hb 0674

CHAPTER 199

HB 674-FN - FINAL VERSION

AN ACT relative to notification requirements under the Child Protection Act.

SPONSORS: Rep. Bickford, Straf 68

This bill establishes new requirements for notice of protective custody hearings.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

AN ACT relative to notification requirements under the Child Protection Act.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

199:1 Child Abuse and Neglect Proceedings; Protective Custody; Notification of Non-custodial Parent. Amend RSA 169-C:6, II-V to read as follows:

II. If a police or juvenile probation and parole officer removes a child under paragraph I above, the officer:

(a) Shall inform the court forthwith whereupon continued protective custody pending a hearing may be ordered by the court;

(b) May take the child to a child protection services worker of the department; or

(c) May place the child in a foster home; if a child is placed directly in a foster home, the department shall be notified of the incident and where the child is placed within 24 hours, unless there is a physician involved and treating the child and the child is or will be taken to and admitted to a hospital; and

(d) Shall, when the child is removed from an individual other than a parent or a person legally responsible for the child, make every reasonable effort to inform [~~the parent~~] both parents or other [~~person~~] persons legally responsible for the child's care where the child has been taken.

III. Any police or juvenile probation and parole officer or other individual acting in good faith pursuant to this section, shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed as a result of such removal or placement.

IV. The court shall hold a hearing on the matter within 24 hours of taking the child into protective custody, Sundays and holidays excluded. Notice shall be given to both parents and all parties designated by the petitioner or the court.

V. If a child is found by a child protection services worker of the department to be in imminent danger in such circumstances or surroundings and where immediate removal appears necessary to protect the child from such imminent danger, the department's child protection services worker shall contact a judge or clerk immediately for an order to remove the child. Prior to any order authorizing foster placement, the child protective service worker shall inform the judge of efforts to locate any non-custodial parent or other relatives for temporary placement.