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Revising provisions related to the disqualification of a program participant from the Maryland Children's Service Animal Program, the Maryland Disability Service Animal Program, or the Maryland Veterans Service Animal Program; providing that a nonprofit training entity may disqualify a Program participant if the training entity determines the participant's involvement presents a direct threat to others; etc.

Requiring each local school system to identify, in its regular safety evaluation, issues of accessibility for individuals with disabilities; and requiring local school systems to include in a certain annual report instances in which a public school facility became inaccessible for a student with a disability in a manner that could impede evacuations or emergency response.

Repealing the maximum age for children in certain residential child care programs who receive educational support; requiring operators of certain residential child care programs to provide certain educational opportunities to the children for whom they have legal custody or care and control; requiring that applicants to be child and youth care practitioners undergo certain training; prohibiting an individual who holds a certificate as a residential child and youth care practitioner from being required to complete certain training; etc.

Affirming Maryland's commitment to the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of children in guardianship homes and any child under the care of the Social Services Administration in the Department of Human Services; and imploring the Social Services Administration to strictly comply with State law and regulations to protect children in guardianship homes from abuse and neglect, ensure facilities are properly certified, and implement certain audit recommendations to ensure the health and safety of children in guardianship homes.

Establishing the Prince George's County Teen Pregnancy Support Program to provide certain students attending a public high school in Prince George's County with certain assistance relating to child care and parenting; requiring the Circuit Court for Prince George's County to collect a $100 fee in certain cases pertaining to child support; and requiring the revenue generated from the fee to be remitted to the Prince George's County Board of Education and used to support the Prince George's County Teen Pregnancy Support Program.

Authorizing an individual to apply to be approved as a foster parent by the local department of social services for the county where the individual resides or a county adjacent to the county where the individual resides; prohibiting a local department from denying an application to be a foster parent due to the applicant's county of residence if the individual resides in the same county as, or an adjacent county to, the county where the local department is located; etc.

Establishing that it is unlawful for a parent or guardian of a student in a public school to fail to seek and participate in counseling with the parent's or guardian's child after receiving a certain notice of violent and disruptive behavior; and requiring a public school principal to provide a certain written notice to the parent or guardian of a student who engages in two or more incidents of violent and disruptive behavior on school premises or during school-related activities during the school year.

Repealing the maximum age for children in certain residential child care programs who receive educational support; requiring operators of certain residential child care programs to provide certain educational opportunities to the children for whom they have legal custody or care and control; requiring that applicants to be child and youth care practitioners undergo certain training; prohibiting an individual who holds a certificate as a residential child and youth care practitioner from being required to complete certain training; etc.

Renaming the Children's Cabinet Fund to be the Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund; requiring the Governor, for fiscal years 2028 through 2030, to include an appropriation in the annual budget bill to the Fund of an amount at least equal to the appropriation to the Fund in fiscal year 2027; and requiring, in fiscal year 2031, the Governor to provide an appropriation to the Fund of $500,000 above the appropriation for fiscal year 2030, to be used for grants to the local management boards.

Requiring the Governor to include an appropriation of $450,000 in the annual budget bill for the Growing Family Child Care Opportunities Program for fiscal years 2028 through 2030.

Expanding the circumstances under which a report or record concerning child abuse or neglect may be disclosed by the Department of Human Services to include the administrator of a certain child care center, the coach, team administrator, or manager of a certain youth sports program, and the administrator or other appropriate personnel of any organization that provides adult supervision or care and control of children.

Requiring each local school system to identify, in its regular safety evaluation, issues of accessibility for individuals with disabilities; and requiring local school systems to include in a certain confidential annual report instances in which a public school facility became inaccessible for a student with a disability in a manner that could impede evacuations or emergency response.

Requiring the Governor to include an appropriation of $450,000 in the annual budget bill for the Growing Family Child Care Opportunities Program for fiscal years 2028 through 2030.

Establishing the Workgroup on Aging Out of Foster Care to identify the types of resources available for youth who have aged out of foster care to help them achieve self-sufficiency, determine the effectiveness of currently available resources and identify the challenges with current services and programs offered before a youth ages out of the system; and requiring the Workgroup to submit a report of its findings and recommendations by June 1, 2027, to the General Assembly.

Requiring the State Department of Education, for applications received after July 1, 2026, to establish a framework to prioritize the children of individuals who provide care for children in licensed child care centers, registered family child care homes, and registered large family child care homes for scholarships under the Child Care Scholarship Program.

Requiring certain operators of companion chatbots to establish, maintain, and publish certain protocols and provide certain information to users of the companion chatbot; requiring operators to establish enhanced measures for minor users of companion chatbots; limiting the amount and type of data an operator may collect; requiring an operator to establish and maintain a complaint system; requiring the Office of Suicide Prevention to annually publish certain data compiled from operators; etc.

Requiring the Secretary of Human Services to establish and maintain a Guardianship Assistance Program to promote the placement and maintenance of children in permanent guardianship homes by providing guardianship assistance to guardians of minor children; establishing the State Foster Youth Ombudsman in the Department of Human Services; requiring the Ombudsman to provide legal expertise in child welfare, custody and guardianship matters, and appeal and due process; etc.

Requiring the State Department of Education to establish a framework, for applications received after July 1, 2026, to prioritize the children of individuals who provide care for children in licensed child care centers, registered family child care homes, and registered large family child care homes for scholarships under the Child Care Scholarship Program.

Requiring the State Department of Education to develop a model sexual abuse and sexual misconduct response policy that includes, at minimum, a communications plan, an e-mail and other electronic communication documents retention policy, a requirement to link to a centralized resource platform, and an after-action review plan; requiring each local school system to adopt a response policy based on the model policy by September 1, 2027, and post in a conspicuous place on its website a link to a certain centralized resource platform; etc.

Renaming the Children's Cabinet Fund to be the Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund; requiring the Governor, for fiscal years 2028 through 2030, to include an appropriation in the annual budget bill at least equal to the appropriation in fiscal year 2027 to the Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund to be used for grants to the local management boards; and requiring for fiscal year 2031, the Governor to include in the annual budget bill an appropriation $500,000 above the appropriation for fiscal year 2030.

Requiring a child care providers in registered family child care homes and registered large family child care homes and licensees and staff of a child care center to complete training on the detection and reporting of child abuse at certain intervals.

Requiring the State Department of Education to develop and certain schools to implement a system to track and report certain petitions for emergency evaluations made during the school year; requiring county boards of education, certain schools, and the Department to submit certain reports on petitions for emergency evaluations; requiring the Department to convene a workgroup to study the use of petitions for emergency evaluations in school settings; etc.

Requiring the State Department of Education to develop a model sexual abuse and sexual misconduct response policy that includes, at minimum, certain components; requiring each local school system to adopt a response policy based on the model policy developed by the Department on or before September 1, 2027, and to post in a conspicuous place on its website a link to a certain centralized statewide resource platform; etc.

Establishing the Baltimore First Responders Child Care Support and Accessibility Program within the State Department of Education's Office of Child Care to support and expand a pilot program in Baltimore City that provides monthly child care allowances to first responders to access quality child care that aligns with the demands of a career in public safety; requiring the Governor to include in the annual budget bill an appropriation of $600,000 to the Program in fiscal year 2028 and each fiscal year thereafter; etc.

Altering the term "child pornography" to be "child sexual abuse material" for purposes of certain criminal offenses; and defining "computer-generated image" to include images created through the use of artificial intelligence software as the term pertains to provisions of law related to child sexual abuse material.

Requiring that standards established by the Maryland Statewide Organization for Child Advocacy Centers require an individual employed by or contracted with a child advocacy center providing mental health services in a child advocacy center to be licensed or certified, if applicable, and provide services within the scope of the license or certification and require each child advocacy center to establish a certain continuity of care plan; authorizing the Governor's Office of Crime Prevention and Policy to issue certain grants; etc.

Requiring the State Department of Education to include certain additional information in an annual report submitted to the General Assembly regarding children and foster youth in the State child welfare system; and requiring the State Department of Education, in cooperation with the Department of Human Services, to develop and submit a report to the General Assembly by December 1, 2026, on improving outcomes for students in the State child welfare system.

Expanding the circumstances under which a report or record concerning child abuse or neglect may be disclosed by the Department of Human Services to include the administrator of a certain child care center, the coach, team administrator, or manager of a certain youth sports program, and the administrator or other appropriate personnel of any organization that provides adult supervision or care and control of children; and providing that a report or record concerning child abuse may be disclosed by the Department only after a finalized finding.

Requiring the State Department of Education to study and make recommendations on establishing an independent regulatory framework for after school and out of school time child care programs; and requiring the Department to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to certain committees of the General Assembly by December 1, 2026.

Prohibiting the placement of children in unlicensed settings under the out-of-home placement program required to be established by the Social Services Administration; altering the duties of the pediatric hospital overstay coordinators; establishing the Child and Youth Placement Review Panel in the Governor's Office for Children with the Senior Advisor for Children and Families as its head; establishing the Advisory Council on Maryland's System of Care for Children, Youth, and Families; etc.

Requiring the Secretary of Human Services to establish and maintain a Guardianship Assistance Program to promote the placement and maintenance of children in permanent guardianship homes by providing guardianship assistance to guardians of minor children; and establishing the State Foster Youth Ombudsman in the Department of Human Services.