationally, when comparing a child in the
foster care system, they have roughly a 50-50 shot at ever
coming home, and an average time in foster care is over 700
days. He explained that this bill is inspired by best practices
perfected by the Safe Families for Children organization over
the last 14 years, and SB 180 gives families the safe option to
provide for temporary care of their children while they get the
help they need to achieve stability. The program keeps the
children close to their communities and creates an environment
where someone in that child's school district, or local church,
or local community, comes forward to help the family and take
the children in. He said that frontline OCS workers are
stretched thin, they are overwhelmed and need better pools of
resources to help them respond to the needs of children and
families.
[CHAIR LEDOUX passed the gavel to Vice Chair Keller.]
2:46:55 PM
VICE CHAIR KELLER advised that Chair LeDoux passed the gavel to
him because she has a bill in another committee.
2:47:11 PM
ANDY COARY said he is in favor of the bill because it makes
sense, and will enable movements, such as Safe Families for
Children, to operate in Alaska and keep children from entering
the foster care system. Also, he pointed out, by doing that,
there is reduced financial strain on the state, and it allows
non-state resources to step in and care for these children in
need. He opined that the bill has the proper protections in
place for parental rights, because it is a voluntary arrangement
between a parent and a caregiver, and the parent maintains the
right to revoke the power of attorney at any time. On a
personal note, he offered that he has seen the benefits of the
Safe Families for Children movement in Anchorage, because close
friends have taken in children, and those children did not have
to enter foster care. He described this as an ongoing effort to
reduce the number of children entering foster care, and SB 180
will assist in reducing the number of children in state foster
care.
2:49:15 PM
CHARITY CARMODY, President, Beacon Hill, explained that Beacon
Hill is a foster care and adoption community resource center,
and is the arm of the faith based community seeking to provide
aide to children going into foster care, or children at risk of
going into foster care. In 2003, the Safe Families for Children
national movement began, and is in seven different countries.
Beacon Hill is the implementer for Safe Families for Children,
with the blessings of OCS, because it believed the system would
work in Alaska, especially within rural communities, because it
does go back to the tribal way of the community taking care of
itself, she said. Although, she commented, Beacon Hill did not
want to become a child placement agency with regulations
attached, although, it does operate in that manner, it prefers
to operate outside of the state system. Therefore, Beacon Hill
requested legislation that would help eliminate the need for
Beach Hill to be a child placement agency, and also, that the
host families are not required to be licensed foster families.
She explained that the families within the movement are not
families with any current OCS investigation, she stated, and if
abuse was happening, the parents would be referred directly to
OCS. These are families calling about other forms of crisis.
She said that Beacon Hill began operating Safe Families for
Children in Alaska on January 1, [2016], and since that time 12
children have entered Safe Families for Children in Anchorage
and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley who have not entered foster
care. She explained that Beacon Hill, and the host families,
come alongside the parents, surround them with a whole community
of people that helps keep them on track, provides for their
needs and the needs of the host families, and creates a social
network that didn't exist for those families before. She
commented that Beacon Hill has a wonderful relationship with
OCS, under its current leadership, but administrations change
and it wants to help protect the people willing to volunteer
their time and lives for this movement.
2:53:32 PM
MIKE COONS said he was speaking as a former non-commissioned
officer in charge of medical readiness at Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base, Ohio. He offered that his duties included
determining what to do with the children of the families if the
United States went to war, with many logistical issues. From a
deployment standpoint, he opined, there is a timeframe wherein
deployment orders come in so an airman can work on those issues.
Although, he explained, in the event of Desert Shield and Desert
Storm, the deployment happened fast, and being in Alaska it was
difficult to get the grandparents to the children. He opined
that this legislation will help the military community with
those deployments and rapid deployments that occur and save
those children from trauma in the foster care system. He
related that he is not a fan of the state foster care system,
and he supports this legislation moving forward.
2:56:05 PM
VICE CHAIR KELLER after ascertaining no one further wished to
testify, closed public testimony.
REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT remarked that this is a good bill and she
would like to see it move out of committee to avoid some
children entering into the state foster care system, and save
money for the state.
VICE CHAIR KELLER added that having a strong family as a result
[of this legislation] is a great bonus.
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN asked the administration's position on
this bill.
VICE CHAIR KELLER advised that Ms. Tracy Campbell can speak to
his question. He related that he has spoken with OCS on several
occasions and his impression is that OCS is positive.
2:57:35 PM
TRACY SPARTZ CAMPBELL, Deputy Director, Office of Children's
Services, Department of Health & Social Services, responded that
the Office of Children's Services (OCS) has positive feelings
about this program; however, the administration's official
position on the bill is neutral.
2:57:58 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN moved to report CSSB 180(JUD), Version 29-
LS1431/I out of committee with individual recommendations and
the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSSB
180(JUD) passed out of the House Judiciary Standing Committee.