Section 47.10.086. Reasonable efforts.

   (a) Except as provided in (b), (c), and (g) of this section, 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 (1) of this subsection; the department shall refer the parent or guardian to, and distribute to the parent or guardian information on, community-based family support services whenever community-based services are available and desired by the parent or guardian; the information may include the use of a power of attorney under AS 13.26.066 to select an individual to care for the child temporarily; and
        (3) document the department's actions that are taken under (1) and (2) of this subsection.
   (b) If the court makes a finding at a hearing conducted under AS 47.10.080(l) 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 of the type described in (a) of this section 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.
   (c) The court may determine that reasonable efforts of the type described in (a) of this section 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;
        (2) the parent or guardian has
             (A) committed homicide under AS 11.41.100 - 11.41.130 of a parent of the child or of a child;
             (B) aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited under AS 11.16 or AS 11.31 to commit a homicide described in (A) of this paragraph;
             (C) committed an assault that is a felony under AS 11.41.200 - 11.41.220 and results in serious physical injury to a child; or
             (D) committed the conduct described in (A) - (C) of this paragraph that violated a law or ordinance of another jurisdiction having elements similar to an offense described in (A) - (C) of this paragraph;
        (3) 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;
        (4) 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;
        (5) 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;
        (6) 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;
        (7) 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;
        (8) 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;
        (9) 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;
        (10) 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; or
        (11) the parent or guardian
             (A) has sexually abused the child or another child of the parent or guardian; or
             (B) is registered or required to register as a sex offender or child kidnapper under AS 12.63.
   (d) If the court determines under (b) or (c) of this section that reasonable efforts under (a) of this section are not required to be provided,
        (1) the court shall hold a permanency hearing for the child within 30 days after the determination; and
        (2) the department shall make reasonable efforts to place the child in a timely manner in accordance with the permanency plan, and complete whatever steps are necessary to finalize the permanent placement of the child.
   (e) 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 under (a) of this section.
   (f) In making determinations and reasonable efforts under this section, the primary consideration is the child's best interests.
   (g) The department is not required to make reasonable efforts of the type described in (a) of this section if the department took emergency custody of an infant under AS 47.10.142 after the infant was abandoned safely within the meaning of AS 47.10.013(c).

Authorities

47.10.080;47.10.088;47.10.990

Notes

Recent Bills that will modify this

HB 10 CHILD IN NEED OF AID/PROTECTION; DUTIES
HB 201 PARENT-GUARDIAN/CHILD:TEMP. POWER OF ATTY
HB 310 CINA PROCEEDINGS; DHSS DUTIES; COURTS
SB 180 PARENT-GUARDIAN/CHILD:TEMP. POWER OF ATTY

References

AS 47.10.080 Judgments and orders.
AS 47.10.088 Involuntary termination of parental rights and responsibilities.
AS 47.10.990 Definitions.

History

(Sec. 33 ch 99 SLA 1998; am Sec. 1 ch 20 SLA 2006; am Sec. 4, 5 ch 1 SLA 2008; am Sec. 38 ch 43 SLA 2013; am Sec. 5 ch 28 SLA 2016)