AN ACT to ensure foster parents receive notice prior to a juvenile being placed with a parent.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  G.S. 7B‑906.1(b) reads as rewritten:

(b)      The director of social services shall make a timely request to the clerk to calendar each hearing at a session of court scheduled for the hearing of juvenile matters. The clerk shall give 15 days' notice of the hearing and its purpose to (i) the parents, (ii) the juvenile if 12 years of age or more, (iii) the guardian, (iv) the person providing care for the juvenile, (v) the custodian or agency with custody, (vi) the guardian ad litem, and (vii) any other person or agency the court may specify. The department of social services shall either provide to the clerk the name and address of the person providing care for the juvenile for notice under this subsection or file written documentation with the clerk that the juvenile's current care provider was sent notice of hearing. Consistent with this subsection, the department of social services shall provide verbal notice of upcoming hearings to the person providing care for the juvenile if that person did not receive notice from the clerk. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to make the person providing care for the juvenile a party to the proceeding solely based on receiving notice and the right to be heard.

SECTION 1.(b)  G.S. 7B‑906.1 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:

(d3)    At any permanency planning hearing where the court makes a finding under subdivision (e)(1) of this section that a juvenile be placed with a parent from a family foster care home, the person providing care for the juvenile shall be, at a minimum, verbally notified at least 48 hours prior to the juvenile returning to the parent and included in the transition planning when it is determined to be in the best interest of the child.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2025.