Minnesota Session Laws - 1989, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1989 

                        CHAPTER 208-H.F.No. 135 
           An act relating to juvenile court; limiting the 
          court's authority to transfer legal custody of a child 
          for the purpose of obtaining special treatment or 
          care; clarifying the grounds for terminating parental 
          rights to a child; clarifying the liability of persons 
          who provide outreach services to runaways; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1988, sections 260.015, subdivision 
          2a; 260.191, subdivision 1; 260.221, subdivisions 1 
          and 3; and 260.315. 
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) has been a victim of physical or sexual abuse or 
resides with a victim of domestic child abuse as defined in 
subdivision 24; 
    (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, or 
environment, or associations are is 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 260.191, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [DISPOSITIONS.] (a) If the court finds that 
the child is in need of protection or services or neglected and 
in foster care, it shall enter an order making any of the 
following dispositions of the case: 
    (1) place the child under the protective supervision of the 
county welfare board or child placing agency in the child's own 
home under conditions prescribed by the court directed to the 
correction of the child's need for protection or services; 
    (2) transfer legal custody to one of the following: 
    (i) a child placing agency; or 
    (ii) the county welfare board. 
    In placing a child whose custody has been transferred under 
this paragraph, the agency and board shall follow the order of 
preference stated in section 260.181, subdivision 3; 
    (3) if the child is in need of special treatment and care 
for reasons of physical or mental health, the court may order 
the child's parent, guardian, or custodian to provide it.  If 
the parent, guardian, or custodian fails or is unable to provide 
this treatment or care, the court may order it provided.  The 
court shall not transfer legal custody of the child for the 
purpose of obtaining special treatment or care solely because 
the parent is unable to provide the treatment or care.  If the 
court's order for mental health treatment is based on a 
diagnosis made by a treatment professional, the court may order 
that the diagnosing professional not provide the treatment to 
the child if it finds that such an order is in the child's best 
interests; or 
    (4) if the court believes that the child has sufficient 
maturity and judgment and that it is in the best interests of 
the child, the court may order a child 16 years old or older to 
be allowed to live independently, either alone or with others as 
approved by the court under supervision the court considers 
appropriate, if the county board, after consultation with the 
court, has specifically authorized this dispositional 
alternative for a child. 
     (b) If the child was adjudicated in need of protection or 
services because the child is a runaway or habitual truant, the 
court may order any of the following dispositions in addition to 
or as alternatives to the dispositions authorized under 
paragraph (a): 
     (1) counsel the child or the child's parents, guardian, or 
custodian; 
     (2) place the child under the supervision of a probation 
officer or other suitable person in the child's own home under 
conditions prescribed by the court, including reasonable rules 
for the child's conduct and the conduct of the parents, 
guardian, or custodian, designed for the physical, mental, and 
moral well-being and behavior of the child; or with the consent 
of the commissioner of corrections, place the child in a group 
foster care facility which is under the commissioner's 
management and supervision; 
     (3) subject to the court's supervision, transfer legal 
custody of the child to one of the following: 
     (i) a reputable person of good moral character.  No person 
may receive custody of two or more unrelated children unless 
licensed to operate a residential program under sections 245A.01 
to 245A.16; or 
     (ii) a county probation officer for placement in a group 
foster home established under the direction of the juvenile 
court and licensed pursuant to section 241.021; 
     (4) require the child to pay a fine of up to $100.  The 
court shall order payment of the fine in a manner that will not 
impose undue financial hardship upon the child; 
     (5) require the child to participate in a community service 
project; 
     (6) order the child to undergo a chemical dependency 
evaluation and, if warranted by the evaluation, order 
participation by the child in a drug awareness program or an 
inpatient or outpatient chemical dependency treatment program; 
     (7) if the court believes that it is in the best interests 
of the child and of public safety that the child's driver's 
license be canceled, the court may recommend to the commissioner 
of public safety that the child's license be canceled for any 
period up to the child's 18th birthday.  The commissioner is 
authorized to cancel the license without a hearing.  At any time 
before the expiration of the period of cancellation, the court 
may, for good cause, recommend to the commissioner of public 
safety that the child be authorized to apply for a new license, 
and the commissioner may so authorize; or 
    (8) require the child to perform any other activities or 
participate in any other treatment programs deemed appropriate 
by the court.  
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 260.221, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    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 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, or of a child's need for protection or services, 
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, need for protection or 
services under section 260.015, subdivision 2a, clause (1), (2), 
(6), (8), or (9), 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. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 260.221, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3.  [WHEN PRIOR FINDING REQUIRED.] For purposes of 
subdivision 1, clause (b), no prior judicial finding of 
dependency, neglect, need for protection or services, or 
neglected and in foster care is required, except as provided in 
subdivision 1, clause (b), item (5). 
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 260.315, is 
amended to read: 
    260.315 [CONTRIBUTING TO NEED FOR PROTECTION OR SERVICES OR 
DELINQUENCY.] 
    Any person who by act, word, or omission encourages, 
causes, or contributes to the need for protection or services or 
delinquency of a child, or to a child's status as a juvenile 
petty offender, is guilty of a misdemeanor.  This section does 
not apply to licensed social service agencies and outreach 
workers who, while acting within the scope of their professional 
duties, provide services to runaway children. 
    Sec. 6.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Sections 3 and 4 are effective the day following final 
enactment. 
    Presented to the governor May 19, 1989 
    Signed by the governor May 19, 1989, 11:21 p.m.