BILL #    HB 2611	TITLE: group homes; safety; training; rights
SPONSOR:    Blackman	STATUS: As Amended by Senate HHS
PREPARED BY:    Maggie Rocker

Description

The bill would require the Department of Child Safety (DCS) to terminate group foster home employees who receive a positive drug screening result. The bill also requires DCS to develop employee screening policies for group foster homes and the Department of Health Services (DHS) to establish minimum security standards for juvenile group homes licensed by DHS and DCS. Finally, the bill amends statute to permit a child in foster care or kinship care to report a violation of their statutorily-prescribed personal rights without fear of retaliatory action.    

Estimated Impact

The bill could potentially increase administrative costs for DCS and DHS to the extent developing and implementing new policies for group foster homes and juvenile group homes requires additional staffing. It may also impact the costs of DCS' and DES' group home contracts to the extent that the bill affects group home staffing levels and costs.

DCS said it does not anticipate a direct administrative fiscal impact but expects that group home providers would raise daily rates to implement the bill's provisions, which would require an additional appropriation. DCS did not attempt to quantify the impact.

DES and DHS have not yet provided their estimates. 

Analysis

Our estimate assumes the following:

1) DHS and DCS each license group homes for minors.  The bill as drafted would require DCS to develop employee screening policies for group foster homes and would require DHS to develop security standards for all juvenile group homes licensed by DHS and DCS, including those for minors with developmental disabilities. To the extent the additional rulemaking required by the bill increases each agency's respective workload, DCS and DHS may require additional administrative support.

2) The bill requires minimum security standards for juvenile group homes, which may impact of the costs of current group home contracts with DES and DCS.

3) DCS group foster home employees who are confirmed to have tested positive for unauthorized substances would be terminated, which may impact group foster home staffing levels and subsequently impact DCS contracts.

4/17/26