General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2003>Welfare (Social Services)

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Welfare (Social Services)

Passed

P HB1514

Parental placement adoptions. Provides that when a licensed child-placing agency or a local board of social services accepts custody of a child for the purpose of placing the child with adoptive parents designated by the birth parent, such agency or local board may give consideration for placement of the child to the designated adoptive parents if the agency or local board finds the placement in the best interest of the child.
Patron - Albo

P HB1764

Health professions; donation of services. Adds professional counselors, clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and physical therapists to the list of health professionals eligible for a tax credit for donated services when such services are provided at a clinic where such services are provided at no charge or on a sliding fee.
Patron - Nutter

P HB2009

Adoption; birth parent physical and mental history. Requires the child-placing agency or local director of social services to document in the court report all efforts made to encourage birth parents to share information related to their physical and mental history in all adoption proceedings.
Patron - Bell

P HB2187

Human Services Information and Referral Advisory Council. Abolishes the Human Services Information and Referral Advisory Council and its Technical Assistance Committee. The Council recommends standards and policies for the development and implementation of a statewide human services information and referral system to provide information on or referral to appropriate public and private agencies at the state, local and regional levels. In 1995, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission conducted a study on the Council and recommended that the Council move to a self-sustaining operation. The Council has been moving in this direction. This bill is identical to legislation recommended by the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Operations, Practices, Duties, and Funding of the Commonwealth's Agencies, Boards, Commissions, Councils, and Other Governmental Entities pursuant to HJR 159 (2002).
Patron - Saxman

P HB2233

Recognition of foreign adoption decrees. Provides that adoptive parents who are residents of the Commonwealth may petition the circuit court in the city or county where they reside for a report of adoption when the adoptive parents are seeking a Virginia certificate of birth for a child adopted in a foreign country that has post-adoption reporting requirements and with whom the United States has diplomatic relations. The adoptive parents must provide the circuit court with the immediate relative immigrant visa (IR-3), a report of adoption on a form furnished by the State Registrar of Vital Records, completed post-adoption reports, and a signed affidavit stating that any outstanding post-adoption requirements shall be met as required by the foreign country. The affidavit shall also include the name by which the child is to be known. The circuit court will review all documents provided by the adoptive parents. If the circuit court finds that all requirements have been met, the circuit court may issue the report of adoption to the State Registrar for issuance of a Virginia certificate of birth. Adoptive parents seeking to have a child from a foreign country adopted or who choose to readopt a child from a foreign country in Virginia must comply with all statutory adoption requirements in order to get a Virginia certificate of birth.
Patron - Cline

P HB2288

Child protective services; school personnel investigation procedures. Requires each local department of social services and school division to adopt a written interagency agreement as a protocol for investigating child abuse and neglect reports against school personnel. When the subject of the child abuse or neglect complaint is an employee of a local school board or employed in a school operated by the Commonwealth, the local department of social services must conduct a face-to-face interview with the employee, and must notify the employee at the onset of the interview of the general nature of the complaint, of the identity of the alleged victim and of his right to have an attorney or other representative present during any interview. The local department must give the employee a written summary of the investigation and an explanation of how the information gathered supports the disposition. This bill is identical to SB 1043.
Patron - Devolites

P SB803

Human Services Information and Referral Advisory Council. Abolishes the Human Services Information and Referral Advisory Council and its Technical Assistance Committee. The Council recommends standards and policies for the development and implementation of a statewide human services information and referral system to provide information on or referral to appropriate public and private agencies at the state, local and regional levels. In 1995, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission conducted a study on the Council and recommended that the Council move to a self-sustaining operation. The Council has been moving in this direction. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Operations, Practices, Duties, and Funding of the Commonwealth's Agencies, Boards, Commissions, Councils, and Other Governmental Entities pursuant to HJR 159 (2002).
Patron - Martin

P SB1043

P SB1101

Recodification of Title 63.2; corrections bill. Makes housekeeping amendments to several sections that were recodified in former Title 63.1. These amendments include correcting names of organizations, definitions and cross references; restoring court venues for adoption procedures, old language inadvertently dropped and a right of appeal to the Commissioner for certain social services programs; and moving a provision regarding the authority of the Department to access records to assist in locating persons liable for support from Title 20 to this title. The bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Code Commission.
Patron - Edwards

P SB1157

Child support income withholding; service of process. Permits the Division of Child Support Enforcement in the Department of Social Services to issue income withholding orders and notices by first-class mail. The bill states that a noncustodial parent's employer issued an income withholding order by first-class mail shall not be liable to the Department unless the employer had actual notice of the order.
Patron - Ticer

P SB1298

Parental rights. Clarifies that a "party with a legitimate interest" in a child, for purposes of making custody and visitation determinations, does not include persons whose interest in the child is derived from a parent (e.g., grandparents and other relatives) whose rights have been terminated if the child subsequently has been legally adopted, except in cases of stepparent adoption. The bill also clarifies that only such grandparents and other relatives are not divested of all legal rights in cases of stepparent adoption. This bill is not a change in current law and seeks to clarify current practice.
Patron - Newman

P SB1306

Child protective services; retention of records. Requires that the records of family assessments shall be retained for three years after the date of the complaint or report, rather than the current one year retention period. The records will be purged after such three year period if there are no subsequent complaints or reports regarding the same child or the person who is the subject of the report in that three year period.
Patron - Ticer

P SJ428

Playground guidelines. Encourages the Department of Social Services to promote public playground safety through the use of technical assistance, seminars, conferences, the dissemination of published materials, or other forms of encouragement. Such guidelines are nonmandatory and nonenforceable and no violation notices shall be issued.
Patron - Hanger

Failed

F HB1489

F HB1669

Foster and adoptive homes; uniform standards. Requires the State Board of Social Services to adopt uniform standards for the approval of foster and adoptive homes by local boards or licensed child-placing agencies in order to provide for the concurrent approval of a person to be both a foster and adoptive parent.
Patron - Orrock

F HB1703

Social services; Virginia Caregiver Grant. Increases the grant available to a caregiver of a mentally or physically impaired relative from $500 to $3,000 if the caregiver can provide appropriate documentation that without such care, the relative would be domiciled in a nursing facility. Grants from this fund shall not exceed the amount appropriated by the General Assembly to the Caregiver Grant Fund.
Patron - Purkey

F HB1740

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. Requires any accredited practitioner, including a duly accredited Christian Science practitioner, to report suspected child abuse or neglect to a local department of social services or the Department of Social Services' toll-free child abuse and neglect hotline. The bill does not require the reporting of privileged communications between such individuals and the persons they counsel or advise.
Patron - Byron

F HB1800

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. Requires any regular minister, priest, rabbi, or accredited practitioner, including a duly accredited Christian Science practitioner, to report suspected child abuse or neglect to a local department of social services or the Department of Social Services' toll-free child abuse and neglect hotline. The bill excepts from the mandatory reporting requirement information required by the doctrine of the religious organization or denomination to be kept in a confidential manner. However, the privilege accorded such confidential communications shall not apply if the minister, priest, rabbi, or accredited practitioner, including a duly accredited Christian Science practitioner, also acquires the information from a source other than the confidential communication.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

F HB2010

Child protective services appeals. Provides that if persons who are accused of child abuse or neglect are represented by an attorney in the appeal process, they must notify the local department of social services in writing no less than seven days prior to the informal conference or hearing. Failure to do so may result in a continuance.
Patron - Bell

F HB2289

Child protective services; investigation procedures. Requires the local department of social services to conduct a face-to-face interview of the person who is the subject of the complaint during the course of an investigation of child abuse or neglect. Prior to this interview, the local department shall provide written notice to such person of the charge being investigated and his right to the presence of an attorney during the interview. Upon written request of the person who is the subject of the complaint, the local department shall provide such person all information in the investigative record for his review and response. The bill requires child abuse investigations to terminate if the local department fails to meet time or these procedural requirements. Finally, the bill requires the local department to determine that a complaint of abuse or neglect is unfounded if the person who is the subject of the complaint is acquitted of criminal charges for the same conduct involving the same victim as investigated by the local department.
Patron - Devolites

F HB2372

F HB2469

Social Services; Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare (VIEW). Exempts persons from the VIEW work requirements if the individual is enrolled full-time in and making satisfactory progress toward the completion of a secondary or postsecondary educational program other program that provides training and results in certification by the Commonwealth and is a prerequisite for employment and designed to result in self-sufficiency.
Patron - Crittenden

F HB2549

Subsidized guardianship of children living with relative caregivers; pilot program. Directs the Department of Social Services to establish a subsidized guardianship pilot program that expires on July 1, 2006, in at least three but no more than five areas of the Commonwealth selected by the Department, for the benefit of children in the custody of a local board of social services or other child welfare agency who are living with relative caregivers and who have been in foster care or living with relatives other than natural parents for not less than 18 months. A relative caregiver means a person who is caring for a child related to such person where the option of the child's reunification with his natural parents is eliminated and termination of parental rights is not appropriate. The subsidized guardianship program shall include a special-need subsidy, which shall be a onetime lump sum payment for expenses resulting from the assumption of care of the child, a medical subsidy, and a monthly subsidy on behalf of the child payable to the relative caregiver that shall be equal to the prevailing foster care rate. The Department may establish an asset test for eligibility under the program. The relative caregiver receiving a guardianship subsidy shall submit annually to the Department a sworn statement that the child is still living with and receiving support from the guardian. The Department shall evaluate and report to the General Assembly on the impact and effectiveness of the subsidized guardianship program.
Patron - Christian

F HB2820

Social services; adoption. Directs the Department of Social Services to develop and implement a program of transition services for older children in foster care as well as those children age 18-23 who were formerly in foster care to enable them to obtain life skills and education for independent living and employment and to become self-sufficient adults. Such services are not a substitute for continued attempts at placement with adoptive parents for those older children still in foster care, but can occur concurrently. Performance outcome measures must be adopted and the Department must work with other state agencies to maximize the funding for such services and provide interagency cooperation.
Patron - Christian

F HB2831

Child protective services; standard of proof. Provides that the standard of proof for a local department of social services to use in determining whether a reported case of child abuse or neglect is founded is by clear and convincing evidence. Currently, the standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence and is set by State Board of Social Services' regulation. The bill requires that any determination that a complaint or report is founded shall be based primarily on first source evidence; in no instance shall a determination that a complaint or report is founded be based solely on indirect evidence or an anonymous complaint.
Patron - Sears

F SB727

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); child care. Requires the Department of Social Services to provide child-care services for the children of TANF recipients, participants in the Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare (VIEW), and former VIEW participants for 12 months after termination of TANF financial assistance if such services are needed to (i) fulfill a VIEW requirement, (ii) enable the individual to seek or retain employment, or (iii) attend a job training or educational program that has been approved by the local department of social services, unless the local department subsequently determines that the person is not making satisfactory progress toward completion of such job training or educational program. The bill also requires such services for those individuals who are otherwise eligible for child care pursuant to State Board of Social Services regulations.
Patron - Miller, Y.B.

F SB728

Subsidized guardianship of children living with relative caregivers. Directs the Department of Social Services to establish a subsidized guardianship program for the benefit of children in the custody of a local board of social services or other child welfare agency who are living with relative caregivers and who have been in foster care or living with relatives other than natural parents for not less than 18 months. A relative caregiver means a person who is caring for a child related to such person where the option of the child's reunification with his natural parents is eliminated and termination of parental rights is not appropriate. The subsidized guardianship program shall include a special-need subsidy, which shall be a one-time lump sum payment for expenses resulting from the assumption of care of the child, a medical subsidy, and a monthly subsidy on behalf of the child payable to the relative caregiver that shall be equal to the prevailing foster care rate. The Department may establish an asset test for eligibility under the program. The relative caregiver receiving a guardianship subsidy shall submit annually to the Department a sworn statement that the child is still living with and receiving support from the guardian.
Patron - Miller, Y.B.

F SB745

F SB749

Subsidized guardianship of children living with relative caregivers; pilot program. Directs the Department of Social Services to establish a subsidized guardianship pilot program that expires on July 1, 2006, in at least 3 but no more than 5 areas of the Commonwealth selected by the Department, for the benefit of children in the custody of a local board of social services or other child welfare agency who are living with relative caregivers and who have been in foster care or living with relatives other than natural parents for not less than 18 months. A relative caregiver means a person who is caring for a child related to such person where the option of the child's reunification with his natural parents is eliminated and termination of parental rights is not appropriate. The subsidized guardianship program shall include a special-need subsidy, which shall be a onetime lump sum payment for expenses resulting from the assumption of care of the child, a medical subsidy, and a monthly subsidy on behalf of the child payable to the relative caregiver that shall be equal to the prevailing foster care rate. The Department may establish an asset test for eligibility under the program. The relative caregiver receiving a guardianship subsidy shall submit annually to the Department a sworn statement that the child is still living with and receiving support from the guardian. The Department shall evaluate and report to the General Assembly on the impact and effectiveness of the subsidized guardianship program.
Patron - Miller, Y.B.

F SB907

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); child care subsidies. Provides for up to 24 months of transitional child care for persons whose TANF financial assistance is terminated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, if such assistance enables the individual to work.
Patron - Miller, Y.B.

F SB1011

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. Requires any regular minister, priest, rabbi, or accredited practitioner to report suspected child abuse or neglect to a local department of social services or the Department of Social Services' toll-free child abuse and neglect hotline. The bill excepts from the mandatory reporting requirement information required by the doctrine of the religious organization or denomination to be kept in a confidential manner and information that the practitioner would not be required to disclose in court testimony pursuant to other Code provisions.
Patron - Howell

F SB1042

F SB1063

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); drug-related felonies. Provides that a person who is otherwise eligible to receive TANF and food stamp benefits shall not be denied such public assistance because the person has been convicted of a drug-related felony. While the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families federal legislation bars public assistance to such persons, the law permits states to opt out of this provision. This bill is a recommendation of the Subcommittee of Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Studying the Collateral Consequences of Felony Convictions.
Patron - Maxwell

F SB1214

Social services; adoption. Adds an additional exemption from the requirement for the consent of the birth father for an entrustment agreement or consent to adoption if the birth father commits assault and battery against the birth mother while pregnant with the child and the entrustment agreement or adoption consent is signed by the birth mother within 24 months of the birth of the child. Current statute does not require the consent of the birth father if he has been convicted of certain other crimes such as rape and carnal knowledge of a minor and the child was conceived as a result.
Patron - Newman

F SB1346

Investigations by local departments of social services. Provides that no child may be removed from the custody of his parent(s) or caretaker(s) in the absence of an investigation.
Patron - Cuccinelli

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2003>Welfare (Social Services)

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