HF 3159

2nd Engrossment - 92nd Legislature (2021 - 2022) Posted on 03/17/2022 04:45pm

A bill for an act
relating to human services; modifying purpose of law for permanency dispositions
when a child cannot be placed with parents; modifying permanency dispositions
when a child cannot return home; amending Minnesota Statutes 2020, sections
260C.001, subdivision 3; 260C.513.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2020, section 260C.001, subdivision 3, is amended to read:

Subd. 3.

Permanency, termination of parental rights, and adoption.

The purpose of
the laws relating to permanency, termination of parental rights, and children who come
under the guardianship of the commissioner of human services is to ensure that:

(1) when required and appropriate, reasonable efforts have been made by the social
services agency to reunite the child with the child's parents in a home that is safe and
permanent;

(2) if placement with the parents is not reasonably foreseeable, to secure for the child a
safe and permanent placement according to the requirements of section 260C.212, subdivision
2, preferably deleted text begin with adoptive parents deleted text end new text begin with a relative through an adoption or a transfer of
permanent legal and physical custody new text end or, if that is not possible or in the best interests of the
child, deleted text begin a fit and willing relative through transfer of permanent legal and physical custody to
that relative deleted text end new text begin with a nonrelative caregiver through adoption new text end ; and

(3) when a child is under the guardianship of the commissioner of human services,
reasonable efforts are made to finalize an adoptive home for the child in a timely manner.

Nothing in this section requires reasonable efforts to prevent placement or to reunify
the child with the parent or guardian to be made in circumstances where the court has
determined that the child has been subjected to egregious harm, when the child is an
abandoned infant, the parent has involuntarily lost custody of another child through a
proceeding under section 260C.515, subdivision 4, or similar law of another state, the
parental rights of the parent to a sibling have been involuntarily terminated, or the court has
determined that reasonable efforts or further reasonable efforts to reunify the child with the
parent or guardian would be futile.

The paramount consideration in all proceedings for permanent placement of the child
under sections 260C.503 to 260C.521, or the termination of parental rights is the best interests
of the child. In proceedings involving an American Indian child, as defined in section
260.755, subdivision 8, the best interests of the child must be determined consistent with
the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, United States Code, title 25, section 1901, et seq.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2020, section 260C.513, is amended to read:

260C.513 PERMANENCY DISPOSITIONS WHEN CHILD CANNOT RETURN
HOME.

(a) deleted text begin Termination of parental rights and adoption, or guardianship to the commissioner of
human services through a consent to adopt, are preferred permanency options for a child
who cannot return home. If the court finds that termination of parental rights and guardianship
to the commissioner is not in the child's best interests, the court may transfer permanent
legal and physical custody of the child to a relative when that order is in the child's best
interests deleted text end new text begin In determining a permanency disposition under section 260C.515 for a child who
cannot return home, the court shall give preference to a permanency disposition that will
result in the child being placed in the permanent care of a relative through a termination of
parental rights and adoption, guardianship to the commissioner of human services through
a consent to adopt, or a transfer of permanent legal and physical custody, consistent with
the best interests of the child and section 260C.212, subdivision 2, paragraph (a). If a relative
is not available to accept placement or the court finds that a permanent placement with a
relative is not in the child's best interests, the court may consider a permanency disposition
that may result in the child being permanently placed in the care of a nonrelative caregiver,
including adoption new text end .

(b) When the court has determined that permanent placement of the child away from
the parent is necessary, the court shall consider permanent alternative homes that are available
both inside and outside the state.