The Georgia Senate voted Tuesday to allow military service members or struggling parents to bypass the state’s foster care system and give temporary custody of their children to families or friends.
Senate Bill 3 will likely face changes in the House, which has been skeptical of similar efforts — including a failed push by the Senate last year to largely privatize Georgia's child welfare system.
Senate Health and Human Services Chairwoman Renee Unterman, R-Buford, has pitched SB 3 as an extension of a law she championed in 2008 allowing grandparents to take custody of their grandchildren. She has acknowledged it could be considered a small step toward privatization but said Tuesday that her priority was to give stability to children in otherwise disruptive situations.
SB 3 would allow a temporary custodial arrangement for up to a year as the parent completes deployment or gets back on his or her feet. The pairing between parent and friend would not be handled by the Division of Family and Children Services, which controls Georgia’s foster care system.
Instead, it would be made through faith-based groups or nonprofit organizations trained in crisis intervention.
The arrangement could be cut short at the request of a participating parent. It would also be disallowed if DFCS is investigating a situation involving the parent or child.
“You don’t have to load up the kids in the station wagon and take them to the courthouse — that’s very traumatic in a child’s life,” Unterman said of the arrangements allowed under what she has dubbed the Supporting and Strengthening Families Act. The bill, she said, could help children stay with their friends, in the same school or same health care system.
Some legal experts, however, have questioned whether the bill could jeopardize the rights of parents who have visitation rights but don’t have full custody of their children.
“If someone wanted to, they could manipulate this for child custody issues,” said Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Tucker.
One likely change to the bill would require background checks for the friends or family who take temporary custody of a child, something Unterman said she would support.
The bill passed on a 43-10 vote and now goes to the House for consideration.
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