AN ACT relating to the protection of children.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 620 to require social service workers to wear body-worn cameras when interacting with children during investigations; require recordings to be stored for at least 5 years and be made available to parents or guardians, their counsel, and the court; establish a civil cause of action against employees of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services who knowingly submit a false statement, withhold exculpatory evidence, or violate a person's constitutional rights; waive qualified immunity; create a new section of KRS Chapter 605 to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to submit an annual report to the Legislative Research Commission on the number of children removed from their homes and the average caseload of social service workers; create a new section of KRS Chapter 194A to establish the family preservation fund; amend KRS 600.010 to provide that KRS Chapters 600 to 645 shall be interpreted consistently with federal law and that statutes in conflict with federal law are void to the extent of the conflict; require courts to apply strict scrutiny when reviewing state action that interferes with the fundamental rights of a parent relating to the parent-child relationship; amend KRS 610.070 to require audio and video recording of dependency, neglect, and abuse hearings; amend KRS 620.060 and KRS 620.080 to require clear and convincing evidence of neglect or abuse before removing a child from the home; amend KRS 620.090 to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to provide a written explanation to the court in cases where placement is not made with relatives or fictive kin; amend KRS 620.155 to require appeals of removal orders to be heard within 24 hours of the order; amend KRS 625.090 to prohibit termination of parental rights if the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has not made reasonable efforts to reunite the child with the parents, unless reasonable efforts are not required under KRS 610.127; provide that the Act may be cited as the Protection of the Children Act; EFFECTIVE July 1, 2027.