Chair Concannon, Vice Chair Johnson, and members of the House Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care:
Significant rights are at stake when children and families become involved in the child welfare system. Tragically, state audits and surveys find more than half of children in foster care are never informed of their rights, let alone how to exercise them.
The Center for the Rights of Abused Children (Center) strongly supports enacting an enforceable bill of rights for parties to child in need of care (CINC) proceeding, particularly for children. House Bill 2194 (HB2194) will help children and foster parents know and protect their rights in abuse and neglect proceedings. We urge support for HB2194.