This law just formalizes something that already happens
Foster Parents have way too much liability as it is. Their only advocate is the child placement agency and half the time the agency will sell the foster parent out at the drop of a hat. Especially if the foster parents advocate to the point that it highlights shortcomings at the agency in the court system. This new "Jessica Lunsford Act? that is being passed in Flordia and being looked at by the US congress is not going to help.
The bill would punish the molestation of children under 12 with a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life, "followed by probation or community control for the remainder of the person's natural life and subject to a system of active electronic monitoring."
While I am for protecting children, foster parents are already riding a fine line when dealing with any one of the thousands of kids with emotional or psychological issues. They are at the mercy of whatever the child states true or not. Even if the child is just pissed off at the foster parent.
Also, the placement agency can pretty much fabricate or amplify any aspect of fosterhome lifestyle they do not like and turn it to spin against the foster parents. Up until this point if the foster parents were gay and they agency did not like it. Bam, trumped up allegation that the kids were not getting any one of the required services and the kids are out. Not to mention the possible criminal charges to the foster parents.
My wife and I used to provide foster care and loved doing it. However, after seeing how the system worked we decided it was just to risky to have these kids in our house.