1. A.

   1. 1. Pursuant to the provisions of this subsection, the Department of Human Services shall establish and administer an ongoing program of supported guardianship to assist families wishing to make a long-term commitment to a child by accepting guardianship of the child. The supported guardianship program shall enable the family to assume the parental role without ongoing Department oversight but allow the family to return to the Department for services as needed.
   2. 2. As soon as the federal Department of Health and Human Services authorizes additional demonstration projects for additional use monies designated for expenditure for Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, which requires federal funds to be spent on children in foster care, the Department of Human Services shall request a waiver or demonstration project authorization for such monies. The waiver shall allow federal funds to be utilized to support children whose guardianship is transferred in situations where adoption is not possible and an identified family has made a long-term commitment to the child in addition to other programs authorized by law.
   3. 3. Upon obtaining a waiver, the Department shall conduct a three-year demonstration program. The children involved must meet state-established criteria.
   4. 4. The program of supported guardianship shall be operational upon receipt and according to the terms of the approved waiver.
2. B. By January 1 1998, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Juvenile Justice shall submit to the Chairman of the House of Representatives Human Services Committee and the Chairman of the State Senate Human Resources Committee written recommended legislation for the development and implementation of a program for the long-term permanent placement of children in cases where the court has found that adoption of the child or termination of parental rights to the child is not possible or not in the best interests of the child. Such program shall include, but not be limited to, permanent guardianship through the juvenile court, supported guardianship and long-term or permanent foster care of the child. The Postadjudication Review Advisory Board and the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth shall assist the departments in meeting the requirements of this section.

Added by Laws 1997, HB 2133, c. 389, § 21, eff. November 1, 1997.