The primary bill sponsors, Representatives Pugliese and Young, introduced Senate Bill 24-008 to the House Health and Human Services Committee. Beginning September 1, 2024, the bill creates several measures for kinship foster care homes, including:

• requiring permanency planning to not be delayed for purposes of maintaining financial support for a kinship foster care home or a non-certified kinship care foster home, except with court approval;

expanding emergency financial assistance for a kinship foster care home to include goods needed for the child’s basic care and limited rental or housing assistance, with a maximum subsidy duration of sixty days;

requiring the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) and the Judicial Department to collect data on the number of children placed with kin through a dependency and neglect case and make the data available on its website by January 30, 2025;

requiring courts to ensure that relatives and kin are informed about the types of kinship care and financial supports available before transferring temporary legal custody of the child;

requiring the CDHS to report on the availability of federal funds or other grant funding for legal services or legal representation of relative and kin caregivers by October 1, 2024; and

requiring the CDHS to work with other state departments to create an interagency resource guide to assist kinship in the certification process.The bill also establishes in statute the certification process for a kinship foster care home by a county department or child placement agency, including the process to obtain a provisional certification for six months. The bill also allows non-certified kinship care homes to be eligible for financial assistance at 50 percent of the foster care rate as established by the state, and requires the CDHS reimburse county departments for 90 percent (an increase from the current 80 percent) of the amounts expended for kinship foster care. The bill also exempts kinship foster care homes from certain certification standards and requirements and allows the CDHS to develop rules to modify the requirements for kinship foster care homes, including training topics for kinship foster care certification.

The committee took a recess.

The committee came back to order.

Jody Britton, representing Foster Source, testified in support of the bill.

Ms. Katie Hecker, representing the Office of the Child's Representative, testified in support of the bill.

Ms. Heather Allan, representing The Kempe Foundation, testified in support of the bill.

Benjamin Teevan, representing Fostering Colorado and Colorado Association of Family & Children’s Agencies, testified in support of the bill.

The witness panel responded to questions from the committee.

Katie First, representing Colorado Counties Inc, testified in support of the bill.

Mr. John Farnam, representing the Common Sense Institute, testified in support of the bill.

Ms. Korey Elger, representing the Colorado Department of Human Services, testified in support of the bill.

Mr. Jamison Lee, representing the Colorado Department of Human Services, was available to answer committee questions.

Dr. Lucinda Connelly, representing Raise The Future, testified in support of the bill.

Mr. Ian Mcmahon, representing Colorado Department of Human Services, was available to answer committee questions.

The witness panel responded to questions from the committee.

Additional written testimony was submitted to the committee (Attachment A).

The bill sponsors responded to questions about the amendment.

The primary bill sponsors, Representatives Pugliese and Young, provided closing comments on Senate Bill 24-008.

Members of the committee provided closing comments on the bill.