The House Judiciary Committee heard SB 410 on kinship caregiver intervention, sponsored by Reps. Pressel and Jordan and authored by Sen. Bohacek. The legislation created a definition for “kinship caregiver” and permitted a kinship caregiver to petition to intervene in a CHINS or TPR proceeding. An amendment prepared by the Department of Child Services (DCS) was introduced to change … [Read more...] about Kinship caregiver intervention
Juvenile
Juvenile law matters
The Senate Family and Children Services Committee heard HB 1359 sponsored by Sen. Crider on juvenile law matters. This bill: provides that the commission on improving the status of children in Indiana shall create a statewide juvenile justice oversight body to do the following:Develop a plan to collect and report statewide juvenile justice data.Establish procedures and pol … [Read more...] about Juvenile law matters
Various Department of Child Services changes
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard HB 1363 concerning various Department of Child Services (DCS) changes sponsored by Sens. Walker and Koch. Rep. Young presented the bill, which removes the filing requirement for a verified parental participation petition before the juvenile court can proceed to disposition, makes certain changes regarding DCS changing a child's out-of-home … [Read more...] about Various Department of Child Services changes
Court procedures
The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard SB 182 on court procedures sponsored by Rep. J. Young and authored by Sen. Freeman. The bill makes clarifying changes to the expungement statutes and provides for automatic expungement by the court of certain records. Testimony in support of the bill was heard from the Indiana Public Defender Council. The bill passed … [Read more...] about Court procedures
Youth offender boot camps and inmate calling services
The Senate Family and Children Services Committee heard HB 1181 sponsored by Sen. Ford and authored by Rep. DeVon regarding youth offender boot camps and inmate calling services. Sen. Ford presented the bill, which eliminates from statute the DOC’s youthful offender boot camp program and applies rate caps to inmate calling services at state and county correctional facilities. The … [Read more...] about Youth offender boot camps and inmate calling services