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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 23, 2022 11:31 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Tim Briggs and Rep. Sara Innamorato |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Helping Children Stay Out of Foster Care |
| Imagine being away from your child for an extended period and not having control over who cares for them. Sadly, this is a reality for parents in our communities. Our state’s standby guardianship law protects the rights of parents to appoint someone they trust to care for their children, but this law is lacking. While the current law allows a parent to appoint a standby guardian in circumstances such as incapacity or death, it does not expressly provide the ability to do so in cases of long-term absence. Our legislation addresses this issue by allowing a parent facing a long-term absence from their child to appoint a standby guardian. In our state and throughout our nation, parents face long-term absence from their children for various reasons, such as treatment in an in-patient care facility, detention, deportation, and incarceration. These parents should be able to ensure someone they trust is caring for their children. Instead our current law unnecessarily burdens the state foster care system. In some of these long-term absences, parents have trusted friends or relatives available to care for the children. Our legislation makes this solution—which is better for these children, their families, and for children currently in Pennsylvania’s foster care system—more accessible. Please join us in co-sponsoring this necessary piece of legislation and help protect the guardianship rights of parents throughout our state. |