INDIANAPOLIS — A bill aimed at addressing how long abused and neglected children spend in our state’s child welfare system has passed out of committee.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 10-2 Monday to advance House Bill 1605—legislation filed by Rep. Julie McGuire that aims to reduce the amount of time children remain in foster care by creating stricter timelines for biological parents who aren’t complying with court orders.
The bill will now head to the full Indiana House of Representatives for consideration.
The legislation would allow foster parents to file for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR), an action the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) can also take.
Rep. Maureen Bauer, D-South Bend, and Rep. Alex Zimmerman, R-North Vernon, both voted no on HB1605.
“Quite frankly, this bill wouldn’t be necessary if DCS would do their job,” said Zimmerman during a hearing on February 3. “The part that gives me heartburn is allowing third parties to file TPRs when DCS should be doing it anyway.”
Zimmerman pointed out Monday that another piece of legislation, HB1273, would create a child welfare task force.
“I think a lot of these issues could be studied in that task force,” said Zimmerman. “For those reasons, I’m a no.”
"The intervenor language - in the termination of parental rights process -particularly as it applies to foster parents, raises significant concerns," said Rep. Bauer in a statement to WRTV. "The current system isn’t designed to elevate foster parents to the same status as legal parties in these proceedings. While foster parents do have the opportunity to testify as witnesses, creating a formal right of action for them to adopt a child introduces a major shift in the termination process—one that could undermine the primary goal of reunification with a safe and stable home."
Bauer said the issue should be studied further.
Rep. McGuire, author of HB1605, said Indiana ranks 9th worst in the country when it comes to adoptions from foster care, many taking more than four years to complete.
Current Indiana Department of Child Services data shows the average time to permanency is 543 days or 1.5 years.
Adoptions take the longest.
The average time to adoption is 1,045 days, or nearly three years.
PREVIOUS | Foster children sue DCS alleging many are ‘languishing in state custody’
Children typically get into the system because their parents are accused of abusing or neglecting them, and they often need help with drug addiction or mental health issues.
Getting kids out of the system and into a permanent home can mean:
- Reunification with the birth/biological parents
- Legal guardianship
- Adoption
Charlie Rice, an attorney representing foster parents like Jenna Hullett, testified in support of the bill.
“If DCS isn’t going to do their jobs, at least get them out of the way and let someone else come in and take the action necessary or at least have a voice in the hearing to say what are we doing?” asked Rice. “We can’t have situations where kids are kept in limbo.”
Jenna Hullett was the foster mother of Judah Morgan.
Morgan, 4, was brutally beaten, tortured and murdered on October 11, 2021 by his biological father Alan Morgan at the family home in LaPorte County.
Judah lived with his foster parents for four years before Hullet said Judah was forced to return to his birth parents.
Hullett testified in support of House Bill 1605, saying it could have saved Judah’s life by allowing her to intervene in the case.
“I could have had a right to be a party to this case,” said Hullett. “Maybe I could have saved him. DCS treated me poorly and lied to me. When I tried to voice my concerns to the judge I was hushed, cut off, and told that was enough.”
No one from the Indiana Department of Child Services testified at the hearing on February 3.
RELATED | Bill would require Indiana to disclose more information about child abuse and neglect deaths
WRTV Investigates reached out to the agency to find out why and what their stance is on HB1605. We are still waiting to hear back.
Multiple people testified against HB1605, including Michael Moore from the Indiana Public Defender Council and Courtney Allen, an attorney in Morgan County.
“The bill is not the answer,” said Allen. “Adding another party to file a termination is unnecessary and quite honestly concerning when that party may not necessarily have reunification in mind. If we have concerns that DCS is not acting in the best interest of a child, if DCS isn’t going to do their jobs, then we need to address the entire DCS system as a whole.”
Opponents to the legislation raised concerns about protecting the rights of biological parents as well as the potential impact to federal funding for DCS.
Three attorneys from Indianapolis law firm Emswiller, Williams, Noland & Clarke, LLC testified against the bill— Robert Shive, DawnMarie White and Meg Peterson Darby.
“In an attempt to streamline this, the bill is rife with concepts that undermine the fundamental rights of parents and their children under the illusion that by expediting this process is, by its own nature, improving it,” testified Shive.
Their firm has represented parents who’ve been accused of child abuse/neglect and had their children removed from the home.
“DCS has virtually no burden to remove children,” testified Peterson Darby. “They do it without court orders, without probable cause, and they come to the court and the court basically rubber stamps their removal.”
Throughout the 2022 calendar year, DCS investigated 308 child deaths. Of those deaths, 61 were found to be a result of abuse or neglect.
In Calendar Year 2023, the Indiana Department of Child Services investigated 261 child deaths.
56 (21 percent) of those deaths were determined to be a direct result of caregiver maltreatment, according to the 2023 Child Abuse and Neglect Fatality Report.
20 deaths were due to abuse, and 36 fatalities were due to neglect, according to the report.
