Adoption Co-Sponsorship Memos

DATE: October 28, 2019

TO: All Legislators

FROM: Representatives Robyn Vining and LaKeshia Myers

RE: Co-Sponsorship of LRB-4663, relating to: the Wisconsin Adoption and Permanency Support program and making an appropriation.

SHORT DEADLINE: November 5, 2019 at 12 NOON

This legislation is part of a package of bills released by members of the Speaker’s Task Force on Adoption. The Speaker’s Task Force on Adoption held 7 hearings around the state this summer, gathering input from various judicial authorities, social/case workers, parents, adoptees, state agencies, and private organizations. This bill has been drafted as a direct result of testimony shared during the hearings. This idea will make a positive impact on our most vulnerable children and has been crafted with their best interest at heart, helping them to find safe, permanent homes where they can flourish and grow.

In July of 2019, Wisconsin’s Post Adoption Resource Centers came together under one statewide program. This program, the Wisconsin Adoption & Permanency Support works to provide quality support, information and education to all of Wisconsin’s adoptive and guardianship families, birth families, and adult adoptees. The program is built on collaboration with individuals, professionals, organizations and community members throughout Wisconsin who are impacted by adoption & guardianship.

The Services offered by the Wisconsin Adoption and Permanency Support program include:

24/7 Toll-Free Number providing immediate access to supportive specialists who can provide information and referrals for personal & community support
Peer-to-peer support through our Connections Program
Short-term in-home support offered through the GIFTS Program
Educational workshops and conferences for foster, adoptive or guardianship families
Online directories of mental health professionals and local support groups by region
Quarterly newsletter
Lending libraries at five statewide locations with extensive collections of books and DVDs
Consultation, training and educational resources available for professionals
Facebook page with multiple online support groups

This bill would provide an additional $300,000 to ensure continued success delivering on the mission of the Wisconsin Adoption and Permanency Support program.

If you would like to co-sponsor this legislation, please contact Representative Vining’s office at 6-9180 or reply to this email by 12:00 noon on November 5th.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill provides $300,000 in each fiscal year of the 2019-21 fiscal biennium to the Department of Children and Families for the Wisconsin Adoption and Permanency Support program.

For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

DATE: October 28, 2019

TO: All Legislators

FROM: Representatives Lisa Subeck and Steve Doyle

RE: Co-Sponsorship of LRB-4665, relating to: adoption of children in foster care and making an appropriation.

SHORT DEADLINE: November 5, 2019 at 12 NOON

Wendy's Wonderful Kids, which in Wisconsin is currently partnered with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Community Services, uses child-focused recruitment strategies to increase the number of adoptions of children in foster care who are waiting for a permanent home. Since 2009, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has funded the adoption recruiter positions through grants. This bill would provide additional funds to the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program through the Department of Children and Families to hire additional recruiters.

If you would like to co-sponsor this legislation, please contact Representative Subeck’s office at 6-7521 or reply to this email by 12:00 noon on November 5th.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill provides $300,000 to the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin for recruiters for the Wendy's Wonderful Kids program, which provides support in finding adoptive placements for children in foster care.

For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

DATE: October 28, 2019

TO: All Legislators

FROM: Representatives Steve Doyle and David Crowley

RE: Co-Sponsorship of LRB-4666, relating to: driver's licenses for youth in out-of-home care and making an appropriation.

SHORT DEADLINE: November 5, 2019 at 12 NOON

Youth in out-of-home care face a number of obstacles when attempting to obtain a drivers’ license. Drivers’ licenses, and the freedoms associated with the legal right to drive can improve the lives of youth living in out-of-home care. Specifically these youth will have greater access to employment options, educational opportunities, and much more.

This bill makes those opportunities more accessible by requiring that the Department of Children and Families create a program to provide assistance for enrolling in drivers ed, and to subsidize the costs associated such as the cost of the driver’s ed class, or auto insurance.

If you would like to co-sponsor this legislation, please contact Representative Doyle’s office at 6-0631 or reply to this email by 12:00 noon on November 5th.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill requires the Department of Children and Families to establish or contract for a driver education program for individuals who are 15 years of age or older and in out-of-home care. The bill requires the program to provide assistance with identifying and enrolling in an appropriate driver education course, obtaining an operator's license, and obtaining motor vehicle liability insurance. The bill authorizes DCF to pay, for any individual in the program, any fees required to enroll in a driver education course or to obtain an operator's license and the cost of motor vehicle liability insurance on the vehicle owned or used by the individual during the program and after the individual obtains an operator's license.

For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

DATE: October 28, 2019

TO: All Legislators

FROM: Representatives LaKeshia Myers and Dave Considine

RE: Co-Sponsorship of LRB-4667, relating to: searching for a biological sibling who has been adopted, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation.

SHORT DEADLINE: November 5, 2019 at 12 NOON

Currently, any adult who has been adopted or whose birth parents’ rights have been terminated may file paperwork to allow DCF to provide contact information for those parents as long as the parents agree. This bill adds the option for an adult biological sibling or the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of a biological sibling who is a minor child to request that same information.

These siblings should be able to reunite if they lose contact for any reason.

If you would like to co-sponsor this legislation, please contact Representative Myers’ office at 6-5813 or reply to this email by 12:00 noon on November 5th.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Under current law, a person 18 years of age or over whose birth parent's rights have been terminated or who has been adopted in this state may file an affidavit with the Department of Children and Families allowing DCF to release contact information about that person to his or her birth parents if they request it. Under current law, only a birth parent is allowed to request the information about his or her birth child.

This bill allows an adult biological sibling or the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of a biological sibling who is a minor child to request information about a person whose birth parent's parental rights have been terminated in this state, or about that person's adoptive parents, if that person is a minor child. Under the bill, DCF is required to release the information about an adult biological sibling or the adoptive parent of a minor biological sibling if the information is requested and if the adult sibling or adoptive parent has filed an affidavit authorizing the release of the information.

Under the bill, if there is no affidavit on file for a sibling or adoptive parent of a sibling, DCF or an agency contracted with by DCF is required to search for any biological siblings or adoptive parents of a biological sibling of the requester or the requester's child. If a search is conducted and an adult biological sibling or adoptive parent of a minor biological sibling of the requester or the requester's child is found, DCF or the contracted agency is required to inform the biological sibling or adoptive parent of the purpose of the search and to give him or her the opportunity to file an affidavit allowing his or her information to be released to the requester.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

DATE: October 28, 2019

TO: All Legislators

FROM: Representatives Lisa Subeck and Robyn Vining

RE: Co-Sponsorship of LRB-4668, relating to: scholarships for sibling connections and making an appropriation.

SHORT DEADLINE: November 5, 2019 at 12 NOON

It is estimated the majority of children in out of home care have siblings, and because of the significant relationships siblings may have developed before being removed from their home, the trauma of being separated may cause these children to experience anxiety, grief, guilt, and loss of identity. Organizations such as Camp To Belong or programs offered by Wisconsin’s tribes create opportunities for these children to reconnect with their siblings and build lasting relationships and memories. To help children who have been adopted and who have biological siblings no longer residing together this bill requires the Department of Children and Families to award scholarships to these children so they are able to participate in programs that provide sibling connections.

If you would like to co-sponsor this legislation, please contact Representative Subeck’s office at 6-7521 or reply to this email by 12:00 noon on November 5th.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill requires the Department of Children and Families to provide scholarships to adopted children and their biological siblings who do not reside in the same household to attend programs together in order to build sibling connections.

For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

DATE: October 28, 2019

TO: All Legislators

FROM: Representatives David Crowley and Lisa Subeck

RE: Co-Sponsorship of LRB-4694, relating to: University of Wisconsin and technical college tuition remissions for and grants to support foster care and other out-of-home placement students and making an appropriation.

SHORT DEADLINE: November 5, 2019 at 12 NOON

Children who spend time in out-of-home care have steep obstacles to overcome in the process of obtaining higher education. According to state research by the Department of Children and Families (DCF), 84 percent of children in this system express a desire to go to college, but only 20 percent will actually do so, and further as few as two percent will attain a bachelor’s degree. Those not receiving secondary education face even more daunting challenges, such as homelessness, poverty, and a high risk for substance abuse. Studies show that more than half of the children who age out of the foster care system are incarcerated at some point in their lives.

This proposal would grant tuition remission for former out-of-home care youth, including those who have been adopted, who attend school in the University of Wisconsin System or Wisconsin Technical College System. The remission would be granted until a student is awarded a diploma or degree for the program, or turns 25, whichever occurs first. The proposal makes an appropriation to the Higher Educational Aids Boards to reimburse the Board of Regents and technical college district boards for remissions granted under this bill.

Additionally, this bill creates a grant program administered through the DCF for UW-System schools and technical colleges to create programs to support students who are former foster or adopted youth. Numerous universities throughout the nation have also created extensive support programs with the goal of assisting those who have spent time in out-of-home care, one of which is right here in Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin-Stout administers a successful initiative, called, ‘Fostering Success’, whose mission is to support former foster youth as they attend college.

The DCF grant program is modeled after this initiative, which offers assistance in negotiated campus life; housing; personal and life skills support and training; towels, bedding, and hygiene products when students move in; an emergency fund for unplanned events; and one-on-one visits and support from staff. The program also offers a “Pre-College Pipeline” meant to guide current and former foster youth through the college application process. It includes campus visits; a summer overnight experience on the UW-Stout campus; online resources including advice and support in applying for grants, taking the ACT, help through the admissions process and more.

If you would like to co-sponsor this legislation, please contact Representative Crowley’s office at 6-5580 or reply to this email by 12:00 noon on November 5th.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill requires the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and technical college system district boards to grant tuition remissions to any student who was in foster care or other placement out of his or her parent's home. This bill also requires the Department of Children and Families to distribute $120,000 in grants to UW and Wisconsin Technical College System institutions for programs for former foster youth.

Under current law, if the court assigned to exercise jurisdiction under the Children's Code or Juvenile Justice Code (juvenile court) adjudges a child to be in need of protection or services, the juvenile court may order the child to be removed from the home of the child's parent and placed in the home of a foster parent, guardian, relative other than a parent, or nonrelative or in a group home, residential care center for children and youth, or shelter care facility (out-of-home placement). Under the bill, a student is eligible for a UW or technical college tuition remission if he or she is a state resident to whom any of the following applies: 1) he or she resided in an out-of-home placement in this state under a juvenile court order (“out-of-home care placement”) on his or her 18th birthday; 2) he or she resided in an out-of-home care placement and after his or her 13th birthday he or she was adopted or appointed a nonagency guardian; or 3) he or she resided in an out-of-home care placement for at least one year on or after his or her 13th birthday and then returned to live in the home of his or her parent after termination of the order.

The bill requires the Board of Regents to grant a tuition remission for each semester or session that an eligible student completes the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and is enrolled in an associate degree or bachelor's degree program. A technical college district board must grant a tuition remission for each semester or session that an eligible student completes the FAFSA and is enrolled in a technical diploma or associate degree program. Both the Board of Regents and technical college district boards may not grant the remissions after a student is awarded the diploma or degree for the program in which he or she is enrolled, or attains the age of 25 years, whichever occurs first. In addition, the bill prohibits a student from receiving a remission from either the Board of Regents or a technical college district board for more than a total of 12 semesters or sessions. Also, both the Board of Regents and technical college district boards must deduct from a remission any federal scholarship, grant, or aid, other than a loan, awarded for a student.

The bill also makes an appropriation to the Higher Educational Aids Board to reimburse the Board of Regents and technical college district boards for remissions granted under the bill. If the appropriation is not sufficient to make full reimbursement, HEAB must prorate the reimbursements.

This bill also makes an appropriation to DCF for the purpose of distributing at least four grants per biennium of up to $30,000 each to UW or Wisconsin Technical College System institutions for the purpose of supporting programming for former foster youth who are enrolled in the institution.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.