3.7 Reunificaiton Efforts

AS 47.10.086 Reasonable Efforts

25 U.S.C 1912(d) Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) (P.L. 95-608)

42 U.S.C. 671(a)(15) State Plan for Foster Care and Adoption Assistance (Title IV-E)

42 U.S.C. 5106a(b)(2)(B)(xvi) Eligibility Requirements (Child Abuse or Neglect Prevention and Treatment – CAPTA)

 

To provide clarification about under which circumstances efforts must be made to reunify children with their parents.

Federal Law:

1. Reasonable Efforts:

   1. When a child has been removed from home, the state is required to make reasonable efforts to make it possible for a child to safely return to the child's home.

   2. Reasonable efforts to return a child home are not required with respect to a parent of a child if a court of competent Jurisdiction has determined that:

      1. the parent has subjected the child to aggravated circumstances (as defined in State law, which definition may include but need not be limited to abandonment, torture, chronic abuse, and sexual abuse); or

      2. the parent:

         1. has committed murder or voluntary manslaughter of another child of the parent; or

         2. has aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such a murder or voluntary manslaughter; or

         3. has committed a felony assault that results in serious bodily injury to the child or another child of the parent; or

         4. has committed sexual abuse against the surviving child or another child of such parent; or

         5. is required to register with a sex offender registry under section 113(a) of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16913(a)); or

      3. the parental rights of the parent to a sibling have been terminated involuntarily.

   3. If continuation of reasonable efforts to return the child home is determined to be inconsistent with the permanency plan for the child, reasonable efforts shall be made to place the child in a timely manner in accordance with the permanency plan (including, if appropriate, through an interstate placement) and to complete whatever steps are necessary to finalize the permanent placement of the child.

   4. Reasonable efforts to place a child for adoption or with a legal guardian, including identifying appropriate in-state and out-of-state placements, may be made concurrently with reasonable efforts to return the child home.

2. Active Efforts: The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) requires that any party seeking to effect a removal of an Indian child from his or her parent or Indian Custodian or the termination of the parental rights to an Indian child under state law must satisfy the court that active efforts have been made to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs designed to prevent the breakup of the Indian family and that these efforts have proved unsuccessful.

State Law:

1. Except as provided in (B)(2) and (3) below, the department shall make timely, reasonable efforts to provide family support services to the child and to the parents or guardian of the child that are designed to prevent out-of-home placement of the child or to enable the safe return of the child to the family home, when appropriate, if the child is in an out-of-home placement. The department's duty to make reasonable efforts under this subsection includes the duty to:

   1. identify family support services that will assist the parent or guardian in remedying the conduct or conditions in the home that made the child a child in need of aid;

   2. actively offer the parent or guardian, and refer the parent or guardian to, the services identified under (B)(1)(a) above; the department shall refer the parent or guardian to community-based family support services whenever community-based services are available and desired by the parent or guardian; and

   3. document the department's actions that are taken under (B)(1)(a) and (b) above.

2. The court may determine that reasonable efforts of the type described in (B)(1) above are not required if the court has found by Clear and Convincing Evidence that

   1. the parent or guardian has subjected the child to circumstances that pose a substantial risk to the child's health or safety; these circumstances include abandonment, sexual abuse, torture, chronic mental injury, or chronic physical harm; or

   2. the parent or guardian has

      1. committed homicide of a parent of the child or of a child; or

      2. aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit a homicide of a parent of the child or of a child; or

      3. committed an assault that is a felony and results in serious physical injury to a child; or

      4. committed the conduct described in (B)(2)(b)(1)-(3) above that violated a law or ordinance of another jurisdiction having elements similar to an offense described in (B)(2)(b)(1)-(3) above; or

      5. the parent or guardian has, during the 12 months preceding the permanency hearing, failed to comply with a court order to participate in family support services; or

   3. the department has conducted a reasonably diligent search over a time period of at least three months for an unidentified or Absent Parent and has failed to identify and locate the parent; or

   4. the parent or guardian is the sole caregiver of the child and the parent or guardian has a mental illness or mental deficiency of such nature and duration that, according to the statement of a psychologist or physician, the parent or guardian will be incapable of caring for the child without placing the child at substantial risk of physical or mental injury even if the department were to provide family support services to the parent or guardian for 12 months; or

   5. the parent or guardian has previously been convicted of a crime involving a child in this state or in another jurisdiction and, after the conviction, the child was returned to the custody of the parent or guardian and later removed because of an additional substantiated report of physical or sexual abuse by the parent or guardian; or

   6. a child has suffered substantial physical harm as the result of abusive or neglectful conduct by the parent or guardian or by a person known by the parent or guardian and the parent or guardian knew or reasonably should have known that the person was abusing the child; or

   7. the parental rights of the parent have been terminated with respect to another child because of child abuse or neglect, the parent has not remedied the conditions or conduct that led to the termination of parental rights, and the parent has demonstrated an inability to protect the child from substantial harm or the risk of substantial harm; or

   8. the child has been removed from the child's home on at least two previous occasions, family support services were offered or provided to the parent or guardian at those times, and the parent or guardian has demonstrated an inability to protect the child from substantial harm or the risk of substantial harm; or

   9. the parent or guardian is incarcerated and is unavailable to care for the child during a significant period of the child's minority, considering the child's age and need for care by an adult.

3. The department is not required to make reasonable efforts to return the child home if the department took emergency custody of an Infant after the infant was abandoned safely within the meaning of AS 47.10.013(c).

4. If the court makes a finding that a parent or guardian has not sufficiently remedied the parent's or guardian's conduct or the conditions in the home despite reasonable efforts made by the department in accordance with this section, the court may conclude that continuation of reasonable efforts to return the child home are not in the best interests of the child. The department shall then make reasonable efforts to place the child in a timely manner in accordance with the permanent plan and to complete whatever steps are necessary to finalize the permanent placement of the child.

5. The department may develop and implement an alternative permanency plan for the child while the department is also making reasonable efforts to return the child to the child's family.

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