Sponsor Statement for HB 456

An Act Relating to Foster Parents; Relating to the Right of Foster Parents to Have Notice of, and Testify at, Child-in-Need-of-Aid Hearings and Delinquency Hearings and to the Disclosure of Minors' Records to Foster Parents; Relating to Children in Need of Aid; Amending Rules 3, 7, 10, 15, and 17 - 19, Alaska Child in Need of Aid Rules; and Amending Rules 3, 7, 10, 12, 21, 23, and 25, Alaska Delinquency Rules.

Foster parents often are an inordinately valuable resource to the State of Alaska case workers and judges in respect to the condition and best interests of a foster child in state custody. This bill requires that foster parents be allowed to be present and have a voice at all proceedings dealing with the disposition and treatment of the child.

Because these foster parents live with the child continually, and are often very experienced at dealing with troubled children, most foster parents are an excellent resource for the overworked case workers and the busy judges who must make important decisions concerning children with very little information.