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HB 896

Regards parents' rights in child welfare cases

136th Legislature (2025-2026) Introduced by Darnell Brewer and 1 co-sponsor

HB 896 strengthens parents’ rights in child welfare by ensuring timely notices, access to counsel, kinship support, and clearer standards for removal, findings, and permanency.

Referred to committee
#childwelfare #fostercare #juvenileandfamilylaw
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Bill Summary · HB 896

Overview

HB 896 (Ohio, 136th General Assembly) proposes to amend several provisions of the Revised Code governing child welfare and to enact new sections related to parents’ rights in child welfare cases. The bill emphasizes parents’ rights, access to counsel, kinship considerations, kinship identification, and enhanced notice and information-sharing procedures. It also adds requirements around reasonable efforts determinations, intake hearings, and reporting protections.

Main purpose and intent

  • Strengthen and clarify parents’ rights in child welfare proceedings.
  • Expand parental involvement through rights to support persons, counsel, and timely information.
  • Improve kinship options and timely identification of potential kinship caregivers.
  • Enhance transparency and notice obligations for parents, putative fathers, and other parties.
  • Improve processes around reasonable efforts determinations, permanency planning, and notice after investigations.

Key provisions and changes

  • 2151.314 (Detention and hearings)

    • Intake officers must promptly inform if detention or shelter care is warranted.
    • If detained, hearings must occur within 72 hours.
    • Notice obligations to parents/guardians; information about case plans for abused/neglected cases.
    • Right to counsel emphasized; indigent parties have access to court-appointed counsel and a listed contact for prompt appointment.
    • Court must release child if detention isn’t required, with rehearing provisions if parents were not notified or did not appear.

  • 2151.317–2151.318 (Parental rights and pamphlet)

    • Parents may designate a support person to attend meetings, subject to court restrictions for good cause.
    • DCY (Department of Children and Youth) to develop and distribute a plain-language Parents’ Bill of Rights pamphlet, translated into the top ten languages in Ohio. Contents include notification timelines, kinship notification, right to a support person, and reasonable efforts information.

  • 2151.419 (Reasonable efforts and permanency)

    • Courts must determine if reasonable efforts were made to prevent removal or to return the child home; the agency bears the burden.
    • Clear standards for when reasonable efforts may be deemed unnecessary (e.g., certain criminal offenses by the parent, repeated failure to engage in treatment, abandonment, or prior termination of parental rights).
    • Written findings required; options to return a child home even if conditions from (A)(2) apply, and a permanency plan review within 30 days if returning home is not the option.

  • 2151.4116 (Kinship focus after removal)

    • Agencies must intensively identify and engage a kinship caregiver within seven days after removal when applicable.

  • 2151.4123 (Putative father registry and notice)

    • Agencies must request a search of the Putative Father Registry to determine if a man is registered as the child’s putative father; provide certified copies or statements to the agency.
    • If a putative father is identified, he must be notified of hearings and proceedings, and the notice must be provided within a defined timeline.

  • 2151.421 (Mandatory reporting and confidentiality)

    • Strengthens mandatory reporting duties for specified professionals; expands protections and procedures for reporting, including medical examinations, sibling assessments, and discharge planning.
    • Clarifies immunity for good-faith reporting and establishes consequences for false reports.
    • Confidentiality and disclosure provisions for reports, with allowances for redacted information and certain evidentiary uses.

Who is affected

  • Public and private children services agencies (PCSAs), guardians ad litem, and foster care providers.
  • Parents, guardians, custodians, and kinship caregivers.
  • Putative fathers and their notification rights.
  • Health care professionals, attorneys, educators, and other listed professionals who are mandatory reporters.
  • Courts handling juvenile cases and permanency planning hearings.
  • Children and families involved in abuse, neglect, or dependency proceedings.

Procedural and timeline aspects

  • Urgent hearings: detention hearings within 72 hours; initial investigations and notices promptly following removal.
  • Written findings: required when placing a child and when returning a child home under specific conditions.
  • Permanency planning: follow-up review hearings within 30 days after a removal determination that triggers (A)(2) processes.
  • Timely kinship engagement: seven-day window to identify kinship caregivers after removal.
  • Putative father registry: mandatory registry search with defined notice timelines to putative fathers.

Overall, HB 896 seeks to bolster parents’ and families’ rights and streamline notification, kinship engagement, and accountability in Ohio’s child welfare system.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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