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Introduced Version Senate Bill 89 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 89

(By Senators Boley and Weeks)

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[Introduced February 9, 2005; referred to the Committee

on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §49-2B-18, relating to bill of rights for children in foster care.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §49-2B-18, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2B. DUTIES OF COMMISSIONER OF HUMAN SERVICES FOR CHILD WELFARE.

§49-2B-18. Bill of rights for children in foster care.
Every child in foster care has the inherent right:
(1) To be cherished by a family of his or her own, either his or her family helped by readily available services and supports to reassume his or her care, or an adoptive family or by plan, a continuing foster family.
(2) To be nurtured by foster parents who have been selected to meet his or her individual needs, and who are provided services and supports, including specialized education, so that they can grow in their ability to enable the child to reach his or her potentiality.
(3) To receive sensitive, continuing help in understanding and accepting the reasons for his or her own family's inability to take care of him or her, and in developing confidence in his or her own self-worth.
(4) To receive continuing loving care and respect as a unique human being, a child growing in trust in himself or herself and others.
(5) To grow up in freedom and dignity in a neighborhood of people who accept him or her with understanding, respect and friendship.
(6) To receive help in overcoming deprivation or whatever distortion in his or her emotional, physical, intellectual, social and spiritual growth may have resulted from his or her early experiences.
(7) To receive education, training, and guidance to prepare for a useful and satisfying life.
(8) To receive preparation for citizenship and parenthood through interaction with foster parents and other adults who are consistent role models.
(9) To be represented by an attorney at law in administrative or judicial proceedings with access to fair hearings and court review of decisions, so that his or her best interests are safeguarded.
(10) To receive a high quality of child welfare services, including involvement of the natural parents and his or her own involvement in major decisions that affect them.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a bill of rights for children in foster care.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.


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