republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/sb-56.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CHILDREN IN DSCYF CUSTODY.	This bill implements a portion of the federal requirements in the bipartisan Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act to promote greater “normalcy” for youth in foster care. Specifically, it provides a limitation from liability provision for foster parents who exercise the reasonable and prudent parent standard for those youth in their care to allow their participation in age appropriate activities. Section 2523(b) provides certain criteria to determine whether a decision is reasonable and prudent, including: the wishes of the child; the wishes of the child’s parent; best interests of the child; the child’s age, maturity, and any potential risk factors to the child or others; and the appropriateness of the activity and experience for extracurricular, cultural, or social enrichment.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	SB 56	Delaware SB 56 (149)	bill		enacted	Brian J. Bushweller Bryon H. Short	1	9	2	2017-04-04	2017-08-17	openstates	ocd-bill/82ce77fb-1928-4367-8ff4-706458401df3	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25605	94446bbcfc283f793d167db6142f9d557e1b7fb29e3f0936bd76a45603a0a75e	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware SB 56 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CHILDREN IN DSCYF CUSTODY.

This bill implements a portion of the federal requirements in the bipartisan Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act to promote greater “normalcy” for youth in foster care. Specifically, it provides a limitation from liability provision for foster parents who exercise the reasonable and prudent parent standard for those youth in their care to allow their participation in age appropriate activities. Section 2523(b) provides certain criteria to determine whether a decision is reasonable and prudent, including: the wishes of the child; the wishes of the child’s parent; best interests of the child; the child’s age, maturity, and any potential risk factors to the child or others; and the appropriateness of the activity and experience for extracurricular, cultural, or social enrichment.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 17–0 (pass) · upper
• SM — 37–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Brian J. Bushweller — primary (person)
• Bryon H. Short — primary (person)
• Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
• David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
• Deborah Hudson — cosponsor (person)
• Earl G. Jaques Jr. — cosponsor (person)
• Ernesto B Lopez — cosponsor (person)
• Robert Marshall — cosponsor (person)
• Ronald E. Gray — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-04-04 Introduced and Assigned to Judicial & Community Affairs Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-04-26 Reported Out of Committee (Judicial & Community Affairs) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-05-04 Amendment SA 1 to SB 56 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-05-17 Amendment SA 1 to SB 56 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT amendment-passage
• 2017-05-17 Passed By Senate. Votes: 17 YES 4 ABSENT passage
• 2017-05-18 Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-06-21 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 8 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-06-30 Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT passage
• 2017-08-17 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/82ce77fb-1928-4367-8ff4-706458401df3. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).