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2016 Session

Budget Amendments - SB30 (Floor Approved)

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Kinship Care Reporting (language only)

Item 343 #2s

Item 343 #2s

Health and Human Resources
Department of Social Services

Language

Page 299, after line 10, insert:

"G.1.  Local departments of social services shall report data collected on children in facilitated kinship care arrangements to the Virginia Department  of Social Services on a quarterly basis. The Virginia Department of Social Services shall maintain the aggregate data by locality and make such data available to the public.   Data reported must include, but is not limited to: the age, gender, race and ethnicity of the child; the nature of the child's relationship  to the kinship caregiver; the family's history of involvement with child protective services; what, if any, services were provided to the family before the child moved into the home of the kinship caregiver; and where the child is residing and who has legal custody of the child at the time of the local board's final contact with the family.  If available, the following data must also be provided: the duration  of the kinship arrangement, whether any court order was entered to support the kinship arrangement, whether the child or parent has a disability and, if so, what that disability  is, and what, if any, services were provided to the child or kinship caregivers after the child moved into the home.

2.  The Virginia Department  of Social Services shall develop informational brochures explaining how relative caregivers and parents can seek legal advice through the legal aid system and the Virginia State Bar lawyer referral  service.  The Virginia Department  of Social Services shall provide sufficient amounts of these informational brochures to local social services agencies to allow them to provide the brochures to parents and relatives whenever they facilitate a kinship care arrangement. Whenever a local social services agency facilitates a kinship care arrangement, it shall provide this brochure to both the parent consenting to the kinship care arrangement and the relative caregiver."



Explanation

(This amendment requires data collection and reporting requirements for local departments of social services regarding kinship care arrangements. The language directs local departments of social services to collect and report the information to the state Department of Social Services and for that information to be made public.)