BillCam

SENATE BILL No. 798

January 30, 2018, Introduced by Senator MACGREGOR and referred to the Committee on Oversight.

A bill to establish the safe families for children program; to

prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments and

public and private agencies; to allow for temporary delegation of a

parent's or guardian's powers regarding care, custody, or property

of a minor child; and to prescribe procedures for providing host

families for the temporary care of children.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "safe

families for children act".

Sec. 3. As used in this act:

(a) "Automatic notification system" means a system that stores

and retains fingerprints and that provides for an automatic

notification to a participant when a fingerprint is submitted into

the system that matches an individual whose fingerprints are

retained in the system or when the criminal history of an

individual whose fingerprints are retained in the system is

updated.

(b) "Child placing agency" means that term as defined in

section 1 of 1973 PA 116, MCL 722.111.

services.

(d) "FBI automatic notification system" means the automatic

notification system that is maintained by the Federal Bureau of

Investigation.

(e) "Minor child" means an individual less than 18 years of

age.

Sec. 5. (1) By a properly executed power of attorney, a parent

or guardian of a minor child may temporarily delegate to another

person his or her powers regarding care, custody, or property of

the minor child under this act. This temporary delegation of power

may be for up to 180 days, except that if a parent or guardian is

serving in the United States Armed Forces and is deployed to a

foreign nation, a power of attorney may be effective until the

thirty-first day after the end of the deployment. A person to whom

the parent or guardian delegates these powers is required to have

undergone the criminal history records check, home safety

assessment and inspection, and training required under this act. A

parent or guardian cannot delegate, under this act, his or her

power to consent to marriage or adoption of the minor child,

consent to an abortion or inducement of an abortion to be performed

on or for the minor child, or to terminate parental rights to the

minor child.

(2) The parent or guardian executing a power of attorney may

revoke or withdraw the power of attorney at any time.

Sec. 7. A tax-exempt charitable organization, including, but

not limited to, a church or faith-based organization, may recruit

persons or families to whom a temporary power of attorney may be

executed under section 5. A tax-exempt charitable organization

recruiting persons and families under this section must use the

services of a child placing agency to assist the tax-exempt

charitable organization in obtaining and reviewing criminal history

records checks required under section 9 and conducting home safety

assessments and training as required under sections 11 and 13.

Sec. 9. (1) For each person over 18 years of age residing in a

home where a minor child may be temporarily hosted according to a

power of attorney, a criminal history records check must be

conducted as follows:

(a) A child placing agency must request the department of

state police to do both of the following:

(i) Conduct a criminal history records check on the person.

(ii) Conduct a criminal history records check through the

Federal Bureau of Investigation on the person.

(b) Each person must submit his or her fingerprints to the

department of state police for the criminal history records check

required under this act. Both of the following apply concerning

fingerprints submitted to the department of state police under this

subdivision:

(i) The department of state police shall store and retain all

fingerprints submitted under this section in an automated

fingerprint identification system database that searches against

latent fingerprints and provides for an automatic notification when

a subsequent fingerprint is submitted into the system that matches

a set of fingerprints previously submitted under this section or

when the criminal history of an individual whose fingerprints are

retained in the system is updated. Upon receiving a notification

under this subparagraph, the department of state police shall

immediately notify the child placing agency that requested the

criminal history records check under this section. Information in

the database maintained under this section is confidential, is not

subject to disclosure under the freedom of information act, 1976 PA

442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246, and shall not be disclosed to any person

except for purposes of this act or for law enforcement purposes.

(ii) The department of state police shall forward all

fingerprints submitted to it under this section to the Federal

Bureau of Investigation to be retained in the FBI automatic

notification system that provides for automatic notification if

subsequent criminal history record information matches fingerprints

previously submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation under

this section. The fingerprints retained under this section may be

searched by using future submissions to the FBI automatic

notification system, including, but not limited to, latent

fingerprint searches. This subparagraph does not apply until the

department of state police is a participant in the FBI automatic

notification system.

records check under this section shall notify the department of

state police within 5 days after the individual for which the

criminal history records check was requested is no longer residing

in a home where a minor child may be temporarily hosted or the

individual's home is no longer hosting or available to host a minor

child under this act. After receiving this notice from a child

placing agency, the department of state police is no longer

required to provide any notice to the child placing agency under

subdivision (b)(i) for that individual.

(2) When a home is hosting or is available to host a minor

child according to a power of attorney, each person residing in

that home for whom a criminal history records check has been

conducted under subsection (1) must report to a child placing

agency within 3 business days after he or she has been arraigned

for 1 or more of the crimes listed in section 5f(7) of 1973 PA 116,

MCL 722.115f or any disqualifying offense under the national child

protection act of 1993, Public Law 103-209.

(3) If a person residing in a home in which a minor child is

or is proposed to be hosted according to a power of attorney is not

of good moral character as that term is defined in and determined

under 1974 PA 381, MCL 338.41 to 338.47, or has been arraigned for

1 or more disqualifying offenses under the national child

protection act of 1993, Public Law 103-209, a minor child shall not

be hosted in that home.

(4) A child placing agency may request the criminal history

records checks under this section as allowed under state and

federal law, including, but not limited to, being a qualified

entity under the national child protection act of 1993, Public Law

103-209.

Sec. 11. A child placing agency shall conduct a home safety

assessment and inspection as follows:

(a) A child placing agency shall conduct a home safety

assessment for each home where a minor child may be temporarily

hosted according to a power of attorney. The home safety assessment

must include an inspection of the physical dwelling, assessment of

the person's or family's financial ability to provide care for the

minor child, and assessment of the person's or family's ability and

capacity to provide care for the minor child. As part of the home

safety assessment, the child placing agency shall obtain 3 current

references from persons not related to the person or family.

(b) A child placing agency shall conduct a home safety

assessment every 2 years while a home is hosting or is available to

host a minor child according to a power of attorney.

of a home that is hosting a minor child to monitor the well-being

of the minor child and any change impacting the most recent home

safety assessment. The child placing agency must conduct this

inspection within 48 hours after a person or family begins hosting

a minor child in a home, 1 day per week for the first month during

which a minor child is hosted in the home, and 1 day per month

after that for the duration of the period of time that the minor

child is being hosted in the home.

(d) A child placing agency's home safety assessment and

inspection under subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) must result in a

determination that a home is safe for a minor child before the home

may host or continue to host a minor child under this section.

Sec. 13. (1) Before a minor child is hosted in a home

according to a power of attorney, a child placing agency shall

provide training for the persons in that home. The training must be

based on a national model for preparing, developing, training, and

supporting resource families for the temporary care of minor

children and must include training on identifying child

maltreatment, understanding grief and loss, behavior management

strategies, environmental safety and universal precautions, and

unique child-specific needs-based training.

(2) A person to whom power related to a minor child is

delegated according to a power of attorney shall not be compensated

for serving as the temporary attorney-in-fact. This subsection does

not prohibit an individual, private organization, or governmental

entity from providing funds to a child placing agency for providing

services under this act.

Sec. 15. (1) A parent or guardian executing a power of

attorney does not, by itself, constitute evidence of abandonment,

child abuse, child neglect, delinquency, or other maltreatment of a

minor child unless the parent or guardian fails to take custody of

the minor child when a power of attorney expires. This act does not

prevent or delay an investigation of child abuse, child neglect,

abandonment, delinquency, or other mistreatment of a minor child.

(2) Executing a power of attorney does not subject a parent,

guardian, or person in a home in which a minor child is hosted

under this act to any law, rule, or regulation concerning licensing

or regulation of foster care or a child care organization.

Providing a service under this act does not subject a child placing

agency to regulation by the department.

Sec. 17. (1) A child placing agency shall maintain records for

each criminal history records check, home safety assessment, and

training it conducts under this act for a period of not less than 7

years after the minor child attains 18 years of age. The child

placing agency shall make the records available to any local,

state, or federal authority requesting the records as part of an

investigation involving the minor child, parent or guardian, or

person in a home in which a minor child is or was hosted according

to a power of attorney.

(2) The department is not liable for any action arising out of

this act.

(3) The department shall not promulgate rules under this act.

(4) The department, a local office of the department, or a law

enforcement agency or officer may refer cases or families to a tax-

exempt charitable organization that is recruiting persons and

families under this act. The services provided under this act are

community-based services that may be recommended or needed

commensurate with the risk to the child under section 8d(1)(b) and

Enacting section 1. This act takes effect 90 days after the

date it is enacted into law.

Enacting section 2. This act does not take effect unless all

of the following bills of the 99th Legislature are enacted into

law:

(a) Senate Bill No. 489.

(b) Senate Bill No. 490.