---
type: "Bill"
title: "Requires DCF or court to consider placement of children with relatives or kinship guardians when making placement decision; makes changes to certain standards for initiating petitions to terminate parental rights."
description: "Requires DCF or court to consider placement of children with relatives or kinship guardians when making placement decision; makes changes to certain standards for initiating petitions to terminate parental rights."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nj"
legislature: "New Jersey Legislature"
session: "219"
identifier: "S 3814"
citation: "New Jersey S 3814 (219)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CHILD CUSTOD"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Conaway, Herb", "Madden, Fred H.", "Mosquera, Gabriela M.", "Tully, P. Christopher"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 7
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2021-05-20T04:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2021-07-02T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/34d6bfb5-44e2-4714-846b-fcf7fe4382a2"
source_url: "http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/downloads.asp"
source_hash: "cb6b14f15d755ae0da94371ca6bbb8f211aa366198a0ee5cfa7dab1380f2f6fb"
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-nj"]
---

# New Jersey S 3814 (219) — Requires DCF or court to consider placement of children with relatives or kinship guardians when making placement decision; makes changes to certain standards for initiating petitions to terminate parental rights.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2020/Bills/S4000/3814_I1.HTM)
2. **Reprint** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2020/Bills/S4000/3814_R1.HTM)

## Votes

- Reported out of Senate committee with amendments — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- 3RDG FINAL PASSAGE — **67–1** (pass) · lower
- 3RDG FINAL PASSAGE — **36–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Conaway, Herb — primary (person)
- Madden, Fred H. — primary (person)
- Mosquera, Gabriela M. — primary (person)
- Tully, P. Christopher — primary (person)
- Jasey, Mila M. — cosponsor (person)
- McKnight, Angela V. — cosponsor (person)
- Reynolds-Jackson, Verlina — cosponsor (person)
- Speight, Shanique — cosponsor (person)
- Stanley, Sterley S. — cosponsor (person)
- Swain, Lisa — cosponsor (person)
- Timberlake, Britnee N. — cosponsor (person)
- Vainieri Huttle, Valerie — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-05-20T04:00:00+00:00** Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-10T04:00:00+00:00** Reported out of Senate Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading `committee-passage`
- **2021-06-21T04:00:00+00:00** Passed Senate (36-0) `passage`
- **2021-06-21T04:00:00+00:00** Received in the Assembly without Reference, 2nd Reading
- **2021-06-21T04:00:00+00:00** Substituted for A5598 (1R)
- **2021-06-21T04:00:00+00:00** Passed Assembly (Passed Both Houses) (67-1-3) `passage`
- **2021-07-02T04:00:00+00:00** Approved P.L.2021, c.154. `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/34d6bfb5-44e2-4714-846b-fcf7fe4382a2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official New Jersey legislature records).