HB 237 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Child Welfare.

HB 237 updates North Carolina's child welfare laws to prioritize the best interests of juveniles in court decisions. It expands definitions of "abused" and "neglected" juveniles to include cases involving parental substance abuse (including exposure in utero) and clarifies that substance abuse alone cannot justify removing a child if parents are enrolled in treatment. The bill requires courts to first consider placing children with relatives before foster care, mandates social services to notify relatives about siblings in custody, and eliminates "reasonable efforts" for reunification when parents have chronic substance abuse issues affecting the child. These changes directly affect juvenile court cases, social services departments, and parents involved in child welfare proceedings.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 26, 2025 Last action Mar 18, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Edition 1 → Edition 2 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill revision adds new sexual offenses to the list of crimes that trigger specific juvenile justice procedures and modifies custody standards for infants exposed to substances. The changes expand the scope of offenses considered and introduce additional protections for infants born to parents in substance abuse treatment programs.

Scope change

The bill now includes additional sexual offenses (first-degree forcible sex offense and second-degree forcible sex offense) in the list of crimes that affect juvenile disposition, and modifies the circumstances under which nonsecure custody may be ordered for infants exposed to substances.

SCOPE

Added first-degree forcible sex offense (G.S. 14-27.26) and second-degree forcible sex offense (G.S. 14-27.27) to the list of offenses that trigger specific juvenile justice procedures.

REQUIREMENT

Modified the nonsecure custody standard for infants born exposed to substances by adding that substance use shall not be the sole ground for ordering nonsecure custody if the parent is enrolled in and meeting substance abuse treatment benchmarks.

Added requirement that juvenile placement in nonsecure custody must consider whether there are other reasonable means available to protect the juvenile and must account for the juvenile's developmental and attachment needs.

TECHNICAL

Removed sponsor information and committee referral details from the bill header, likely due to committee action and favorable recommendation.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 18, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Health

lower

Mar 18, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav Com Substitute

lower

Feb 27, 2025

Committee

Ref to the Com on Judiciary 2, if favorable, Health, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Feb 26, 2025

Introduced

Filed

lower

0 primary · 3 co-sponsors