SB 384 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Establish temporary hardship law

SB 384 allows Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services to temporarily remove a child from their home for up to 15 days due to temporary hardships like sudden illness, medical emergencies, or legal issues preventing safe care. The child must be returned home within 15 days unless parents cannot resume care, in which case the department may file for emergency protective services. "Temporary hardship" is defined as short-term physical, medical, or legal circumstances that temporarily prevent a parent or guardian from ensuring the child's safety. The bill amends Montana's child welfare laws to establish this specific 15-day temporary placement process with clear return requirements.
Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 20, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC1832.pdf SB0384_1.pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill was renumbered from LC 1832 to SB 384.1 and the sponsor information was updated to list D. Emrich, J. Fuller, and D. Lenz. A new definition was added to clarify that 'concurrent planning' involves working toward family reunification while simultaneously developing an alternative permanent plan for the child.
Scope change
The bill's scope remains focused on protective placement of children, but the definition of concurrent planning is now explicitly expanded to include the dual goals of reunification and alternative permanent planning.
DEFINITION

Added a specific definition for 'concurrent planning' to ensure it is understood as a process that pursues both family reunification and alternative permanent plans at the same time.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill number from LC 1832 to SB 384.1 and revised the sponsor names to reflect the current legislative sponsors.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
19
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Amendments
1
Mar 1, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
upper
Feb 21, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
upper
Feb 20, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Daniel Emrich
Daniel Emrich
RRepublican
MT
11