S.B. 141 Child Welfare Amendments

What this bill does

This bill makes a set of technical changes to Utah's child welfare laws. It lets the Division of Child and Family Services share certain information with professional licensing, lets the division expand the list of relatives by rule, and requires notice to parties when certain court reports or plans are filed.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the sponsor’s presentation in committee and on the floor. Check the official text below.

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Every vote

• 5 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Health and Human Services Committee: vote to change the bill · Jan 26, 2026Who voted how
• 6 yes, 0 no, 1 absentSenate Health and Human Services Committee: vote to approve it · Jan 26, 2026Who voted how
• 25 yes, 0 no, 4 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 9, 2026Who voted how
• 24 yes, 0 no, 5 absentFinal Senate vote · Feb 10, 2026Who voted how
• 6 yes, 0 no, 5 absentHouse Judiciary Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 13, 2026Who voted how
• 70 yes, 0 no, 5 absentFinal House vote · Feb 19, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Jan 26, 2026 Senate Health and Human Services Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (10 turns)

  1. Unknown speaker1:15:49speaker not certain

     or we need to, you can clarify when we get here. Uh, substitute two, I think. Tell us where We're at. Correct. Substitute two. Yes. So would you like us to go ahead and adopt that and then speak to it? Yeah, that would be great. Yeah.

  2. Committee chair1:15:59

     Okay. So could I get a member committee to do us that favor?

  3. Sen. Keven J. Stratton1:16:02

     I'll move second. Substitute child welfare amendments. Okay. The motion forced is to adopt second substitute child welfare amendments.

  4. Committee chair1:16:10

     All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. The substitute is now before you, Senator Harper,

  5. Sen. Wayne A. Harper1:16:15

     Lemme go through the bill. Um, this is kind of an annual cleanup bill that I work with on the stakeholders to make sure that things are going well with the child, uh, welfare services, DCFS, uh, parental defense advocates and, and other parties. Uh, this bill goes through and clarifies, uh, the main, the main change in the second sub, that it has an agreed to modification regarding the best interest of the child and how parents and caseworkers follow that and agreed to change on the clarification definition of relative. So that's the difference between those two items are the difference between the original bill and the sub, uh, goes through and, and authorizes certain information that should be shared. It goes through and, and specifies, uh, that foster parents who have cared for child for 12 months or longer may request a case review, uh, make sure that things are on the right track. Um, one of the big things in here is, is the notification. So something's filed with the court, all parties are notified and we figured out with the division how to go through and make sure that notification happens. So every party has the information, uh, goes through and, and clarifies, uh, placement court objectives and has several other, uh, technical clean cleanups including, uh, shell shelter removal findings and post-adoption contract agreements. That's what the bill does.

  6. Committee chair1:17:45

     Okay. Thank you. Uh, and thank you for your work in this space. This is something that you've work, been working on in your career. I really appreciate it. Uh, any questions or comments from committee? Seeing none, we'll go to the public. Wanna speak to this bill? See none. Anybody online? Okay. Bring it back to committee for further action. Senator Bus.

  7. Sen. Emily Buss1:18:08

     I move that we recommend this bill favorably.

  8. Committee chair1:18:11

     Okay. The motion for us is to, uh, pass out favorably SB 1 41 second sub. You want us to speak to that motion from committee back to the bill sponsor? I'll waive and back to the maker of the motion waive. Okay. The motion for us is to pass out favorably SB 1 41. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. The bill passes a second substitute.

  9. Sen. Wayne A. Harper1:18:33speaker not certain

     Thank you very much. I think we're okay because that's the motion that I just wanna make sure.

  10. Committee chair1:18:38

      Okay.

• Feb 9, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (8 turns)

  1. Rep. Christine F. Watkins55:58

     Um, we've gotten to agreement on the provisions regarding best interest of the trial trial and how workers go through and clarify that and follow through on it. There are changes in definition of relatives which have been re requested and agreed to by the parties authorizes DCFS to share relevant information with, uh, professional licenses for limited and specified purposes. Um, goes through and, uh, specifies that parents who have cared for foster parents who have cared for a child for 12 months or longer may request case review if that has not happened and, uh, states that DCFS must notify every party when it files a court report or a child and family services plan so that everybody's notified of what's going on and, uh, tightens up some timeframes. So I think the best interest of the children will be met.

  2. Senate President (presiding)56:53

     Thank you for the presentation. Do we have discussion? Senator Harper to you

  3. Sen. Wayne A. Harper57:00

     Thank you. And move it. Second substitute Senate Bill 1 41. Be read for a third time.

  4. Senate President (presiding)57:04

     Thank you. And the question is, shall second substitute Senate Bill 1 41? Be read a third time roll call vote.

  5. Senate clerk57:10

     Senator Vickers Baldy Lewin Brammer Bus Comore Escamia Fillmore Aye. Grover Harper Aye. Hankins Aye. Ipson Johnson Quan McKay. Mikel Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher Lum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vicars Weiler Wilson Winterton.

  6. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)58:06

     President Adams Aye.

  7. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)58:09

     Second substitute Senate Bill 1 41, having received 25 yay votes, zero na votes.

  8. Sen. Michael K. McKell59:46speaker not certain

     Thank you Mr. President Senate Bill 60 is a very simple

• Feb 10, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (5 turns)

  1. Sen. Wayne A. Harper49:45

     Harper. Thank you. This is the annual cleanup bill with the DCFS and guardian ad litem. Everybody involved with it. It, uh, clarifies, uh, sharing of information by DCFS and limited circumstances. Uh, modifies the definition of relative, clarifies the timeline for certain rights for foster parents, uh, requires DCFS to notify all parties when they file, uh, documents with the court and then, uh, clarifies shelter removal and other findings within the bill.

  2. Presiding officer50:18

     Thank you for the presentation. I'm not seeing any discussion. I'm going to you for a motion.

  3. Sen. Wayne A. Harper50:25

     Thank you. I'd move that Second Substitute Senate bill 1 41 pass.

  4. President Adams (presiding)50:29

     Thank you. And the question is, shall second substitute Senate Bill one forty one pass. Roll call vote. Senator Vickers Baldy Lewin Brammer Bus Comore Escamilla Fillmore Grover Harper Aye. Kinins Ipson Johnson. Juab McKay. Mikel Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers Er Aye. Wilson Winterton. President Adams Aye. Second substitute Senate Bill 1 41. Having received 20 ERs, we call it again. Second substitute Senate bill 1 41. Having received now 24 yay votes zero Now vote day votes five being absent, passes this body and be sent to the house for their consideration.

  5. Presiding officer51:46

     Do we have a, uh, any standing committee reports? Okay, so why don't we go ahead, uh, looking for a rules committee announcement. Are we gonna have a rules committee?

• Feb 13, 2026 House Judiciary Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (12 turns)

  1. Committee chair41:29

     Are we good? Okay. And the first item on the agenda today is second substitute Senate Bill 1 41, child Welfare Amendments.

  2. Committee chair41:39

     Senator Harper, welcome to the committee.

  3. Sen. Wayne A. Harper41:43

     Thank you, appreciate, uh, being here. So, Senate Bill 1 41 is the, uh, um, what I call the annual cleanup bill. I meet with, uh, DCFS, guardian Ad Litem, attorney General, a lot of stakeholders, the, uh, parental defense advocates. And I say, what's working, what's not, what do we need to tweak? And this is a cleanup build. Um, with them, it, uh, clarifies the, uh, procedures to improve, uh, safety, transparency and, and timeliness in juvenile court cases, uh, under certain circumstances allows DCFS to share information with, uh, professional licensing. Um, and I appreciate, uh, representative Roxie's, uh, question, uh, down the lines. 1 55 through 1 64, where we take out brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepparent, first cousin. That's something that we put into code two or three years ago. And, uh, we have there in one 57th through 1 58. It goes through and talks about that. But what we've done in lines 1 61 through 1 64 is we've, ID we found out that the language that was in there prev, uh, currently is not broad enough. So this, um, authorizes the division to go through and by rule, expand out that definition. 'cause there are a lot of other people, we keep listing them in there. It's not as flexible as if we put it in, in the rule. Um, goes through and, and talks about, and this is really important to all parties when DCFS, uh, files a report or something with the court, then they, there's a simple process for them to go through, notify all parties so they know when anything relative to that case or a hearing has been updated, they can get immediate access to it. And I think overall this goes through and clarifies how workers are to operate and gives the, uh, the, uh, the pros, any prosecution or family defenders, better information on how to deal with, uh, with what's going on there. And that's kind of the summary of the bill.

  4. Committee chair43:58

     All right. We will come back to the committee for clarifying questions, or potential action representative, or, I'm sorry, discussion representative. Which one? Ox here.

  5. Unknown speaker44:14speaker not certain

     Um, and thank you, Senator. I had one more question we didn't have time for. Okay. Online. 500. Um, it's talking about making a finding on the record. I'm just wondering what that will help with, um, when a child is removed in an emergency situation and making that finding on the Record. Um, right now it says making a finding that is a technical clarification that says when you, when you make that finding, you just don't keep it in the fi folder. You have to go and submit it to the court as part of the case. So I believe it adds transparency and clarity to what's going on. Okay. Thank you. All right.

  6. Committee chair44:56

     Thank you Representative Ox. So you're seeing no other lights. We'll move to public comment. Is there anybody in the committee that would like to speak to this bill or in the room? Apologize. Okay. I see Tanya, if you wanna come forward. Anybody else? Okay. Is there anyone online? Alright, please proceed. We'll give you two minutes. Okay.

  7. Tonya Myrup, Director, Division of Child and Family Services45:16

     Good morning. Good Morning. My name is, I'm so sorry. It's On now. There you go. It's on. Good morning. My name is Tanya Meyer. I'm the Director for the division of the of Child and Family Services within the Department of Health and Human Services. We are here today just to speak in support of the bill. We appreciate the efforts of Senator Harper and the, um, changes here will enable us to better, um, make foster care placement decisions as well as the communication with Doppel in order to protect children and their safety. So, um, keeping it brief, we just support the bill and appreciate the efforts of Senator Harper.

  8. Committee chair45:56

     Awesome. Thank you. All right. We'll come back to the committee. We'll close public comment and come back to the Committee for action or further discussion. Representative Acton,

  9. Rep. Rob Bishop46:14speaker not certain

     I would like to make a motion that we, there are no subs or anything on this, right? Correct. So that we, um, favorably approve of this bill, which is, I'm sorry, I, I had it up here. And then I SB 1 41, SB 1 41. Child Welfare Amendments, I believe.

  10. Committee chair46:34

      Okay. The motion is to favorably recommend the second substitute of SB 1 41. Would you like to speak to that?

  11. Unknown speaker46:42speaker not certain

      No. I will waive thanks To the sponsor. Oh, I just thank the committee for reading the bill. That's a good thing.

  12. Committee chair46:50

      That's a good bill. Discussion to the motion. Seeing no lights. We'll do a roll call vote. Representative Abbott. Aye. Acton. Aye. Er Aye. Lube. Aye. Millard? Aye. Libe. Aye. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. We give that all under two minutes, including Tanya's comment. Good job committee. Thanks, Senator.

• Feb 19, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)28:35

     Let's go to Madam Reading Clerk

  2. Reading Clerk28:37

     Second substitute Senate Bill 1 41 Child Welfare Amendment Amendments by Senator Harper. This bill was heard in judiciary with the vote of 6 0 5. The House sponsors Representative Watkins, Representative Watkins.

  3. Rep. Christine F. Watkins28:52

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, the Child welfare amendments in this bill, Mr. Speaker, the changes relate changes, uh, makes changes related to DCFS and the child welfare process. It updates and clarifies several child welfare procedures to improve safety, transparency, and, uh, timelines in this system. It allows DCFS to share information with the division of Professional licensing. It expands the definition of relative. It clarifies foster parent rights after 12 months of placement, and it requires D-C-F-D-C-F-S to notify all parties when court reports, um, or child and family plans are filed. Overall, the bill aims to create more stable, uh, placements, better informed families, and stronger protection for children. That's my presentation, Mr. Speaker.

  4. Speaker (presiding)30:00

     Thank you, Representative Watkins. Uh, discussion to the bill being none. Back to Representative Watkins for summation.

  5. Rep. Christine F. Watkins30:10

     Thank you, Mr. Uh, speaker. This is really a good bill is fixing some things we needed to have fixed. Thank you.

  6. Speaker (presiding)30:16

     Thank you. Representative voting will now be open on second substitute s SP 41. 1 41, seeing all present, having voted. Voting is now closed. Second substitute SB 1 41 passes this body with 70 yes votes, zero. No votes will be sent or signed by the speaker sent to the Senate for the signature of the president. Madam Reading Clerk