Minnesota Session Laws - 1988, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1988 

                        CHAPTER 514-H.F.No. 577 
           An act relating to termination of parental rights; 
          clarifying the purposes of the laws on termination of 
          parental rights; altering certain grounds and 
          procedures for termination of parental rights; 
          providing for a study of placement prevention and 
          family reunification services; amending Minnesota 
          Statutes 1986, sections 257.071, subdivisions 3 and 4; 
          260.011, subdivision 2; 260.012; 260.015, subdivision 
          10; and 260.155, subdivisions 4a and 7; and Minnesota 
          Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 260.221. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 257.071, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 3.  [REVIEW OF VOLUNTARY PLACEMENTS.] Subject to the 
provisions of subdivision subdivisions 3 and 4, if the child has 
been placed in a residential facility pursuant to a voluntary 
release by the parent or parents, and is not returned home 
within 18 12 months after initial placement in the residential 
facility, the social service agency responsible for the 
placement shall: 
    (a) Return the child to the home of the parent or parents; 
or 
    (b) File an appropriate petition pursuant to section 
260.131, subdivision 1, or 260.231, and if the petition is 
dismissed, petition the court within two years, pursuant to 
section 260.131, subdivision 1a, to determine if the placement 
is in the best interests of the child.  
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 257.071, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 4.  [REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED AND 
EMOTIONALLY HANDICAPPED CHILD PLACEMENTS.] If a developmentally 
disabled child, as that term is defined in United States Code, 
title 42, section 6001 (7), as amended through December 31, 
1979, or a child diagnosed with an emotional handicap as defined 
in section 252.27, subdivision 1, has been placed in a 
residential facility pursuant to a voluntary release by the 
child's parent or parents because of the child's handicapping 
conditions or need for long-term residential treatment or 
supervision, the social service agency responsible for the 
placement shall bring a petition for review of the child's 
foster care status, pursuant to section 260.131, subdivision 1a, 
rather than a petition as required by subdivision 3, clause (b) 
of this section, after the child has been in foster care for 18 
months or, in the case of a child with an emotional handicap, 
after the child has been in a residential facility for six 
months.  Whenever a petition for review is brought pursuant to 
this subdivision, a guardian ad litem shall be appointed for the 
child. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 260.011, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 2.  (a) The purpose of the laws relating to juvenile 
courts is to secure for each child alleged or adjudicated 
neglected or dependent and under the jurisdiction of the court, 
the care and guidance, preferably in the child's own home, as 
will serve the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical 
welfare of the child and the best interests of the state; to 
provide judicial procedures which protect the welfare of the 
child; to preserve and strengthen the child's family ties 
whenever possible, removing the child from the custody of 
parents only when the child's welfare or safety cannot be 
adequately safeguarded without removal; and, when removal from 
the child's own family is necessary, to secure for the child 
custody, care and discipline as nearly as possible equivalent to 
that which should have been given by the parents.  
    (b) The purpose of the laws relating to termination of 
parental rights is to ensure that: 
    (1) reasonable efforts have been made by the social service 
agency to reunite the child with the child's parents in a 
placement that is safe and permanent; and 
    (2) if placement with the parents is not reasonably 
forseeable, to secure for the child a safe and permanent 
placement, preferably with adoptive parents. 
    The paramount consideration in all proceedings for the 
termination of parental rights is the best interests of the 
child.  In proceedings involving an American Indian child, as 
defined in section 257.351, subdivision 6, 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.  
    (c) The purpose of the laws relating to children alleged or 
adjudicated to be delinquent is to promote the public safety and 
reduce juvenile delinquency by maintaining the integrity of the 
substantive law prohibiting certain behavior and by developing 
individual responsibility for lawful behavior.  This purpose 
should be pursued through means that are fair and just, that 
recognize the unique characteristics and needs of children, and 
that give children access to opportunities for personal and 
social growth.  
    (d) The laws relating to juvenile courts shall be liberally 
construed to carry out these purposes.  
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 260.012, is 
amended to read:  
    260.012 [DUTY TO ENSURE FAMILY REUNIFICATION OF JUVENILE 
COURT.] 
    At all stages of juvenile court proceedings, If a child is 
under the court's dependency or neglect jurisdiction, the court 
shall ensure that reasonable efforts by the social service 
agency are made to reunite the child with the child's family at 
the earliest possible time, consistent with the best interests 
of the child.  If a child is under the court's delinquency 
jurisdiction, it shall be the duty of the court to ensure 
that all reasonable efforts are made to reunite a the child with 
the child's family at the earliest possible time, consistent 
with the best interests of the child and the safety of the child 
and the public. 
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 260.015, 
subdivision 10, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 10.  "Neglected child" means a child: 
    (a) who is abandoned by a parent, guardian, or other 
custodian; or 
    (b) who is without proper parental care because of the 
faults or habits of a parent, guardian, or other custodian; or 
    (c) who is without necessary subsistence, education or 
other care necessary for physical or mental health or morals 
because the parent, guardian or other custodian neglects or 
refuses to provide it; or 
    (d) who is without the special care made necessary by a 
physical or mental condition because the parent, guardian, or 
other custodian neglects or refuses to provide it; or 
    (e) who is medically neglected, which includes, but is not 
limited to, the withholding of medically indicated treatment 
from a disabled infant with a life-threatening condition.  The 
term "withholding of medically indicated treatment" means the 
failure to respond to the infant's life-threatening conditions 
by providing treatment including appropriate nutrition, 
hydration, and medication which, in the treating physician's or 
physicians' reasonable medical judgment, will be most likely to 
be effective in ameliorating or correcting all conditions, 
except that the term does not include the failure to provide 
treatment other than appropriate nutrition, hydration, or 
medication to an infant when, in the treating physician's or 
physicians' reasonable medical judgment: 
    (1) the infant is chronically and irreversibly comatose; 
    (2) the provision of the treatment would merely prolong 
dying, not be effective in ameliorating or correcting all of the 
infant's life-threatening conditions, or otherwise be futile in 
terms of the survival of the infant; or 
    (3) the provision of the treatment would be virtually 
futile in terms of the survival of the infant and the treatment 
itself under the circumstances would be inhumane; or 
    (f) whose occupation, behavior, condition, environment or 
associations are such as to be injurious or dangerous to the 
child or others; or 
    (g) who is living in a facility for foster care which is 
not licensed as required by law, unless the child is living in 
the facility under court order; or 
    (h) whose parent, guardian, or custodian has made 
arrangements for the child's placement in a manner detrimental 
to the welfare of the child or in violation of law; or 
    (i) who comes within the provisions of subdivision 5, but 
whose conduct results in whole or in part from parental neglect; 
or 
     (j) who is a victim of domestic child abuse as defined in 
section 260.015, subdivision 24. 
    Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 260.155, 
subdivision 4a, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 4a.  [EXAMINATION OF CHILD.] In any dependency, 
neglect, or neglected and in foster care, or termination of 
parental rights proceeding the court may, on its own motion or 
the motion of any party, take the testimony of a child witness 
informally when it is in the child's best interests to do so.  
Informal procedures that may be used by the court include taking 
the testimony of a child witness outside the courtroom.  The 
court may also require counsel for any party to the proceeding 
to submit questions to the court before the child's testimony is 
taken, and to submit additional questions to the court for the 
witness after questioning has been completed.  The court may 
excuse the presence of the child's parent, guardian, or 
custodian from the room where the child is questioned in 
accordance with subdivision 5. 
    Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 260.155, 
subdivision 7, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 7.  [FACTORS IN DETERMINING NEGLECT.] In determining 
whether a child is neglected and in foster care, the court shall 
consider, among other factors, the following: 
    (1) The length of time the child has been in foster care; 
    (2) The effort the parent has made to adjust circumstances, 
conduct, or condition to make it in the child's best interest to 
be returned to the parent's home in the foreseeable future, 
including the use of rehabilitative services offered to the 
parent; 
    (3) Whether the parent has visited the child within the 
nine three months preceding the filing of the petition, unless 
it was physically or financially impossible for the parent to 
visit or extreme financial or physical hardship or treatment for 
mental disability or chemical dependency or other good cause 
prevented the parent from visiting the child or it was not in 
the best interests of the child to be visited by the parent; 
    (4) The maintenance of regular contact or communication 
with the agency or person temporarily responsible for the child; 
    (5) The appropriateness and adequacy of services provided 
or offered to the parent to facilitate a reunion; 
    (6) Whether additional services would be likely to bring 
about lasting parental adjustment enabling a return of the child 
to the parent within an ascertainable period of time; and 
    (7) The nature of the effort made by the responsible social 
service agency to rehabilitate and reunite the family. 
    Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
260.221, is amended to read:  
    260.221 [GROUNDS FOR TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY.] The juvenile 
court may upon petition, terminate all rights of a parent to a 
child in the following cases: 
    (a) With the written consent of a parent who for good cause 
desires to terminate parental rights; or 
    (b) If it finds that one or more of the following 
conditions exist: 
    (1) That the parent has abandoned the child.  Abandonment 
is presumed when: 
    (i) the parent has had no contact or merely incidental 
contact with the child for six months in the case of a child 
under six years of age, or for 12 months in the case of a child 
ages six to 11; and 
    (ii) the social service agency has made reasonable efforts 
to facilitate contact, unless the parent establishes that an 
extreme financial or physical hardship or treatment for mental 
disability or chemical dependency or other good cause prevented 
the parent from making contact with the child.  This presumption 
does not apply to children whose custody has been determined 
under chapter 257 or 518.  The court is not prohibited from 
finding abandonment in the absence of this presumption; or 
    (2) That the parent has substantially, continuously, or 
repeatedly refused or neglected to comply with the duties 
imposed upon that parent by the parent and child relationship, 
including but not limited to providing the child with necessary 
food, clothing, shelter, education, and other care and control 
necessary for the child's physical, mental, or emotional health 
and development, if the parent is physically and financially 
able, and reasonable efforts by the social service agency have 
failed to correct the conditions that formed the basis of the 
petition; or 
    (3) That a parent has been ordered to contribute to the 
support of the child or financially aid in the child's birth and 
has continuously failed to do so without good cause.  This 
clause shall not be construed to state a grounds for termination 
of parental rights of a noncustodial parent if that parent has 
not been ordered to or cannot financially contribute to the 
support of the child or aid in the child's birth; or 
    (4) That a parent is palpably unfit to be a party to the 
parent and child relationship because of a consistent pattern of 
specific conduct before the child or of specific conditions 
directly relating to the parent and child relationship either of 
which are determined by the court to be permanently detrimental 
to the physical or mental health of the child of a duration or 
nature that renders the parent unable, for the reasonably 
foreseeable future, to care appropriately for the ongoing 
physical, mental, or emotional needs of the child; or 
    (5) That following upon a determination of neglect or 
dependency, reasonable efforts, under the direction of the 
court, have failed to correct the conditions leading to the 
determination.  It is presumed that reasonable efforts under 
this clause have failed upon a showing that: 
    (i) a child under the age of 12 has resided out of the 
parental home under court order for more than one year following 
an adjudication of dependency, neglect or neglected and in 
foster care, and an order for disposition under section 260.191, 
including adoption of the case plan required by section 257.071; 
    (ii) conditions leading to the determination will not be 
corrected within the reasonably foreseeable future; and 
    (iii) reasonable efforts have been made by the social 
service agency to rehabilitate the parent and reunite the family.
     This clause does not prohibit the termination of parental 
rights prior to one year after a child has been placed out of 
the home; or 
    (6) That in the case of a child born to a mother who was 
not married to the child's father when the child was conceived 
nor when the child was born the person is not entitled to notice 
of an adoption hearing under section 259.26 and either the 
person has not filed a notice of intent to retain parental 
rights under section 259.261 or that the notice has been 
successfully challenged; or 
    (7) That the child is neglected and in foster care. 
    Subd. 2.  [ADOPTIVE PARENT.] For purposes of subdivision 1, 
clause (a), an adoptive parent may not terminate parental rights 
to an adopted child for a reason that would not apply to a birth 
parent seeking termination of parental rights to a child 
under subdivision 1, clause (a). 
    Subd. 3.  [WHEN PRIOR FINDING REQUIRED.] For purposes of 
subdivision 1, clause (b), no prior judicial finding of 
dependency, neglect, or neglected and in foster care is 
required, except as provided in subdivision 1, clause (b), item 
(5). 
    Subd. 4.  [BEST INTERESTS OF CHILD PARAMOUNT.] In any 
proceeding under this section, the best interests of the child 
must be the paramount consideration, provided that the 
conditions in subdivision 1, clause (a), or at least one 
condition in subdivision 1, clause (b), are found by the court.  
In proceedings involving an American Indian child, as defined in 
section 257.351, subdivision 6, 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.  
Where the interests of parent and child conflict, the interests 
of the child are paramount.  
    Subd. 5.  [FINDINGS REGARDING REASONABLE EFFORTS.] In any 
proceeding under this section, the court shall make specific 
findings regarding the nature and extent of efforts made by the 
social service agency to rehabilitate the parent and reunite the 
family. 
    Sec. 9.  [STUDY.] 
    By January 1, 1989, the commissioner of human services 
shall study and make recommendations to the legislature on what 
constitutes reasonable efforts by the social service agency to 
provide families with placement prevention and family 
reunification services and under what circumstances information 
and notice should be provided to parents.  The commissioner 
shall consult with community-based family advocacy 
organizations, representatives of minority communities, groups 
representing mentally or physically disabled children and their 
families, representatives of public and private social service 
agencies, members of the judiciary, and attorneys who represent 
all parties in juvenile protection proceedings. 
    Sec. 10.  [EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.] 
    This act is effective August 1, 1988, and applies to 
petitions for termination of parental rights filed and 
placements begun on and after that date. 
    Approved April 14, 1988