Bill Text: MI SB0488 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Children; other; parent or guardian to delegate care of minor child via power of attorney under the safe families program; clarify. Amends 1973 PA 116 (MCL 722.111 - 722.128) by adding sec. 4a. TIE BAR WITH: SB 0489'17, SB 0490'17, SB 0491'17
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-06-22 - Referred To Committee On Oversight [SB0488 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2017-SB0488-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 488
June 22, 2017, Introduced by Senators MACGREGOR, GREGORY, MEEKHOF, BRANDENBURG, MARLEAU and O'BRIEN and referred to the Committee on Oversight.
A bill to amend 1973 PA 116, entitled
"An act to provide for the protection of children through the
licensing and regulation of child care organizations; to provide
for the establishment of standards of care for child care
organizations; to prescribe powers and duties of certain
departments of this state and adoption facilitators; to provide
penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,"
(MCL 722.111 to 722.128) by adding section 4a.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 4a. (1) By a properly executed power of attorney, a
parent or guardian of a minor child may, under this section,
delegate to another person, who has undergone the criminal history
check and criminal records check, home safety assessment and
inspection, and required training under subsections (4), (5), and
(6), for a period of 180 days any of the parent's or guardian's
powers regarding care, custody, or property of the minor child,
except the power to consent to marriage or adoption of the minor
child, consent to an abortion or inducement of an abortion to be
performed on or for the minor child, or to terminate parental
rights to the minor child. A parent or guardian may renew a power
of attorney under this subsection for an additional 180 days. If a
parent or guardian is serving in the Armed Forces of the United
States and is deployed to a foreign nation, a power of attorney
under this subsection may be effective until the thirty-first day
after the end of the deployment.
(2) The parent or guardian executing or renewing a power of
attorney under this section may revoke or withdraw the power of
attorney or renewal at any time.
(3) A tax-exempt charitable organization, including, but not
limited to, a church or child placing agency, may recruit a person
to whom temporary power of attorney may be executed under this
section. A child placing agency must provide a criminal history
check, a criminal records check, a home safety assessment, and
training for a person as provided under subsections (4), (5), and
(6).
(4) For each person over 18 years of age residing in a home
where a minor child may be temporarily hosted according to a power
of attorney under this section, a criminal history check and
criminal records check must be conducted as follows:
(a) A child placing agency shall request the department of
state police to perform both of the following:
(i) Conduct a criminal history check on the person.
(ii) Conduct a criminal records check through the Federal
Bureau of Investigation on the person.
(b) Each person must give written consent for the department
of state police to conduct a criminal history check and a criminal
records check under this subsection. Each person must submit his or
her fingerprints to the department of state police for the criminal
history check and criminal records check required under this
section.
(c) A child placing agency shall request an additional
criminal history check and criminal records check required under
subdivision (a) for each person over 18 years of age residing in
the home every 2 years while the home is hosting or is available to
host a minor child according to a power of attorney under this
section.
(d) In addition to the criminal history check and criminal
records check required in subdivisions (a) and (c), a child placing
agency shall request a criminal history check using the department
of state police's internet criminal history access tool (ICHAT) for
each person over 18 years of age residing in a home that is
available to host a minor child according to a power of attorney
under this section.
(e) When a home is hosting or is available to host a minor
child according to a power of attorney under this section, each
person residing in that home for whom a criminal history check or
criminal records check has been conducted under subdivision (a)
must report to a child placing agency within 3 business days after
he or she has been arraigned for 1 or more of the crimes listed in
section 5f(7).
(f) If a person residing in a home in which a minor child is
or is proposed to be hosted according to a power of attorney under
this section is not of good moral character as that term is defined
in and determined under 1974 PA 381, MCL 338.41 to 338.47, a minor
child shall not be hosted in that home under this section.
(5) A child placing agency shall conduct a home safety
assessment and inspection as follows:
(a) A child placing agency shall conduct a home safety
assessment for each home where a minor child may be temporarily
hosted according to a power of attorney under this section. The
home safety assessment shall include an inspection of the physical
dwelling, assessment of the family's financial ability to provide
care for the minor child, and assessment of the family's ability
and capacity to provide care for the minor child. As part of the
home safety assessment, the child placing agency shall obtain 3
current references from persons not related to the family.
(b) A child placing agency shall conduct a home safety
assessment every 2 years while a home is hosting or is available to
host a minor child according to a power of attorney under this
section.
(c) A child placing agency shall conduct periodic inspections
of a home that is hosting a minor child under this section to
monitor the well-being of the minor child and any changes impacting
the most recent home safety assessment. The child placing agency
shall conduct this inspection within 48 hours after a minor child
is hosted in a home, 1 day per week for the first month during
which a minor child is hosted in the home, and 1 day per month
after that for the duration of the period of time that the minor
child is being hosted in the home.
(d) A child placing agency's home safety assessment and
inspection under subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) must result in a
determination that a home is safe for a minor child before the home
may host a minor child under this section.
(6) Before a minor child is hosted in a home according to a
power of attorney under this section, a child placing agency shall
provide training for the persons in that home. The training must be
based on a national model for preparing, developing, training, and
supporting resource families for the temporary care of minor
children and shall include training on identifying child
maltreatment, understanding grief and loss, behavior management
strategies, environmental safety and universal precautions, and
unique child-specific needs-based training.
(7) A person to whom power related to a minor child is
delegated according to a power of attorney under this section shall
not be compensated for serving as the temporary attorney-in-fact.
This subsection does not prohibit an individual, private
organization, or governmental entity from providing funds to a
child placing agency for providing services under this section.
(8) Executing of a power of attorney under this section does
not, by itself, constitute evidence of abandonment, child abuse,
child neglect, delinquency, or other maltreatment of a minor child
unless the parent or guardian fails to take custody of the minor
child when a power of attorney or renewed power of attorney expires
under this section. This section does not prevent or delay an
investigation of child abuse, child neglect, abandonment,
delinquency, or other mistreatment of a minor child.
(9) Executing of a power of attorney under this section does
not subject a parent, guardian, or person in a home in which a
minor child is hosted under this section to any law, rule, or
regulation concerning licensing or regulation of foster care or a
child care organization.
(10) A child placing agency shall maintain records for each
criminal history check, criminal records check, home safety
assessment, and training it conducts under subsections (4), (5),
and (6) for a period of not less than 7 years after the minor child
attains 18 years of age. The child placing agency shall make the
records available to any local, state, or federal authority
requesting the records as part of an investigation involving the
minor child, parent or guardian, or person in a home in which a
minor child is hosted according to a power of attorney under this
section.
(11) The department is not liable for any action arising out
of this section.
(12) The department shall not promulgate rules under this
section.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.
Enacting section 2. This amendatory act does not take effect
unless all of the following bills of the 99th Legislature are
enacted into law:
(a) Senate Bill No. 490.
(b) Senate Bill No. 491.
(c) Senate Bill No. 489.
