HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4723

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, April 26, 2022.

The committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities to whom was referred the petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 186) of Donald R. Berthiaume, Jr., relative to background checks for kinship foster care, reports recommending that the accompanying bill (House, No. 4723) ought to pass.

For the committee,

MICHAEL J. FINN.

        FILED ON: 4/22/2022

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4723

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act relating to background checks for kinship foster care.

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

SECTION 1. Section 26A of chapter 119 of the general laws, as appearing in the 2018 official edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following section after section (h):-

(i) the department shall screen potential grandparent care givers with a twenty-year maximum look back on the potential guardian’s record. This is applicable to any minor infraction that has not been repeated since the first infraction. Instances of felonies, violence, sexual offenses, including any offense included in m.g.l. c. 119, section 26A(f), no matter when it occurred, will not be removed from the look back.