General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2006>Welfare (Social Services)

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Welfare (Social Services)

Passed

P HB56

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect by eligibility workers. Requires any person employed by a local department of social services who determines eligibility for public assistance to report suspected child abuse or neglect to the local department or the Department of Social Services' toll-free child abuse and neglect hotline. The bill is effective on January 1, 2007 and the Department of Social Services must provide training to implement its provisions.
Patron - Fralin

P HB73

Social services; constitution of local board for a city. Allows a city council to appoint one of its members to the local social services board for that city. This bill is identical to SB 25.
Patron - Orrock

P HB727

Administrative changes to adoption laws. Expands jurisdiction and venue choices for parties involved in adoption, reduces the review time of an adoption petition, and adds factors for the court to consider when determining whether or not to grant an adoption petition. Additionally, the bill sets out the procedure for close relative adoptions. The bill also makes several other administrative changes to the adoption laws to make navigating through the adoption process easier and to facilitate use of the process by all involved.
Patron - McQuigg

P HB729

Birth parent recommendation of adoptive parents. Creates a new adoption procedure that allows the birth parent to recommend adoptive parents. Additionally, the birth parent can choose between more open parental placement adoption procedures or maintain privacy through use of the agency adoption procedures.
Patron - McQuigg

P HB730

Creation of a mutual consent adoption registry; sunset. Creates a mutual consent adoption registry that allows birth parents and adoptees to exchange identifying information after the adoptee has reached 21 years of age. Requires the Department of Social Services to establish the registry and assess a fee for registrants. The fee is to be the lowest fee that will cover the costs associated with operating the registry, but it shall not exceed $50 per registrant. The bill includes a sunset of July 1, 2009. The provisions of the bill are subject to an appropriation of funds in the General Appropriation Act.
Patron - McQuigg

P HB855

Guardianship; petition by parent of incapacitated person. Authorizes the parent or guardian of an incapacitated person who is under the age of 18 to file a petition for guardianship six months prior to the child's eighteenth birthday. Where the petition is brought by any other person, the petition may be filed no earlier than the respondent's eighteenth birthday.
Patron - Ebbin

P HB856

Public Guardianship Program; authority to make funeral arrangements. Authorizes, when there is no known next of kin, a public guardian or conservator to make funeral or burial arrangements.
Patron - Ebbin

P HB1156

Sexual and domestic violence; confidentiality of records. Requires providers of sexual or domestic violence services to keep victim records confidential and requires the Director of the Department of Social Services to work with the Statewide Domestic Violence Coalition to develop policies and implement methods to ensure the confidentiality of victim records and records pertaining to the address or location of any shelter or facility assisted under the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, 42 U.S.C. § 10401 et seq.
Patron - Janis

P HB1213

Social services; faith-based organizations. Directs the Department of Social Services to coordinate offers of assistance from faith-based organizations during natural disasters. This bill is identical to SB 730.
Patron - Moran

P HB1317

Foster care; criminal background checks. Requires a nationwide, rather than statewide, criminal background check for any individual with whom the local board or agency is considering placing a child on an emergency, temporary, or permanent basis, including the birth parent of a child in foster care placement. In emergency circumstances, a statewide Virginia Criminal Information Network search may still be performed to satisfy the background check requirement, provided that a national search is also performed afterwards. The child shall be removed from the home immediately if any adult resident, within three days of the child's placement, fails to provide fingerprints and written permission to perform a national criminal history record check when requested.
Patron - Cosgrove

P HB1351

Adult services; reporting of suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Requires local departments of social services or the adult protective services hotline, upon receiving the initial report pursuant to § 63.2-1606, to notify the local law-enforcement agency directly in any cases of (i) sexual abuse as defined in § 18.2-67.10, (ii) serious bodily injury or disease as defined in § 18.2-369 that is believed to be the result of abuse or neglect, or (iii) any other criminal activity involving abuse or neglect that places the adult in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm.
Patron - Bell

P HB1534

Background checks; adoption. Provides that a child-placing agency may approve as an adoptive or foster parent a person who was convicted of felony drug possession or distribution provided that 10 years have elapsed since conviction and his civil rights have been restored by the Governor.
Patron - Welch

P HB1589

Family day homes; sex offenders prohibited; penalty. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for a person to operate a family day home if he knows that any of his employees or volunteers are convicted sex offenders. This bill is identical to SB 420.
Patron - Gilbert

P SB25

P SB48

Kinship Foster Care. Requires a local board of social services, before making a foster care placement, to first seek out kinship foster care. The Board of Social Services shall adopt regulations for determining whether the child has a relative who is eligible to become a kinship foster parent. Kinship foster care placements are subject to the requirements, and receive the benefits, of other foster care placements, including payments for the care of the child.
Patron - Miller

P SB253

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. Requires any adult who has received training in the detection of child abuse and neglect to report it to the local department of social services or the Department of Social Services' toll-free hotline. The bill exempts 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

P SB257

Child day program exemption from licensure. Allows an exemption from licensure for programs of recreational activities offered by local governments, staffed by local government employees, and attended by school-age children. The programs shall be subject to safety and supervisory standards established by the local governments.
Patron - Wagner

P SB420

Family day homes; sex offenders prohibited. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for a person to operate a family day home if he knows that any of the home's employees or volunteers are convicted sex offenders. This bill is identical to HB 1589.
Patron - Hanger

P SB421

Child care facilities; criminal background checks; civil penalty. Requires all businesses and organizations that provide care to children, the elderly, or disabled to request a national criminal background check of all employees and volunteers, and punishes failure to do so with a $500 civil penalty and, in some cases, a Class 3 misdemeanor for a second offense.
Patron - Hanger

P SB534

Adoption laws; putative father registry. Makes procedural and administrative changes to adoption laws, creates a "designated adoption," and establishes a putative father registry. The bill removes a provision that Virginia law applies to entrustment agreements executed in the Commonwealth by agencies outside the Commonwealth. Acknowledged, adjudicated, presumed and registered fathers whose identity is not reasonably ascertainable are entitled to notice of an adoption. Consent is not required of a birth father who denies paternity under oath and in writing or a birth parent who, without just cause, has neither visited nor contacted the child for six months. Unmarried birth fathers may consent to the termination of parental rights prior to the birth of the child. The amount of time to object to proceedings is decreased from 21 to 15 days after the notice is mailed. Failure to appear at a hearing waives the right to consent to the adoption. The length of time during which an entrustment agreement can be revoked by the birth parents is reduced from until the child is 25 days old and 15 days have elapsed since execution to until the child is 10 days old and seven days have elapsed. Current law requires that a child be 10 days old before consent to a parental placement adoption can be executed in juvenile court; this bill allows such consent on the third day of the child's life. Consent is revocable for 10 days instead of the current 15 and is not revocable at all after the child is 10 days old. The bill creates a new form of adoption where a birth parent may designate adoptive parents but may use agency adoption and the exchange of certain identifying information does not have to occur. A Putative Father Registry is established and will be administered by the Department of Social Services and funded by an additional $50 filing fee. Any man who has engaged in sexual intercourse with a woman is deemed to be on legal notice that a child may be conceived and may register with the Registry which will entitle him to notice if the child is placed for adoption. Provisions related to adult and step-parent adoption are revised.
Patron - O'Brien

P SB691

Adoption; sexually violent offenders. Prohibits sexually violent offenders and offenders who are required to register pursuant to § 9.1-902 from adopting a child.
Patron - Obenshain

P SB704

Family day home systems and family day homes; civil penalty. Requires any person who operates a family day home approved by a licensed family day system, a licensed family day home, or a voluntarily registered family day home to furnish a written notice to the parent or guardian of each child under the care of the family day home stating (i) the amount of liability insurance in force covering operation of the family day home or (ii) the fact that there is no liability insurance in effect. The bill also requires that such notice be acknowledged in writing and requires the operator to notify parents and guardians in the event the amount of insurance coverage decreases. Any person who fails to give the required notice shall be subject to a civil penalty of $500 for each such failure.
Patron - Edwards

P SB730

Failed

F HB32

Child Day Programs; exemption from licensure for local recreation programs. Exempts from licensure requirements certain recreation programs attended by children over the age of five. Safety and supervisory standards are to be established by local governments.
Patron - Tata

F HB66

Social services; Virginia Caregivers 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 Virginia Caregivers Grant Fund.
Patron - Purkey

F HB227

Domestic violence; confidentiality of records. Requires the Director of the Department of Social Services to work with the Statewide Domestic Violence Coalition to develop policies and implement methods to assure the confidentiality of records pertaining to the address or location of any shelter or facility assisted under the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, 42 U.S.C. § 10401 et seq. This bill was incorporated into HB 1156.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

F HB231

Day care facilities, assisted living facilities, child welfare agencies; emergency preparedness training. Adds section requiring all operators of assisted living facilities, adult day care centers, and child welfare agencies to complete an emergency preparedness training program as a condition of licensure. The program shall include the essential procedures, operations, and assignments required to prevent, manage, and respond to a critical event or emergency, including natural disasters involving fire, flood, tornadoes, or other severe weather; loss or disruption of power, water, communications, or shelter; medical emergencies; explosions; bomb threats; gun, knife, or other weapons threats; spills or exposures to hazardous substances; the presence of unauthorized persons or trespassers; the loss, disappearance, or kidnapping of a resident; hostage situations; violence on the facility property; incidents involving acts of terrorism; and other incidents posing a serious threat of harm to residents, personnel, or facilities.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

F HB246

Income tax; tax credit for certain health care practitioners. Provides an income tax credit to health care practitioners who provide, without compensation, medical services to indigent persons who cannot pay for the services themselves. The amount of the credit is equal to 25 percent of the fee the practitioner would charge for the service, not to exceed $500 annually for any practitioner. The credit would be available for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2007.
Patron - Shannon

F HB358

Neighborhood Assistance Act; tax credits. Changes the eligibility requirements for individuals to claim neighborhood assistance tax credits to align them with eligibility requirements for businesses. Individuals will be eligible for the credit for donations of real property and stock as well as monetary donations, and they may still claim the deduction on their federal tax returns for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2006.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB465

Emergency response; notification of location of certain facilities. Requires the Commissioners of Health, Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, and Social Services to notify the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) of the location and capacity of all nursing homes, hospice facilities, group homes, assisted living facilities, and adult day care facilities licensed in the Commonwealth. VDEM is then responsible for forwarding this information to designated local emergency planning contacts and the Virginia Geographic Information Network Office, in order to assist in the planning and implementation of emergency response.
Patron - Ingram

F HB583

Public Assistance; eligibility for TANF benefits. Provides that a person shall not be ineligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits solely as the result of a felony drug possession conviction.
Patron - Watts

F HB634

Assisted living facilities; regulations. Strikes the requirement that all licensed assisted living facilities with six or more residents be able to connect by July 1, 2007, to a temporary emergency electrical power source for the provision of electricity during an interruption of the normal electric power supply.
Patron - Phillips

F HB726

Parental consent prior to a minor entering into an adoption. Requires that any birth parent 14 years of age or younger must receive parental consent prior to petitioning for adoption or entering an entrustment agreement. Provides for judicial consent in lieu of parental consent.
Patron - McQuigg

F HB728

Creation of putative father registry; penalty. Creates a putative father registry that requires any man who has sexual intercourse with a woman to register with the registry or forgo his right to oppose the adoption of a child that may have resulted from such intercourse. Also makes it a Class 4 misdemeanor to wrongfully disseminate information contained in the registry.
Patron - McQuigg

F HB806

Foster care services. Adds to the definition of foster care services the provision of care to a child and his family when the child has been identified as needing such services to prevent or eliminate the need for relinquishment of custody.
Patron - Fralin

F HB873

Information technology professionals; reporting child abuse; penalty. Adds information technology professionals to the list of those required to report suspected child abuse or neglect.
Patron - Byron

F HB969

Adult Fatality Review Team; duties; membership; confidentiality; etc.; penalties; report. Requires the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services and the Chief Medical Examiner to develop an Adult Fatality Review Team (Team) to review suspicious deaths of adults in order to create a body of information to help prevent future fatalities. The Team is charged with reviewing the death of any incapacitated adult aged 18 or older, and any adult aged 60 or older (i) who was the subject of an adult protective services investigation or (ii) whose death was due to abuse or neglect or acts suggesting possible abuse or neglect. The bill sets forth duties, membership, confidentiality, reporting, and other requirements for the Team. The bill also excludes any information acquired during a review from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. This bill is identical to SB 635.
Patron - Ebbin

F HB1280

Criminal history and central registry check for placements of children. Strikes the limiting language "statewide" so as to permit the entire record of criminal history information to be obtained and considered by the local board and licensed child-placing agency for an individual with whom the board or agency is contemplating a placement. This bill was incorporated into HB 1317.
Patron - Johnson

F HB1332

Juvenile detention facilities; placement of adults. Requires that adults, and juveniles being tried as adults, be held only in adult correctional facilities. The bill also requires that upon reaching age 18, any adult in a juvenile facility shall be transferred to an adult facility.
Patron - Bell

F HB1434

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect; civil penalty. 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 exempts 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 - Brink

F HB1550

Residential community programs. Directs the Department of Corrections, where appropriate and resources are available, to give nonviolent prisoners who have not been convicted of specific offenses or sentenced to one or more life terms the opportunity to participate in a residential community program, work release, or a community-based program. Current law requires that the prisoner not be convicted of any violent crime and be sentenced to at least three years. The bill restricts the cost of keep to no more than 30 percent of the prisoner's gross earnings, and directs the Department to prescribe guidelines for the program that emphasize training and education related to job skills, literacy, money management, and other life skills.
Patron - BaCote

F SB32

Social services; time limit on receipt of TANF. Allows the children of VIEW participants to continue receiving TANF financial assistance beyond the initial 24-month period if (i) the VIEW participating parent is no longer the children's legal guardian, (ii) another relative of the children now has legal custody, and (iii) the children otherwise meet the eligibility requirements set forth in §§ 63.2-602 through 63.2-607. This bill is contingent upon appropriation of funds.
Patron - Miller

F SB240

Public assistance; eligibility for TANF benefits. Provides that a person shall not be ineligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits solely as the result of a felony drug possession conviction. This bill is contingent upon the appropriation of funds.
Patron - Ticer

F SB458

F SB584

Child abuse or neglect; mandated reporting of certain teenage pregnancies. Requires an attending physician or other health professional to report teenage pregnancies as child abuse or neglect upon finding that a child under the age of 15 is pregnant.
Patron - Cuccinelli

F SB615

Child Day Care Regulations. Establishes staff-to-child ratios, activity space guidelines, and training and qualification guidelines for program directors, program leaders, and general staff for regulated child day care centers.
Patron - Wagner

Carried Over

C HB415

Nursing homes; notification of sex offenders. Requires nursing homes and certified nursing facilities to notify residents, residents' families, residents' legal representatives, and the public of the presence of a person convicted of a sexual offense for which registration is required pursuant to §9.1-902 residing in the nursing home or certified nursing facility. Also allows such facilities to request from the State Police electronic notification of any sex offender.
Patron - Griffith

C HB598

Emergency medical services personnel; reporting child abuse; penalty. Adds emergency medical services personnel certified by the Board of Health to the list of those required to report suspected child abuse or neglect.
Patron - Cosgrove

C HB1358

Assisted living facilities; exemption from licensing requirements. Allows, for life-sharing communities, an exemption from the requirement to have a staff member who is awake 24 hours per day. "Life-sharing community" is defined as an assisted living facility, operated by a nonprofit organization, that (i) offers a safe, secure environment in a free-standing, self-contained unit for residents who have been assessed by a medical professional as having a mental disability; (ii) is located in a community setting; (iii) consists of the residents as well as staff or family members who live in the units; (iv) has at least one staff or family member in such facility at all times when residents are present and requires the staff or family member on premises to be responsible for the care and supervision of the residents; (v) has established written emergency procedures that provide for prompt assistance to the staff or family member on premises by other staff members who may be at locations other than the facility where the assistance is requested; and (vi) provides, at the time of admission, written notice to each resident and his legally authorized representative that the facility is exempt from the above requirement.
Patron - Bell

C HB1538

Day care facilities; exemptions from licensure. Limits exemption from licensure for "come and go" programs currently exempt. The bill provides that the exemption only applies where the program does not (i) provide care for a child under the age of eight, (ii) provide care for a child who resides more than one half-mile from the program, or (iii) initiate, arrange, or participate in the transportation of a child. The bill also requires that, if the program allows a parent to designate individuals who are not authorized to pick up a child, the parent must provide appropriate legal documentation in support of this request.
Patron - Reid

C SB47

Kinship Care Program. Establishes the Kinship Care Program within the Department of Social Services for relatives who are (i) within the third degree by blood or marriage to the parent or step-parent of a child, (ii) caring full-time for that child in the role of a substitute parent as a result of a court's placement of the child in the legal custody of the relative, as defined in § 16.1-228, and (iii) determined to be capable caregivers as defined in the bill. Relatives who qualify as capable caregivers are not required to meet foster care requirements, and they may receive financial assistance and case management services as determined by the local board of social services.
Patron - Miller

C SB635

Adult Fatality Review Team; duties; membership; confidentiality; penalties; report; etc. Requires the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services and the Chief Medical Examiner to develop an Adult Fatality Review Team (Team) to review suspicious deaths of adults in order to create a body of information to help prevent future fatalities. The Team is charged with reviewing the death of any incapacitated adult aged 18 or older, and any adult aged 60 or older (i) who was the subject of an adult protective services investigation or (ii) whose death was due to abuse or neglect or acts suggesting possible abuse or neglect. The bill sets forth duties, membership, confidentiality, reporting, and other requirements for the Team. The bill also excludes any information acquired during a review from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. This bill is identical to HB 969.
Patron - Howell

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2006>Welfare (Social Services)

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