Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Section 23 of chapter 119 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the first paragraph the following four paragraphs:-

Whenever a child is placed in a foster home, or is transferred from one foster home to another, or from a state facility for the care of children to a foster home, a completed child profile form shall precede or accompany the child to the foster home.

In the case of an emergency placement, such child profile form shall be received by the foster parents from the department, the department of youth services, the department of mental health, other departments of the commonwealth responsible for the placement of foster children, or placement agency within ten days of the child's placement in the foster home. At the time of an emergency placement, the department, the department of youth services, the department of mental health, other departments of the commonwealth responsible for the placement of foster children, or placement agency shall provide to the foster parents, in verbal or written form, a brief statement describing the child's outstanding problem behaviors and mental and emotional problems.

The department shall develop a child profile form which shall be used by all other departments of the commonwealth or placement agencies and which shall contain the child profile and any other relevant information necessary to the care, well-being, protection, and parenting of the child by the foster parents. Said child profile shall contain, but not be limited to, a history of the child's previous placements and reasons for placement changes; a history of the child's problem behaviors and mental and emotional problems; educational status and school related problem behaviors, and any other psychological, educational, medical, and health information necessary.

The child profile form shall immediately be prepared by the department of the commonwealth which is granted care and custody of the child at the time such care and custody is granted.