Assigned to TTMC AS PASSED BY COW
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1458
congregate care; dependent children; procedures
Purpose
Establishes procedures and processes before a dependent child who is under 12 years old
may be placed, or continue to be placed, in a congregate care setting and modifies reporting
requirements.
Background
The Department of Child Safety (DCS) must make available program and outcomes data
in a downloadable format that is conducive to analysis on its website on a semiannual basis that
includes the number and percentage of children who are in the care, custody and control of DCS
at the end of the reporting period and in out-of-home placement, as categorized by: 1) age;
2) ethnicity; 3) case plan goal; 4) type of out-of-home placement, categorized by age; 5) the length
of time in out-of-home placement of less than 30 days, 31 days to 12 consecutive months, 12 to
24 consecutive months and more than 24 consecutive months, including the median, average and
range of the number of out-of-home placements; and 6) primary legal status, including voluntary
placement for a child under 18 years old, voluntary placement for a child over 18 years old,
temporary custody, free for adoption, adjudicated dependent, dually adjudicated or any other legal
status (A.R.S. § 8-526).
If a child is taken into temporary custody, as part of the ongoing search for relatives, DCS
must use due diligence in an initial search to identify and notify adult relatives of the child and
persons with a significant relationship with the child within 30 days after the child is taken into
temporary custody (A.R.S. § 8-514.07).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this
legislation.
Provisions
Prior to Placement in a Congregate Care Setting
1. Prohibits a shortage or lack of foster homes from being a reason for determining that the needs
of a child cannot be met in a foster home.
2. Allows a dependent child who is under 12 years old to be placed in a congregate care setting
only with the prior written approval of:
a) the Director of DCS (Director); or
b) if the Director is absent, a designee who reports to the Director and does not have authority
over the placement of children. FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1458
Page 2
3. Requires the written approval of the Director, or the Director's designee, to document that the
placement is required for:
a) placing the child with the child's siblings or a parent who has been adjudicated the
dependent child;
b) addressing the child's documented exceptional needs, which can only be met by a
specifically identified congregate care provider; or
c) completing an evaluation of the child's placement needs.
4. Requires DCS, before seeking the Director's or the designee's approval for a congregate care
placement, to:
a) initiate efforts to identify adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship with the
child for possible placement;
b) assemble a family and permanency team for the child;
c) engage the child, if developmentally appropriate, the child's attorney, if one has been
appointed, and members of the family and permanency team in making a placement
recommendation;
d) conduct a preplacement visit to the congregate care setting, unless impracticable; and
e) document the family and permanency team's placement recommendations, including any
alternatives considered.
5. Requires a family and permanency team to consist of:
a) the child, if developmentally appropriate;
b) appropriate biological family members, adult relatives and persons with a significant
relationship to the child; and
c) the child's attorney, if one has been appointed, and other appropriate professionals,
including medical or mental health providers, teachers or clergy.
6. Allows DCS to use previously established teams to support the child and the child's family as
the child's family and permanency team.
7. Stipulates that if the child's needs cannot be met in a foster home or through placement with
adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship to the child, the child and the child's
permanency team must determine which setting will provide the most effective and appropriate
level of care in the least restrictive environment.
8. Requires the Director, or the designee, to review the child's family and permanency team's
placement recommendation before approving or disapproving the child's placement in a
congregate care setting.
9. Requires a preplacement visit to a congregate care setting to include the child, if
developmentally appropriate, the child's attorney, if one has been appointed, and members of
the child's family and permanency team.
Continued Placement in a Congregate Care Setting (Placement)
10. Requires a qualified individual, within 30 days after placement, towork with the child and the
child's attorney, family and permanency team to:
a) assess the child's strengths and needs using an age-appropriate, evidence-based, validated
and functional assessment tool;
b) develop a list of child-specific short-term and long-term behavioral health goals; FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1458
Page 3
c) determine whether the needs of the child can be met in a foster home or through placement
with adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship to the child.
11. Requires the qualified individual, if it is determined that the child should not be placed in a
foster home or with an adult relative or a person with a significant relationship, to specify:
a) the reasons why the needs of the child cannot be met; and
b) why the placement in a congregate care setting will provide the child with the most
effective and appropriate level of care in the least restrictive environment and how it is
consistent with the child's short-term and long-term goals.
12. Requires DCS, within 30 days after placement, to document the child's case plan, including:
a) evidence of DCS's ongoing efforts to identify potential placement with an adult relative or
other persons with a significant relationship to the child;
b) DCS's reasonable and good faith efforts to identify and include individuals on the child's
team and in the child's family and permanency team;
c) any evidence demonstrating that the parents the child was removed from provided input on
the members of the child's family and permanency team;
d) contact information for the child's family and permanency team and other adult family
members and adults with a significant relationship to the child outside of the child's team;
e) evidence that meetings with the child's family and permanency team, including assessment
meetings, are held at a time and place that is convenient for the child's family;
f) evidence that the assessment was conducted with the child's family and permanency team;
g) information regarding the placement preferences of the child's family and permanency
team, which must recognize a preference for a placement with the child's siblings unless
that placement is contrary to the child's best interests; and
h) reasons why the preferences of the child and the child's family and permanency team were
not recommended if those preferences are not recommended by the qualified individual.
13. Requires the court, within 60 days after placement, to conduct a hearing to:
a) consider the qualified individua's assessment, determination and documentation;
b) determine whether the needs of the child can be met in a foster home or through placement
with adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship to the child;
c) determine whether the child's placement in a congregate care setting provides a more
effective and appropriate level of care for the child in the least restrictive environment and
is consistent with the child's short-term and long-term goals; and
d) approve or disapprove the continued congregate care placement.
14. Requires DCS, at each status review and permanency hearing after placement, to submit the
following to the court:
a) evidence of ongoing assessments that continue to show the child's needs cannot be met in
a foster home or through placement with an adult relative or a person with a significant
relationship to the child;
b) evidence that placement continues to be the most effective and appropriate level of care for
the child in the least restrictive environment and is consistent with the child's short-term
and long-term goals;
c) documentation of the child's specific treatment or service needs being addressed in the
congregate care placement and the length of time the child is expected to require the
treatment or service; and FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1458
Page 4
d) documentation of DCS's efforts to prepare the child to return home or be placed with an
adult relative, a person with a significant relationship to the child, a foster family, a legal
guardian or an adoptive parent.
15. Requires the court, at each status review and permanency hearing held after placement, to:
a) consider the evidence and documentation provided by DCS;
b) make a finding as to whether the needs of the child can be met in a foster home or through
placement with adult relatives or persons with a significant relationship to the child;
c) determine whether the continued placement provides the most effective and appropriate
level of care for the child in the least restrictive environment and is consistent with the
child's short-term and long-term goals; and
d) approve or disapprove the child's continued congregate care placement.
16. Requires DCS, if a child is placed in a congregate care setting for more than six consecutive
or nonconsecutive months, to submit a report to the court every 30 days consisting of:
a) updated evidence and documentation; and
b) a request from the Director, or designee, for court approval of the continued placement of
the child in the child's current congregate care placement.
17. Requires the court, on receipt of the report, to:
a) consider the evidence and documentation submitted by DCS;
b) determine whether the continued placement is consistent with the child's short-term and
long-term goals and provides the most effective and appropriate level of care for the child
in the least restrictive environment; and
c) approve the child's continued congregate care placement or set a hearing to further consider
the child's placement.
18. Allows DCS to vacate the hearing, as prescribed, if the child is removed from congregate care
and placed with an adult relative or a person with a significant relationship to the child within
60 days of placement.
Miscellaneous
19. Adds, to the information that DCS must report and make available online, the number and
percentage of dependent children who are under 12 years old and experienced a congregate
care placement during the current reporting period and as categorized by:
a) age;
b) ethnicity;
c) sex;
d) type of congregate care placement;
e) reason for congregate care placement;
f) length of time in congregate care placement of less than 30 days, 31 days to 12 consecutive
months, 12 to 24 consecutive months and more than 24 consecutive months, including the
median, average and range of the number of out-of-home placements;
g) the number of Director or designee approvals sought and received for placement in
congregate care; and
h) the number of court approvals sought and received for placement in congregate care. FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1458
Page 5
20. Expands the reported the number and percentages of children who are in DCS care, custody
and control at the end of the reporting period and who are in out-of-home placement
information to include:
a) as categorized by sex; and
b) as categorized by ethnicity, for the type of out-of-home placement categorization.
21. Defines child as a dependent child who is under 12 years old.
22. Defines congregate care as a facility that is operated by a child welfare agency, licensed by
DCS, to provide 24-hour group care to unrelated children, including shelter care facilities
intended to provide short-term care for children and residential group care facilities that are
intended to provide care for children for longer periods of time, excluding a qualified
residential treatment program.
23. Defines a qualified residential treatment program as a qualified residential treatment program
that serves children with specific treatment needs who need short-term out-of-home placement
and that qualifies for funding under the Family First Prevention Services Act.
24. Defines a qualified individual as an objective licensed mental health professional who has at
least two years' experience working with dependent children, is not an employee of DCS and
is not affiliated with any placement setting in which children are placed by DCS.
25. Makes conforming changes.
26. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole
1. Adds a designee of the Director as an alternative to the Director.
2. Allows, if the Director is absent, a designee who reports to the Director and does not have
authority over the placement of children to provide the written approval required before a child
may be placed in a congregate care setting.
3. Specifies that a child's permanency team includes the child's attorney if an attorney has been
appointed.
4. Requires DCS to categorize by sex, rather than gender, when reporting the number and
percentage of dependent children who are under 12 years old and have experienced congregate
care placement or are in out-of-home placement.
Senate Action
TTMC 2/12/24 DP 5-2-0
Prepared by Senate Research
March 26, 2024
KJA/EB/cs/slp