Staff Analysis of the Legislation
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SB 335 amends three separate sections of the OCGA. In Article 1 of Chapter 3 of Title 12, the bill grants foster children and their parents’ free admission into state parks. The bill amends Chapter 11 of Title 15 to assign the Supreme Court of Georgia instead of the Judicial Council of Georgia the responsibility of creating state-wide minimum standards and rules regarding the collection of data on alleged delinquent children. In addition, each juvenile court clerk is required to submit any data such as statutory deadlines pertaining to foster care children. Dependency and termination of parental rights (TPR) cases are to be prioritized over all other civil and criminal hearings with an exception to jury trials. In Chapter 5 of Title 49, the bill authorizes the Department of Human Services to contract or partner with child-placing agencies and to determine the number of training hours required by foster parents based on the foster parents’ experience, the foster child’s needs, and the type of care provided by the foster parents. |
