2025 bills / H.B. 283
H.B. 283 Child and Family Services Amendments (2025)
- Introduced
- House committee
- House vote
- Senate committee
- Senate vote
- Signed into law
What this bill does
The bill would bar the state Division of Child and Family Services from hiding certain information from a foster child's parent, guardian, or custodian, from changing or creating the division's records in certain ways without written consent, and from starting certain medical treatment for a child in its custody. It would also bar placing a child with a foster parent, or punishing one, because the foster parent is uncomfortable caring for the child, and it would prevent a parent's approval or disapproval of a child's sexual orientation alone from being used to remove the child or to decide custody in a divorce or other family case or to deny reunification services.
Plain-English summary written by AI from the official description. Check the official text below.
Official description
- defines terms
- addresses bedroom sharing by foster children
- prohibits the Division of Child and Family Services (division) from:
- withholding certain information from a child's parent, guardian, or custodian
- creating or changing division records in certain ways without written consent from the child's parent, guardian, or custodian
- initiating certain medical treatment or care on behalf of a child in the division's custody
- placing a child with a foster parent or taking adverse action against a foster parent if the foster parent expresses discomfort with caring for a child
- allows the division to share certain records concerning a child with an adoptive parent of the child or an individual who has been awarded permanent custody and guardianship of the child
- provides that a parent's approval or disapproval of a child's sexual orientation, in itself, may not be the basis for:
- removal of the child from the parent's custody; or
- discrimination when a court is determining child custody as part of a divorce or other family law proceeding
- provides that a juvenile court may not determine that reunification services should not be provided based solely on a parent's agreement or disagreement with the child's sexual orientation or gender identity
- makes technical and conforming changes
Your legislators on this bill
Enter your address to see what your own representative and senator did on this bill.
Take action
This bill's session is over, but your legislators still want to hear from you. Ideas that died often come back next year.
Enter your address to get your legislators' contact information and a ready-to-send message about this bill.
Every vote
- 11 yes, 0 no, 3 absentHouse Health and Human Services Committee: vote to approve it · 2/10/2025 3:49 PMWho voted how
- 11 yes, 0 no, 3 absentHouse Health and Human Services Committee: Consent Calendar Recommendation · 2/10/2025 3:50 PMWho voted how
- 69 yes, 0 no, 6 absentFinal House vote · 2/13/2025 10:44 AMWho voted how
- 4 yes, 0 no, 3 absentSenate Health and Human Services Committee: vote to approve it · 2/20/2025 4:27 PMWho voted how
- 25 yes, 0 no, 4 absentFinal Senate vote · 3/7/2025 8:48 PMWho voted how