State lawmakers play a significant role in crafting legislation and policy that govern the safety and well-being of children in their states. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) tracks this activity through its State Child Welfare Legislation reports. This report documents significant state legislation enacted during calendar year 2005. Kinship care received a great deal of legislative attention in 2005. States promoted or enhanced the use of relatives as kinship care providers and established or amended guardianship laws to include relatives as important placement options. Another area of major legislative activity in 2005 concerned substance-exposed newborns and methamphetamine abuse.
In addition, legislatures addressed the following:
• Adoption, particularly adoption by relatives and post-adoption contact agreements;
• Parent and child involvement in case planning;
• Social worker loan forgiveness programs;
• Court handling of child welfare cases;
• Education of children in foster care;
• Behavioral health care for children in the child welfare system;
• Alternative response to reports of child maltreatment;
• Kinship care and guardianship;
• Children’s exposure to drug manufacturing;
• Extension of foster care beyond age 18; and
• Tribal issues.
Brief descriptions of significant state legislation appear below by issue area in alphabetical order. The appendix contains both citations and more extensive summaries of the laws discussed here.