Minnesota Session Laws - 1989, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1989 

                        CHAPTER 113-S.F.No. 493 
           An act relating to juvenile court; expanding the 
          definition of child in need of protection or services; 
          expanding the child hearsay exception to include 
          statements regarding the abuse or neglect of another 
          child witnessed by the child making the statement; 
          clarifying the authority of the court to order the 
          temporary removal of a child due to immediate 
          endangerment; amending Minnesota Statutes 1988, 
          sections 260.015, subdivision 2a; 260.156; and 
          260.172, subdivision 1. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 260.015, 
subdivision 2a, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2a.  [CHILD IN NEED OF PROTECTION OR SERVICES.] 
"Child in need of protection or services" means a child who is 
in need of protection or services because the child: 
    (1) is abandoned or without parent, guardian, or custodian; 
    (2) (i) has been a victim of physical or sexual abuse, or 
(ii) resides with or has resided with a victim of domestic child 
abuse as defined in subdivision 24, or (iii) resides with or 
would reside with a perpetrator of domestic child abuse; 
    (3) is without necessary food, clothing, shelter, 
education, or other required care for the child's physical or 
mental health or morals because the child's parent, guardian, or 
custodian is unable or unwilling to provide that care; 
    (4) is without the special care made necessary by a 
physical, mental, or emotional condition because the child's 
parent, guardian, or custodian is unable or unwilling to provide 
that care; 
    (5) 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: 
     (i) the infant is chronically and irreversibly comatose; 
     (ii) 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 
     (iii) 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; 
     (6) is one whose parent, guardian, or other custodian for 
good cause desires to be relieved of the child's care and 
custody; 
     (7) has been placed for adoption or care in violation of 
law; 
     (8) is without proper parental care because of the 
emotional, mental, or physical disability, or state of 
immaturity of the child's parent, guardian, or other custodian; 
     (9) is one whose occupation, behavior, condition, 
environment, or associations are such as to be injurious or 
dangerous to the child or others; 
     (10) has committed a delinquent act before becoming ten 
years old; 
     (11) is a runaway; or 
     (12) is an habitual truant. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 260.156, is 
amended to read: 
    260.156 [CERTAIN OUT-OF-COURT STATEMENTS ADMISSIBLE.] 
    An out-of-court statement made by a child under the age of 
ten years, or a child ten years of age or older who is mentally 
impaired, as defined under section 609.341, subdivision 6, 
alleging, explaining, denying, or describing any act of sexual 
contact or penetration performed with or on the child or any act 
of physical abuse or neglect of the child by another, not 
otherwise admissible by statute or rule of evidence, is 
admissible in evidence in any child in need of protection or 
services, neglected and in foster care, or domestic child abuse 
proceeding or any proceeding for termination of parental rights 
if:  
    (a) the statement was made by a child under the age of ten 
years or by a child ten years of age or older who is mentally 
impaired, as defined in section 609.341, subdivision 6; 
     (b) the statement alleges, explains, denies, or describes: 
     (1) any act of sexual penetration or contact performed with 
or on the child; 
     (2) any act of sexual penetration or contact with or on 
another child observed by the child making the statement; 
     (3) any act of physical abuse or neglect of the child by 
another; or 
     (4) any act of physical abuse or neglect of another child 
observed by the child making the statement; 
     (c) the court finds that the time, content, and 
circumstances of the statement and the reliability of the person 
to whom the statement is made provide sufficient indicia of 
reliability; and 
    (b) (d) the proponent of the statement notifies other 
parties of an intent to offer the statement and the particulars 
of the statement sufficiently in advance of the proceeding at 
which the proponent intends to offer the statement into 
evidence, to provide the parties with a fair opportunity to meet 
the statement.  
    For purposes of this section, an out-of-court statement 
includes a video, audio, or other recorded statement. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 260.172, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  Except a child taken into custody pursuant 
to section 260.165, subdivision 1, clause (a) or (c)(2), a 
hearing shall be held within 36 hours of a child's being taken 
into custody, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, to 
determine whether the child should continue in detention.  
Within 72 hours of a child being taken into custody pursuant to 
section 260.165, subdivision 1, clause (a) or (c)(2), excluding 
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, a hearing shall be held to 
determine whether the child should continue in custody.  Unless 
there is reason to believe that the child would endanger self or 
others, not return for a court hearing, run away from the 
child's parent, guardian, or custodian or otherwise not remain 
in the care or control of the person to whose lawful custody the 
child is released, or that the child's health or welfare would 
be immediately endangered, the child shall be released to the 
custody of a parent, guardian, custodian, or other suitable 
person.  In determining whether the child's health or welfare 
would be immediately endangered, the court shall consider 
whether the child would reside with a perpetrator of domestic 
child abuse. 
    Presented to the governor May 9, 1989 
    Signed by the governor May 10, 1989, 10:31 a.m.