republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1604.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Foster care; definitions, reasonable efforts to prevent removal of child."
description: "Allows a local board of social services to take a child into immediate custody pursuant to an emergency removal order in cases in which the child is alleged to have been abused or neglected and allows a court to issue certain orders in such cases, without requiring that reasonable efforts be made to prevent removal of the child from his home if (i) the parental residual rights of the child's parent over a sibling were involuntarily terminated; (ii) the parent was convicted of murder or voluntary manslaughter, or a felony attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit any such offense, if the victim was a child of or resided with the parent or was the other parent of the child; (iii) the parent was convicted of felony assault resulting in serious bodily injury or felony bodily wounding resulting in serious bodily injury or felony sexual assault, if the victim was a child of or resided with the parent; or (iv) on the basis of clear and convincing evidence, the parent has subjected any child to aggravated circumstances or abandoned a child under circumstances that would justify the termination of residual parental rights. The bill provides that, in each permanency planning hearing and in any hearing regarding the transition of the child from foster care to independent living, the court shall consult with the child, unless the court finds that such consultation is not in the best interests of the child. The bill makes other changes related to foster care to comply with federal requirements."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1604"
citation: "Virginia HB 1604 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts Not of Record", "Minors", "Welfare (Social Services)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Richard P. Bell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2017-01-03"
last_action: "2017-02-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3f06a7c8-ee94-44a0-a2fa-3f3202669c7c"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1604"
source_hash: "c00e9b4c4762200edc351653bd6551da3441bde7339532e1682e658c7b23b87c"
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-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 1604 (2017) — Foster care; definitions, reasonable efforts to prevent removal of child.

Allows a local board of social services to take a child into immediate custody pursuant to an emergency removal order in cases in which the child is alleged to have been abused or neglected and allows a court to issue certain orders in such cases, without requiring that reasonable efforts be made to prevent removal of the child from his home if (i) the parental residual rights of the child's parent over a sibling were involuntarily terminated; (ii) the parent was convicted of murder or voluntary manslaughter, or a felony attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit any such offense, if the victim was a child of or resided with the parent or was the other parent of the child; (iii) the parent was convicted of felony assault resulting in serious bodily injury or felony bodily wounding resulting in serious bodily injury or felony sexual assault, if the victim was a child of or resided with the parent; or (iv) on the basis of clear and convincing evidence, the parent has subjected any child to aggravated circumstances or abandoned a child under circumstances that would justify the termination of residual parental rights. The bill provides that, in each permanency planning hearing and in any hearing regarding the transition of the child from foster care to independent living, the court shall consult with the child, unless the court finds that such consultation is not in the best interests of the child. The bill makes other changes related to foster care to comply with federal requirements.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0190)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0190)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1604ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1604ER)
3. **House: Committee substitute printed 17104379D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1604H1)
4. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101355D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1604)

## Votes

- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute — **20–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice — **14–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Richard P. Bell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/17 17101355D `introduction`
- **2017-01-03** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-13** Assigned Courts sub: Civil Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-24** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-25** Committee substitute agreed to 17104379D-H1
- **2017-01-25** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1604H1
- **2017-01-26** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-27** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-27** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-13** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-13** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-14** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-16** Enrolled
- **2017-02-16** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-17** Signed by President
- **2017-02-17** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/17/17
- **2017-02-17** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 24, 2017
- **2017-02-23** Approved by Governor-Chapter 190 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3f06a7c8-ee94-44a0-a2fa-3f3202669c7c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).