HB 1227 is effective beginning July 2023, and represents several changes to the way that dependency matters proceed. It refocuses the efforts of the parties on keeping families together, and keeping children in their homes as much as possible without risking their health or safety.

One of the primary changes, therefore, is a change to the way that risk is assessed. Where the official legal terms were “best interest of the child”, the standard for removal is now prevention of “imminent physical harm.” Such harm has to be articulable and cannot be prevented with children in home, even with a safety plan. This is a much narrower definition than was previously used, but ultimately hopes to accomplish the same overall idea of protecting children.

Another new factor in this risk assessment is discussion of the harm removal will have on the child. When a child is removed from his or her home, it is now required for the state to consider whether the harm the child will suffer in home is greater than the trauma of being taken from their parents, environment, and often entire social network.

If a child is removed because the danger at home is too great to allow them to remain, every effort must be made to place the child in the home of a relative or a “suitable other”-a person who is known to the child or family, and whom the child trusts.

Ultimately, the goal of this change in focus is help prevent the damage to families that comes of separation. This separation, during critical developmental periods in children’s lives, is something that we must all strive to avoid where possible, and keep as short as possible.

While the impact of this new law on the dependency process is still playing out, it is expected to result in more efforts by DCYF to help families with the underlying difficulties they face before removing their children from the home, and that when they do file for dependency it is more likely to be an “in-home” dependency, in which the children remain at home while the state oversees the situation.