2025 Child Welfare Legislative Highlights: How States Are Strengthening Families, Transforming Systems
Health & Family Strengthening
Good health—including physical and mental health—provides the foundation for babies to develop physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially, and parental health is a key foundation for infants’ and toddlers’ health. Access to health care, insurance coverage, economic and concrete supports, and services to treat mental and physical health needs for the entire family is important to promoting optimal infant development and preventing child welfare involvement.
HB 1427 created the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act, which improves coverage and care for pregnant women by:
- Establishing Medicaid reimbursement for certain services by doulas and community health workers.
- Establishing Medicaid reimbursement for depression screening of pregnant women.
- Providing presumptive eligibility for pregnant women and establishing coverage for pregnancy care such as self blood pressure monitoring and medically necessary remote ultrasound procedures.
HB 334 established a workgroup on universal newborn nurse home visiting services to identify service gaps and workforce needs.
SB 42 set up new provisions for plans of safe care and care coordination for infants born exposed to substances. The bill also requires the Children, Youth, and Families Department to create a strategic plan and provide prevention services according to Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA).
SB 690 implemented provisions to delay evictions for families with infants under 12 months old who are also Oregon Health Plan members and receiving housing support due to health-related social needs. The bill also directs the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department to prioritize families with infants in their housing programs and requires annual reports on unsheltered homelessness among children.
Early Childhood Attachment
Strong bonds with parents and caregivers set babies and toddlers up for healthy lifelong learning and development. When these relationships are disrupted such as when a child is removed from a home due to abuse or neglect, babies may experience stress, trauma, and emotional distress. Efforts to bolster relationships with key adults and minimize separation can support healthy infant and early childhood mental health.
SCR 9 established a fatherhood engagement task force to study how Louisiana can increase the engagement of fathers in the lives of their children beginning during the prenatal period, to research best practices, and to develop recommendations for each state agency to promote the full inclusion of fathers and the involvement of fathers in the lives of their children. The bill cites the role fathers play in contributing to children’s “improved social, emotional, cognitive, and language development.”
HB 96 increased funding to expand the state’s Fatherhood Commission, which identifies and promotes strategies to develop and strengthen families and healthy relationships between Ohio fathers and their children. This bill also increased Early Intervention funding, which is an important service to promote early childhood development.
SB 177 specified that juvenile courts will “hear relevant evidence regarding the harm the child has suffered or will suffer due to the separation or continued separation from the child’s parent or guardian” – ensuring that courts consider and document the impact of disrupted attachment during dependency cases.
Ohio House Bill 96 provides important increases in funding to certain early childhood programs, including the Fatherhood Commission, that offers greater opportunities to expand education and access of infant/early childhood mental health support for parents, caregivers, and young children in our state. There is more work to be done to educate our policymakers on the full spectrum of IECMH needs, including not just Promotion and Prevention (where our state excels), but also Assessment and Treatment. By doing so, our state will be better equipped to support a full spectrum of attachment and early relational health needs.
Kinship Care
HB 989 required the state to adopt rules to streamline the licensure application process for a licensed foster parent who relocates within the state to reduce administrative hurdles, granting licensees greater freedom of mobility within the state to pursue new job and lifestyle opportunities without starting the family foster home licensing process all over again. These rules must include, but are not limited to, rules concerning priority review of applications, expedited home studies and background checks, and recognition of prior foster parent training coursework. Effectively, the bill establishes license reciprocity across the Department of Children and Families’ designated service regions.
HB 4781 implemented the Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act, which creates the statutory vision and authority for the Department of Children and Family Services to execute a kin-first approach to service delivery and directs the juvenile courts to provide necessary oversight of the Department’s obligations to maintain family connections and promote equitable opportunities for youth and families to thrive with relational permanence. The bill requires specified efforts to place children with a relative, requires documentation of reasons for failing to do so, and provides foster care maintenance payments for relatives who qualify for certification as a kinship caregiver home.
HB 1387 revised the definition of kinship care to include fictive kin (e.g., godparents, friends of family) and also brings kinship care payments to 100% of foster care payment rates.
Parent Partners
Parent peer support can help parents navigate the stressors of parenthood. Particularly for those who are involved in the child welfare system, peer partners can help parents understand complex legal rules, access and understand available services, and feel less isolated and confused by this process. Peer support can increase parent engagement, including greater involvement in planning and decision-making in their child’s welfare case, which can lead to better outcomes for children. Broader efforts to integrate parent voice and leadership into the early childhood system can also improve service delivery and design of programs to better meet the needs of families.
HB 237 established and funded peer-to-peer support programs for families with children from birth to age 5 with appropriations to fund several new positions. These are not specific to child welfare-involved families but can bolster support for families of young children, promoting health and strengthening families.
SB 5199 established the Department of Children, Youth, and Families Oversight Board with direct lived experience and specified that those with lived experience can be compensated according to law.
HB 2880 added parent resource navigators as part of multidisciplinary treatment teams for child abuse and neglect cases.
Strengthening the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) at the State Level
ICWA sets minimum federal standards for child custody cases involving Native children, prioritizing their best interests and strengthening family and tribal stability by mandating efforts to keep families intact, prioritizing out-of-home placements within their family and community, and ensuring the child’s tribal nation and family are fully informed and involved in state court proceedings. While ICWA is federal law, states can strengthen policies by going above and beyond in state law.
HB 1204 codified the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 into state law as the “Colorado Indian Child welfare Act” and provides additional protections to ensure compliance, address legal loopholes, and reinforce best practices to make certain that Native children remain connected to their cultural roots, which can have long-term benefits for their emotional and psychological well-being.
HB 1564 made changes to the state Indian child welfare code to strengthen state ICWA and tribal rights, including clarifying definitions for active efforts, reinforcing requirements for active efforts by requiring they are demonstrated before any involuntary removal of Native children, and removing certain administrative barriers that caused delays in proceedings.
State efforts to clarify federal ICWA protections in the context of their specific child welfare system and court processes are invaluable. Further, many state ICWA laws expand protections beyond federal minimum requirements, consistent with the spirit of ICWA as a restorative policy. These efforts provide the opportunity for Native children to maintain their sense of identity as well as family and community relationships and experience their cultures’ teachings and practices to help them heal and grow up healthy.
Mandatory Reporting
State laws around mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect vary widely, but recent national discourse has called into question the impacts of overreporting that may result from lack of clarity around reporting requirements. Some states are looking at their mandatory reporting processes to minimize trauma and removals in favor of looking for solutions to increase access to resources that help communities and families thrive and stay together when children can safely remain the home.
SB 119 changed the mandated reporter law to remove certain roles and require a standardized curriculum for training; created the Mandated Reporting Advisory Committee to ensure the state’s effort to transform mandated reporting to community supporting continues; and required county FFPSA plans to include providing information for mandated reporters on resources available to families in their communities.
HB 1188 revised mandatory reporting provisions to reduce reports not based on child safety – for example, specifying that reporters cannot report due to family demographics or solely due to inadequate housing, furnishings, income, or clothing. Among other provisions, the bill also states that reporters cannot delegate someone else to submit a report and removes victim’s advocates from the list of professions required to report.
Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect
State definitions of child abuse and neglect affect the reasons and frequency at which families are reported and children are removed. States define what triggers a notification or report, leading to a range of consequences for families without necessarily addressing the root causes of why a family enters the child welfare system. Some states are clarifying their definitions to focus on serious, intentional harm rather than punishing families for struggling with conditions where they would benefit from services and supports rather than separation.
HB 2907 established the Child Welfare Disclosure to Parents Act, which included the right of parents involved in the Illinois child welfare system to not have financial means considered as a basis for removal or reunification with the child.
LD 1406 clarified that failing to provide food, clothing or other necessities to one’s child is only neglect if “that person is financially able” to do so or “is offered reasonable financial means” to do so but refuses.
SB 18 clarified that substance use by a parent or guardian, a child’s obesity, disorderly living conditions, or other factors closely related to economic status, do not alone constitute “physical or psychological harm to a child.”
SB 560 clarified that parent/guardian economic disadvantage alone is not a ground for termination of parental rights, and specified abuse and neglect terms do not include failure to meet a child’s needs solely due to financial hardship unless reasonable material resources have been offered and refused.
Safe Babies Highlight
Safe Babies, a program of ZERO TO THREE™, supports states and communities in building a more coordinated and aligned early childhood system based on the Safe Babies approach. The Safe Babies approach works concurrently at the child and family level, community level, and state level to promote healthy early childhood development while impacting long-term capacity building. The goal is to keep families together by igniting collective action to meet the urgent needs of babies, toddlers, and their families. While the Safe Babies approach is anchored in the court system, it is also an entry point for cross-system collaboration to effectively serve families across multiple areas of need.
Washington SB 5149 expanded the Early Childhood Court Program to enroll families with children under the age of 6 (e.g., through 5 years old).
Expanding the age of Early Childhood Courts is vital to ensure more families can access coordinated services, resources and overall support, just like I did. From the start, my ECC coordinator, Julie, helped me navigate the court and connect me to services on concrete goods for my kids. To this day, I am still checked in with [my ECC coordinator] Julie and the helpful team. I have gotten this far because of ECC and the overall wraparound support they have brought to my family. I want to ensure future families in the system have the same opportunity I did.
Connect with us to create stronger, healthier families in your state.
The Safe Babies Policy Team provides research, tools and tailored support for state policy efforts that can strengthen families facing challenges like poverty, housing instability, substance use and mental health concerns.
