Title 38 — Title 38

This article may be cited as the Alabama Kinship Guardianship Subsidy Act. History: (Act 2010-712, p. 1744, §1.)

The Legislature finds and declares the following: (1) There exists in this state a number of children who cannot reside with their parents, legal guardians, or legal custodians because of such parents’, legal guardians’, or custodians’ incapacity or inability to perform the regul…

As used in this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) CAREGIVER. An individual 21 years of age or older, other than a child’s parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian who is an approved foster parent, who is a relative of the child, and who has bee…

There is established in the department the Kinship Guardianship Subsidy Program. For the purposes of this article, the department is authorized to use funds that are appropriated for child welfare services and funds provided under the United States Social Security Act, Titles IV-…

(a) Subject to rules adopted to implement this article, the department may provide subsidies for an eligible child placed in kinship guardianship by a court, or by a federally recognized Native American Indian tribe, if the child would not be placed in a kinship guardianship with…

The amount of a kinship guardianship subsidy shall be determined according to this section and as provided by rules of the department. The subsidy may be paid monthly and the monthly amount may not exceed the monthly foster care maintenance board payment for the child if the chil…

Provided that federal funding is available, the kinship guardianship subsidy shall continue until the following occur: (1) The child who is being cared for by the kinship guardian or successor guardian reaches age 18 years, or age 21 if the child has attained age 16 before the ki…

(a) Applications for the program may be submitted by a prospective kinship guardian. A written agreement between the prospective kinship guardian entering into the program and the department shall precede the award of a kinship guardianship. The kinship guardianship subsidy agree…

If the subsidy continues for more than one year, the eligibility for and amount of the subsidy shall be reviewed at least annually by the department as provided by rule. The subsidy continues regardless of the state in which the kinship guardian or successor guardian resides, or …

The department shall adopt rules for the program consistent with this article. History: (Act 2010-712, p. 1744, §10.)

(a) The department shall determine whether the person is able to care effectively for the foster child by the following methods: (1) Reviewing personal and professional references. (2) Observing during a home visit of the kinship foster parent with household members. (3) Intervie…

Except as required by federal law or regulation, the kinship guardianship subsidy may not be counted as a resource or income in the determination of the kinship guardian’s, successor guardian’s, or child’s eligibility for any public benefits or assistance. Kinship guardianship su…

The department may provide a kinship guardianship subsidy pursuant to this article to any eligible child in department custody by court order on October 1, 2010, and to any eligible child placed in department custody by court order after October 1, 2010. History: (Act 2010-712, p…

The department may adopt rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this chapter. History: (Act 99-437, p. 864, §5.)

There is hereby established and created the Foster Parents’ Bill of Rights Act. History: (Act 2004-257, p. 351, §1.)

The Department of Human Resources shall ensure that each foster parent shall have all of the following rights: (1) The right to be treated with dignity, respect, trust, value, and consideration as a primary provider of foster care and a member of the professional team caring for …

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Fostering Hope Scholarship Act of 2015. History: (Act 2015-121, §1.)

The commissioner of the department may promulgate rules as necessary to implement and administer this chapter. History: (Act 2015-121, §10.)

(a) The State Department of Human Resources shall develop and administer Fostering Hope, a scholarship program for designated persons currently or formerly in the state foster care program, including children adopted from the program at the age of 14 or older. Commencing with the…

The program shall include a mentor service administered by the department as a support system for participants of the college tuition scholarship program. This service shall include mentors who shall be compensated by the department, as employees or contractors, to help participa…

Appropriations for the program shall be used by the department on behalf of participants in each fiscal year to pay public two-year and four-year institutions of higher education or other publicly funded training programs in the state for benefits extended to participants by the …

The program shall pay tuition and required fees for a participant as governed by rules promulgated by the department. In no event shall tuition and required fees be paid pursuant to this section for more than 72 academic hours toward an associate’s degree or 144 academic hours to…

(a) To be eligible to participate in the program, a scholarship applicant shall satisfy all of the following: (1) Be in the legal custody of the foster care program of the department at the time of graduation from high school or earning a General Educational Development (GED) hig…

A scholarship awarded pursuant to this chapter may not be reduced by the amount of any federal aid, scholarship funds, or grant funds otherwise received by the person or by the amount of any private donations made to assist the Fostering Hope program. History: (Act 2015-121, §7.)…

Fostering Hope scholarship funds shall be applied to tuition and mandatory fees before any other grant, loan, voucher, or scholarship the student may be awarded to attend a public two-year or four-year institution of higher education in the state or publicly funded state training…

Any other provision of this chapter to the contrary notwithstanding, an otherwise eligible person who earns grants, scholarships, or other awards, excluding loans, sufficient to pay his or her tuition, room and board, and other fees at a public two- year or four-year institution …

Under the National Child Protection Act of 1993, Public Law 103-209, 42 U.S.C. § 5119, et seq., the states are permitted to implement a computerized information system to provide child abuse crime information through the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Criminal History R…

Nothing in this chapter is intended to create or establish new causes of action in any court. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as a waiver of any sovereign or qualified immunity. History: (Act 2000-775, p. 1775, §10.)

All fees received by the Department of Public Safety for criminal history background information checks conducted pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited to the Public Safety Automated Fingerprint Identification System Fund, to be appropriated to and expended by the Departmen…

This chapter is supplementary and shall be construed in pari materia with other laws; provided, however, that to the extent that this chapter specifically conflicts with other laws pertaining to criminal history background information checks, this law shall take precedence. Nothi…

When used in this chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings: (1) ADULT. An individual 19 years of age and older. (2) ADULT CARE FACILITY. A person or entity holding a Department of Human Resources license or approval or certification to provide care, includin…

Individuals; Exemptions. (a) On November 1, 2000, every employer, child care facility, adult care facility, the Department of Human Resources, and child placing agency shall request the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency to conduct a criminal history background information chec…

Checks on Subsequent Activity. (a) Every employer, child care facility, adult care facility, the Department of Human Resources, and child placing agency required to obtain a criminal history background information check pursuant to this chapter shall obtain, prior to or upon the …

(a) An applicant, licensee, volunteer, or employee, upon request, shall submit the following items: (1) Two functional, acceptable fingerprint cards, bearing the fingerprints of the individual, properly executed by a law enforcement agency or individual properly trained in finger…

(a) A nonrefundable fee to be paid for the criminal history background information check shall conform to the guidelines promulgated pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 5119, the National Child Protection Act of 1993, and state law. (b) The Department of Public Safety may charge a fee in the…

of Determinations. (a) Criminal history background information checks shall be performed by the Department of Public Safety upon request by an employer, child care facility, adult care facility, or child placing agency authorized to make a request, or the Department of Human Reso…

(a) All reports of criminal history background information received by the Department of Human Resources from the Department of Public Safety shall be confidential and marked confidential with no further disclosure and shall not be made available for public inspection. (b) All cr…

(a) A person convicted of the following actions under this chapter shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor: (1) Violating the confidentiality of records. (2) Violating lawfully adopted policies pursuant to this chapter. (3) Knowingly, willfully, and intentionally making or trans…

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) DEPARTMENT. The Department of Human Resources. (2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL or FAMILY MEMBER. A person whose household income is equal to or less than 80 percent of the median household income for the …

(a) An account owner’s savings and matching funds shall not affect his or her eligibility for any means-tested public benefits, including, but not limited to, Medicaid, state children’s health insurance programs, TANF, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, supplemental secur…

The department shall not be obligated to fund individual development parallel accounts or be obligated to enter into contracts with fiduciary organizations unless the Legislature appropriates funding to the department for the establishment of an Individual Development Account Pro…

A person who is eligible to become an individual development account owner may enter into an agreement developed with a fiduciary organization for the establishment of an individual development account. The agreement shall provide for the amount of the savings deposits, the match…

Once the account owner has saved for a minimum of six months, has reached his or her savings goal, and has fulfilled all financial literacy education components in accordance with federal guidelines, the appropriate matching funds shall be transferred from the parallel account di…

(a) If an emergency occurs, an account owner may withdraw all or part of the account owner’s deposits to an individual development account with the approval of the fiduciary organization. (b) The account owner shall reimburse his or her individual development account for the amou…

Before becoming eligible to receive matching funds to pay for qualified purposes, individual development account owners shall complete a financial literacy education course offered by a qualified financial institution, a qualified fiduciary organization, an Indian tribe, or a gov…

(a) Deposits to individual development accounts made by the account owner shall come from earned income, including, but not limited to, wages, earned income tax credit returns, child support payments, supplemental security income (SSI), disability benefits, community service unde…

Money deposited into individual development accounts shall not be included in gross income for income tax purposes. Any amount withdrawn from a parallel account, matching funds, may not be includable in an eligible individual’s gross income. Money withdrawn from an individual dev…

The department shall select fiduciary organizations through competitive processes. In making the selections, the department may consider factors including, but not limited to, the following: (1) The ability of the fiduciary organization to implement and administer the individual …

(a) Subject to rules promulgated by the department, a fiduciary organization has sole authority over, and responsibility for, the administration of individual development accounts. The responsibility of the fiduciary organization extends to all aspects of the account program, inc…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Alabama Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act. History: (Act 2017-374, §1.)