Minnesota Session Laws - 2002, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 290-S.F.No. 2614 
                  An act relating to foster care; requiring disclosure 
                  of an individual's communicable disease to a foster 
                  care provider; modifying provisions relating to child 
                  custody; amending Minnesota Statutes 2001 Supplement, 
                  sections 260C.212, subdivision 1; 260C.317, 
                  subdivision 3; proposing coding for new law in 
                  Minnesota Statutes, chapter 245A. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  [245A.156] [DISCLOSURE OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASE 
        TO LICENSED FOSTER CARE PROVIDERS.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [LICENSED FOSTER CARE.] This section 
        applies to county agencies, private child-placing agencies, and 
        individuals who place children or adults who have a known 
        communicable disease, as defined in section 144.4172, 
        subdivision 2, in foster care settings licensed under this 
        chapter. 
           Subd. 2.  [PLACING AGENCY'S OR INDIVIDUAL'S 
        DUTIES.] Notwithstanding section 144.335, before a county or 
        private child-placing agency or individual places a child or 
        adult with a known communicable disease with a licensed foster 
        care provider, the agency or individual must: 
           (1) disclose to the foster care license holder the 
        individual's communicable disease; and 
           (2) determine that the foster care provider has the ability 
        to provide care to the individual. 
           Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2001 Supplement, section 
        260C.212, subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [OUT-OF-HOME PLACEMENT; PLAN.] (a) An 
        out-of-home placement plan shall be prepared within 30 days 
        after any child is placed in a residential facility by court 
        order or by the voluntary release of the child by the parent or 
        parents.  
           For purposes of this section, a residential facility means 
        any group home, family foster home or other publicly supported 
        out-of-home residential facility, including any out-of-home 
        residential facility under contract with the state, county or 
        other political subdivision, or any agency thereof, to provide 
        those services or foster care as defined in section 260C.007, 
        subdivision 18. 
           (b) An out-of-home placement plan means a written document 
        which is prepared by the responsible social services agency 
        jointly with the parent or parents or guardian of the child and 
        in consultation with the child's guardian ad litem, the child's 
        tribe, if the child is an Indian child, the child's foster 
        parent or representative of the residential facility, and, where 
        appropriate, the child.  As appropriate, the plan shall be: 
           (1) submitted to the court for approval under section 
        260C.178, subdivision 7; 
           (2) ordered by the court, either as presented or modified 
        after hearing, under section 260C.178, subdivision 7, or 
        260C.201, subdivision 6; and 
           (3) signed by the parent or parents or guardian of the 
        child, the child's guardian ad litem, a representative of the 
        child's tribe, the responsible social services agency, and, if 
        possible, the child.  
           (c) The out-of-home placement plan shall be explained to 
        all persons involved in its implementation, including the child 
        who has signed the plan, and shall set forth: 
           (1) a description of the residential facility including how 
        the out-of-home placement plan is designed to achieve a safe 
        placement for the child in the least restrictive, most 
        family-like, setting available which is in close proximity to 
        the home of the parent or parents or guardian of the child when 
        the case plan goal is reunification, and how the placement is 
        consistent with the best interests and special needs of the 
        child according to the factors under subdivision 2, paragraph 
        (b); 
           (2) the specific reasons for the placement of the child in 
        a residential facility, and when reunification is the plan, a 
        description of the problems or conditions in the home of the 
        parent or parents which necessitated removal of the child from 
        home and the changes the parent or parents must make in order 
        for the child to safely return home; 
           (3) a description of the services offered and provided to 
        prevent removal of the child from the home and to reunify the 
        family including: 
           (i) the specific actions to be taken by the parent or 
        parents of the child to eliminate or correct the problems or 
        conditions identified in clause (2), and the time period during 
        which the actions are to be taken; and 
           (ii) the reasonable efforts, or in the case of an Indian 
        child, active efforts to be made to achieve a safe and stable 
        home for the child including social and other supportive 
        services to be provided or offered to the parent or parents or 
        guardian of the child, the child, and the residential facility 
        during the period the child is in the residential facility; 
           (4) a description of any services or resources that were 
        requested by the child or the child's parent, guardian, foster 
        parent, or custodian since the date of the child's placement in 
        the residential facility, and whether those services or 
        resources were provided and if not, the basis for the denial of 
        the services or resources; 
           (5) the visitation plan for the parent or parents or 
        guardian, other relatives as defined in section 260C.007, 
        subdivision 27, and siblings of the child if the siblings are 
        not placed together in the residential facility, and whether 
        visitation is consistent with the best interest of the child, 
        during the period the child is in the residential facility; 
           (6) documentation of steps to finalize the adoption or 
        legal guardianship of the child if the court has issued an order 
        terminating the rights of both parents of the child or of the 
        only known, living parent of the child, and a copy of this 
        documentation shall be provided to the court in the review 
        required under section 260C.317, subdivision 3, paragraph (b); 
           (7) to the extent available and accessible, the health and 
        educational records of the child including: 
           (i) the names and addresses of the child's health and 
        educational providers; 
           (ii) the child's grade level performance; 
           (iii) the child's school record; 
           (iv) assurances that the child's placement in foster care 
        takes into account proximity to the school in which the child is 
        enrolled at the time of placement; 
           (v) a record of the child's immunizations; 
           (vi) the child's known medical problems, including any 
        known communicable diseases, as defined in section 144.4172, 
        subdivision 2; 
           (vii) the child's medications; and 
           (viii) any other relevant health and education information; 
        and 
           (8) an independent living plan for a child age 16 or older 
        who is in placement as a result of a permanency disposition.  
        The plan should include, but not be limited to, the following 
        objectives: 
           (i) educational, vocational, or employment planning; 
           (ii) health care planning and medical coverage; 
           (iii) transportation including, where appropriate, 
        assisting the child in obtaining a driver's license; 
           (iv) money management; 
           (v) planning for housing; 
           (vi) social and recreational skills; and 
           (vii) establishing and maintaining connections with the 
        child's family and community. 
           (d) The parent or parents or guardian and the child each 
        shall have the right to legal counsel in the preparation of the 
        case plan and shall be informed of the right at the time of 
        placement of the child.  The child shall also have the right to 
        a guardian ad litem.  If unable to employ counsel from their own 
        resources, the court shall appoint counsel upon the request of 
        the parent or parents or the child or the child's legal 
        guardian.  The parent or parents may also receive assistance 
        from any person or social services agency in preparation of the 
        case plan. 
           After the plan has been agreed upon by the parties involved 
        or approved or ordered by the court, the foster parents shall be 
        fully informed of the provisions of the case plan and shall be 
        provided a copy of the plan. 
           Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2001 Supplement, section 
        260C.317, subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 3.  [ORDER; RETENTION OF JURISDICTION.] (a) A 
        certified copy of the findings and the order terminating 
        parental rights, and a summary of the court's information 
        concerning the child shall be furnished by the court to the 
        commissioner or the agency to which guardianship is 
        transferred.  The orders shall be on a document separate from 
        the findings.  The court shall furnish the individual to whom 
        guardianship is transferred a copy of the order terminating 
        parental rights. 
           (b) The court shall retain jurisdiction in a case where 
        adoption is the intended permanent placement disposition until 
        the child's adoption is finalized, the child is 18 years of age, 
        or the child is otherwise ordered discharged from the 
        jurisdiction of the court.  The guardian ad litem and counsel 
        for the child shall continue on the case until an adoption 
        decree is entered.  A hearing must be held every 90 days 
        following termination of parental rights for the court to review 
        progress toward an adoptive placement and the specific 
        recruitment efforts the agency has taken to find an adoptive 
        family or other placement living arrangement for the child and 
        to finalize the adoption or other permanency plan.  
           (c) When adoption is not the intended disposition, and if 
        the child continues in out-of-home placement for 12 months after 
        the court has issued the order terminating parental rights and 
        at least every 12 months thereafter as long as the child 
        continues in out-of-home placement, the court shall conduct a 
        permanency review hearing to determine the future status of the 
        child, including, but not limited to, whether the child should 
        be continued in out-of-home placement, should be placed for 
        adoption, or should, because of the child's special needs and 
        for compelling reasons, be ordered into long-term out-of-home 
        placement. 
           (d) The court shall retain jurisdiction in a case where 
        long-term foster care is the permanent disposition whether under 
        paragraph (c) or section 260C.201, subdivision 11.  All of the 
        review requirements under section 260C.201, subdivision 11, 
        paragraph (g), apply. 
           Presented to the governor March 25, 2002 
           Signed by the governor March 26, 2002, 2:32 p.m.