---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to child welfare."
description: "Amend KRS 199.462 to prohibit an individual from being approved to provide foster care or relative caregiver services to a child, be considered a fictive kin placement for a child, or to receive a child for adoption if the individual or an adult or minor child living in the individual's is on the adult or juvenile sex offender registry; amend KRS 199.801 related to placement requirements for children in the custody of the state; amend KRS 600.020 to update definitions for \"diversion agreement,\" \"eligible youth,\" and \"informal adjustment\"; amend KRS 610.030 to establish which individuals shall have access to diversion agreements related to juvenile court cases; amend KRS 610.345 to expand the list of individuals that a judge shall notify when a child is adjudicated guilty of an offense which classifies him or her as a youthful offender to include school superintendents, school directors of pupil personnel, and school resource officers; amend KRS 620.050 to expand the list of individuals or entities that can have access to a report of suspected child abuse, neglect, or dependency; remove certain individuals and entities that could have access to files, reports, notes, photographs, records, electronic and other communications, and working papers used or developed by a children's advocacy center related to child welfare investigations; to allow medical professionals to administer comprehensive urine drug screens on children when they suspect abuse or neglect; allow external child fatality and near fatality review panel to access additional data; amend KRS 620.055 to allow the child fatality and near fatality review panel to compel the attendance of members from an investigating agency to discuss cases in closed session; amend KRS 620.140 to expand the ability for a dependent, neglected, or abused youth to request to have his or her commitment extended or reinstated beyond the age of 18 up to the age of 21; create a new section of KRS Chapter 211 to define and establish requirements for \"plan of safe care\" and \"plan of care safety assessment review\" related to substance-exposed infants; create a new section of KRS Chapter 625 related to reporting of involuntarty termination of parental rights; amend KRS 508.090 to define \"controlled substance\" and \"abuse or neglect\"; amend KRS 508.100 and 508.110 to conform; amend KRS 508.120 to enhance the penalty of abuse in the third degree if the victim is under 13 years old and suffered serious physical injury as a result of ingesting or inhaling a controlled substance; amend KRS 15.440 to require law enforcement agencies to possess a policies and procedures manual related to pediatric ingestion or inhalation of controlled substances; amend various sections to require continuing education on pediatric ingestion or inhalation of controlled substances for certain professionals."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2026RS"
identifier: "HB 778"
citation: "Kentucky HB 778 (2026RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Corrections Impact", "Courts", "District", "Courts", "Family", "Education", "Elementary And Secondary", "Local Mandate", "State Agencies"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["D. Grossberg", "N. Wilson", "S. Heavrin", "S. Stalker"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 25
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-02-27T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2026-04-10T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0472159f-d93c-40c6-9c19-7c2de2d9c060"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26RS/hb778.html"
source_hash: "01e513a177a2f21966dccc06e211f5bb6190fe4d54b687eb49fad78f4b25e4a7"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ky"]
---

# Kentucky HB 778 (2026RS) — AN ACT relating to child welfare.

Amend KRS 199.462 to prohibit an individual from being approved to provide foster care or relative caregiver services to a child, be considered a fictive kin placement for a child, or to receive a child for adoption if the individual or an adult or minor child living in the individual's is on the adult or juvenile sex offender registry; amend KRS 199.801 related to placement requirements for children in the custody of the state; amend KRS 600.020 to update definitions for "diversion agreement," "eligible youth," and "informal adjustment"; amend KRS 610.030 to establish which individuals shall have access to diversion agreements related to juvenile court cases; amend KRS 610.345 to expand the list of individuals that a judge shall notify when a child is adjudicated guilty of an offense which classifies him or her as a youthful offender to include school superintendents, school directors of pupil personnel, and school resource officers; amend KRS 620.050 to expand the list of individuals or entities that can have access to a report of suspected child abuse, neglect, or dependency; remove certain individuals and entities that could have access to files, reports, notes, photographs, records, electronic and other communications, and working papers used or developed by a children's advocacy center related to child welfare investigations; to allow medical professionals to administer comprehensive urine drug screens on children when they suspect abuse or neglect; allow external child fatality and near fatality review panel to access additional data; amend KRS 620.055 to allow the child fatality and near fatality review panel to compel the attendance of members from an investigating agency to discuss cases in closed session; amend KRS 620.140 to expand the ability for a dependent, neglected, or abused youth to request to have his or her commitment extended or reinstated beyond the age of 18 up to the age of 21; create a new section of KRS Chapter 211 to define and establish requirements for "plan of safe care" and "plan of care safety assessment review" related to substance-exposed infants; create a new section of KRS Chapter 625 related to reporting of involuntarty termination of parental rights; amend KRS 508.090 to define "controlled substance" and "abuse or neglect"; amend KRS 508.100 and 508.110 to conform; amend KRS 508.120 to enhance the penalty of abuse in the third degree if the victim is under 13 years old and suffered serious physical injury as a result of ingesting or inhaling a controlled substance; amend KRS 15.440 to require law enforcement agencies to possess a policies and procedures manual related to pediatric ingestion or inhalation of controlled substances; amend various sections to require continuing education on pediatric ingestion or inhalation of controlled substances for certain professionals.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb778/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 68** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/26RS/documents/0068.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/26RS/hb778/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- CONSENT PASSAGE OF HB 778 w/ SCS 1 — **38–0** (pass) · lower
- Final Passage — **88–0** (pass) · lower
- Pass — **94–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- D. Grossberg — primary (person)
- N. Wilson — primary (person)
- S. Heavrin — primary (person)
- S. Stalker — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2026-02-27T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-02-27T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-04T05:00:00+00:00** to Families & Children (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-12T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2026-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** floor amendment (1) filed to Committee Substitute `amendment-introduction`
- **2026-03-16T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 17 2026
- **2026-03-17T04:00:00+00:00** floor amendment (2) filed to Committee Substitute `amendment-introduction`
- **2026-03-18T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 94-0 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-19T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2026-03-19T04:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-20T04:00:00+00:00** to Families & Children (S) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-24T04:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Consent Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-25T04:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules as a consent bill `reading-2`
- **2026-03-26T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Consent Orders of the Day for Friday, March 27 2026
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 38-0 with Committee Substitute (1) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** to Rules (H) `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute (1)
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** House concurred in Committee Substitute (1)
- **2026-03-31T04:00:00+00:00** passed 88-0 `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2026-04-01T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2026-04-10T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch.68) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0472159f-d93c-40c6-9c19-7c2de2d9c060`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).