Oregon HB 2331 and Delegation of Parental Powers — What Happened

The Bill That Didn't Pass

During the 2025 Oregon Legislative Session, House Bill 2331 proposed amending ORS 109.056 — the statute that lets a parent delegate care, custody, and decision-making authority for their child to another adult through a power of attorney. The bill would have restricted a parent's ability to execute this delegation when the child was in the legal care or custody of the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS).

HB 2331 died in committee when the 83rd Legislative Assembly adjourned on June 27, 2025. It was never enacted into law.

What HB 2331 Would Have Changed

Under current law (ORS 109.056), any legal parent or guardian can delegate parental powers to another adult for up to six months — twelve months if the delegate is a school administrator, and longer for active-duty military. The statute doesn't distinguish between parents whose children are in state custody and those whose children are not.

HB 2331 would have added a carve-out: parents could not execute a delegation if their child was already under ODHS care or custody through the child welfare system. The concern was that parents in active dependency cases might use private delegations to bypass court-ordered placements.

Why It Matters for Kinship Caregivers

If you're a grandparent or relative caring for a child through a private family arrangement — no ODHS involvement, no juvenile court case — HB 2331's failure changes nothing for you. ORS 109.056 remains exactly as it was. A parent can still sign a delegation of parental powers giving you authority over the child for up to six months.

If the child is under an ODHS placement or juvenile-court order, those placement decisions control regardless of HB 2331. A private delegation from the parent doesn't override the order, and you'd need to work with the caseworker and potentially the court to formalize your role.

The practical takeaway: the line between private kinship care and child welfare placement is the one that matters. When a family arrangement is entirely private, ORS 109.056 and the Relative Caregiver Affidavit (ORS 109.575) may provide non-court authority. When ODHS or the juvenile court has a placement order, that order controls regardless of what any pending legislation says.

Staying Current on Oregon Caregiver Law

ORS 109.056 remains unamended with respect to the restriction proposed in HB 2331; that proposal has no legal effect. One thing to watch: Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 592, includes amendments to ORS 109.067 parentage presumptions with a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027. Those changes affect parentage determinations, not caregiver delegation — but they're worth knowing about if custody questions are on the horizon.

The Oregon School and Medical Consent guide covers the current state of both the caregiver affidavit and the delegation of parental powers, including when each instrument works and when court involvement is the better path.

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