Bill > SB26

This bill amends several Kentucky Revised Statutes to enhance protections for individuals with disabilities in the context of adoption, foster care, and parental rights. The bill introduces a comprehensive definition of "disability" that includes physical or mental impairments that substantially limit major life activities, and establishes that a person cannot be denied adoption, foster care, or parental rights solely based on having a disability. The legislation requires state agencies to conduct individual assessments and consider targeted adaptive or supportive services that could enable a person with a disability to provide essential care and protection for a child. Key provisions include preventing automatic disqualification of adoptive parents or parents facing potential termination of parental rights due to disability, mandating that the state review any refusal of placement and consider supportive services, and requiring documentation of assessments and service offerings to be maintained for two years. The bill aims to ensure that individuals with disabilities are evaluated holistically and given meaningful opportunities to parent or adopt children, while still maintaining the paramount consideration of the child's best interests.

Health and Social Services, Justice

https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/25RS/sb26.html