# Indiana SB 498: Child services. Indiana SB 498, Child services., is a First Regular Session 124th General Assembly (2025) Senate bill sponsored by Greg Walker (Republican); status signed, last action 2025-04-16 (Public Law 81) (as of 2026-10-19). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB498-2025 - As of: 2026-10-19 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Indiana SB 498 - State: Indiana - Session: First Regular Session 124th General Assembly (2025) - Title: Child services. - Status: signed - Chamber: Senate - Introduced: 2025-01-14 - Last action: 2025-04-16, Public Law 81 - Sponsor: Greg Walker (Republican) - Cosponsors: 7 - Subjects: family and children services, the house, family - Touches household money: no - Roll calls: 3 (176 yes, 12 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 5 ## Summary Allows the Indiana board of pharmacy to release confidential information received by the INSPECT program to a supervisor of the department of child services (department) who is engaged in an investigation or adjudication of child abuse or neglect. Amends the definition of "emergency shelter" for purposes of statutes governing residential child care facilities. Provides that an applicant for licensure as a child caring institution or licensure as a group home must obtain a criminal history check of any contractor or individual working in the child caring institution or group home who is likely to have unsupervised contact with children. Amends provisions under which the department may waive the maximum duration for which a child may stay at a shelter care facility to remove a reference to the length of the maximum duration. Amends the educational and experiential qualifications for casework supervisors at child placing agencies. Provides that provisions requiring: (1) a residential child care facility to ensure that a child admitted to the facility has received all immunizations and booster shots required under specified statutes; and (2) a residential child care facility that administers psychotropic medication to obtain periodic written reports from the licensed professional who prescribed the psychotropic medication; do not apply to an emergency shelter. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - More shelter options for younger children: benefit, low. Emergency shelters can serve children younger than six, with care available 24 hours a day. The normal limit remains 60 consecutive days. Licensed shelter-care institutions and group homes can request a stay waiver before the applicable maximum stay ends. This replaces the old deadline tied to 20 d… - Child welfare supervisors gain prescription records: benefit, low. Beginning July 1, 2025, the board can release confidential INSPECT prescription-monitoring records to Department of Child Services supervisors. Supervisors must be investigating or handling an adjudication of child abuse or neglect. Access must follow applicable federal law and requires INSPECT pro… - More screening for child welfare workers: benefit, low. Child caring institutions must check workers and contractors likely to have unsupervised contact with children. Checks are generally due by the work, volunteer, or contract start date. Limited training can start earlier after fingerprint, sex-offender, state criminal, child-protection, and required… - New qualification routes for casework supervisors: benefit, low. Child-placing agency casework supervisors need a bachelor's degree and must meet one of two routes. One requires three years of supervised paid casework, including one year with a legally defined child welfare agency. The other requires eight master's-level credits plus one year of supervised paid… - Fewer health safeguards in emergency shelters: cost, low. Effective upon passage, emergency shelters and emergency shelter group homes are exempt from specific vaccination and medication oversight duties. They no longer must check children's vaccination histories or ensure required shots and boosters. For children taking psychotropic medicine, these facil… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Greg Walker (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Alex Burton (Democratic), House - Cosponsor: Dale DeVon (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Daryl Schmitt (Republican), Senate - Cosponsor: Elizabeth Rowray (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Lonnie Randolph (Democratic), Senate - Cosponsor: Lori Goss-Reaves (Republican), House - Cosponsor: Stacey Donato (Republican), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-07 | Senate | Senate concurred with House amendments | pass | 44 | 4 | | | 2025-04-03 | House | Third reading: passed | pass | 90 | 1 | | | 2025-02-10 | Senate | Third reading: passed | pass | 42 | 7 | | ## Actions (26) - 2025-04-16: Public Law 81 (Senate) - 2025-04-16: Signed by the Governor (Senate) - 2025-04-09: Signed by the President of the Senate (Senate) - 2025-04-08: Signed by the President Pro Tempore (Senate) - 2025-04-08: Signed by the Speaker (House) - 2025-04-07: Senate concurred with House amendments; Roll Call 356: yeas 44, nays 4 (Senate) - 2025-04-04: Returned to the Senate with amendments (House) - 2025-04-04: Motion to concur filed (Senate) - 2025-04-03: Third reading: passed; Roll Call 360: yeas 90, nays 1 (House) - 2025-04-03: Representative Goss-Reaves added as cosponsor (House) - 2025-04-01: Amendment #1 (Rowray) prevailed; voice vote (House) - 2025-04-01: Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed (House) - 2025-03-27: Committee report: amend do pass, adopted (House) - 2025-03-13: Representative Burton added as cosponsor (House) - 2025-03-03: First reading: referred to Committee on Family, Children and Human Affairs (House) - 2025-02-11: Referred to the House (Senate) - 2025-02-10: Third reading: passed; Roll Call 94: yeas 42, nays 7 (Senate) - 2025-02-10: Cosponsor: Representative DeVon (Senate) - 2025-02-10: House sponsor: Representative Rowray (Senate) - 2025-02-06: Senator Randolph added as coauthor (Senate) - 2025-02-06: Second reading: ordered engrossed (Senate) - 2025-02-03: Senator Schmitt added as second author (Senate) - 2025-02-03: Senator Donato added as coauthor (Senate) - 2025-02-03: Committee report: amend do pass, adopted (Senate) - 2025-01-14: First reading: referred to Committee on Family and Children Services (Senate) - 2025-01-14: Authored by Senator Walker G (Senate) ## Bill text - Engrossed Senate Bill (S): [PDF](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.04.ENGH?format=pdf) - Enrolled Senate Bill (S): [PDF](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.05.ENRH?format=pdf) - Introduced Senate Bill (S): [PDF](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.01.INTR?format=pdf) - Senate Bill (H): [PDF](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.02.COMS?format=pdf), [PDF](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.03.COMH?format=pdf) ## Related bills - SB 324: Criminal procedures. (signed) - SB 231: Various corrections matters. (signed) - SB 80: Code publication. (signed) - SB 453: Various tax matters. (signed) - SB 464: Financial institutions and consumer credit. (signed) - SB 371: Workforce matters. (signed) ## Sources - [Engrossed Senate Bill (S) (PDF)](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.04.ENGH?format=pdf) - [Enrolled Senate Bill (S) (PDF)](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.05.ENRH?format=pdf) - [Introduced Senate Bill (S) (PDF)](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.01.INTR?format=pdf) - [Senate Bill (H) (PDF)](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.02.COMS?format=pdf) - [Senate Bill (H) (PDF)](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/SB0498/versions/SB0498.03.COMH?format=pdf) ## Related - [SB 324: Criminal procedures.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB324-2025) - [SB 231: Various corrections matters.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB231-2025) - [SB 80: Code publication.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB80-2025) - [SB 453: Various tax matters.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB453-2025) - [SB 464: Financial institutions and consumer credit.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB464-2025) - [SB 371: Workforce matters.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB371-2025) - [Indiana bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/indiana/bills) - [Indiana state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/indiana) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB498-2025 (as of 2026-10-19).