(1) (a) In order to provide stable, permanent
homes for every child or youth placed out of the home, in as short a time as
possible, a court shall conduct a permanency planning hearing. The court shall hold
the permanency planning hearing as soon as possible following the initial hearing
held pursuant to a proceeding pursuant to part 3 of article 7 of this title 19 or the
initial dispositional hearing pursuant to this article 3; except that the permanency
planning hearing must be held no later than ninety-one days after the initial decree
of disposition. After the initial permanency planning hearing, the court shall hold
additional hearings at least every six months while the case remains open or more
often in the discretion of the court, or upon the motion of any party. The initial
permanency hearing must be held within twelve months after the child or youth
enters foster care, even when a dispositional decree has not yet been entered.
When possible, the permanency planning hearing must be combined with the in-person six-month review as provided for in section 19-1-115 (4)(c), subsection (6)(a)
of this section, or section 19-7-312. The court shall hold all permanency planning
hearings in person, provide proper notice to all parties, and provide all parties the
opportunity to be heard. The court shall consult with the child or youth in a
developmentally appropriate manner regarding the child's or youth's permanency
goal.
(b) If the court finds that reasonable efforts to reunify the child or youth and
the parent are not required pursuant to section 19-1-115 (7) or if there is a finding
that no appropriate treatment plan can be devised pursuant to section 19-3-508
(1)(d)(I), the court shall hold a permanency planning hearing within thirty days after
the finding. If the court finds that reasonable efforts to reunify the child or youth
and the parent are not required and a motion for termination has been filed
pursuant to section 19-3-602, the permanency planning hearing and the hearing on
the motion for termination may be combined, and the court shall make all
determinations required at both hearings in the combined hearing.
(2) (a) When the court schedules a permanency planning hearing pursuant to
this section, the court or designee of the court shall promptly issue a notice stating
the purpose of the hearing. The notice must set forth the constitutional and
statutory rights of the child's or youth's parents or guardian and the statutory
rights of the child or youth. The notice of the hearing must comply with the
requirements stated in section 19-3-502 (7) and must be sent to parents or
guardians, placement providers, and named children or youth.
(b) The county department of human or social services shall propose a
permanency plan for each child or youth, which plan must be completed and
submitted to the court in the family services plan no later than five days in advance
of the permanency planning hearing.
(3) At any permanency planning hearing, the court shall first determine if the
child or youth should be returned to the child's or youth's parent, named guardian,
or legal custodian and, if applicable, the date on which the child or youth must be
returned. If the child or youth cannot be returned home, the court shall also
determine whether reasonable efforts have been made to find a safe and stable
permanent home for the child or youth. The court shall not delay permanency
planning by considering the placement of children or youth together as a sibling
group or for purposes of maintaining financial support for a kinship foster care
home or a non-certified kinship care home, unless there are exceptional
circumstances approved by the court. At any permanency planning hearing, the
court shall make the following determinations, when applicable:
(a) Whether procedural safeguards to preserve parental rights have been
applied in connection with any change in the child's or youth's placement or any
determination affecting family time of the child or youth;
(b) Whether reasonable efforts have been made to finalize the permanency
goal;
(c) Whether ongoing efforts have been made to identify kin and relatives that
are available to be a permanent placement for the child or youth;
(d) When the child or youth resides in a placement out of state, whether the
out-of-state placement continues to be appropriate and in the best interests of the
child or youth;
(e) Whether a child or youth who is fourteen years of age or older is receiving
transition services to successful adulthood, regardless of his or her permanency
goal; and
(f) Whether the current placement of the child or youth could be a
permanent placement, if necessary.
(4) (a) If the child or youth cannot be returned to the physical custody of the
child's or youth's parent or legal guardian on the date of the hearing, the court shall
enter one or more of the following permanency goals, of which subsections (4)(a)(I)
to (4)(a)(V) of this section may be adopted as concurrent goals pursuant to section
19-3-508 (7):
(I) Return home;
(II) Adoption with a relative;
(III) Permanent placement with a relative through legal guardianship or
allocation of parental responsibilities;
(IV) Adoption with a nonrelative;
(V) Permanent placement with a nonrelative through legal guardianship or
allocation of parental responsibilities;
(VI) (A) Other planned permanent living arrangements either through
emancipation or long-term foster care.
(B) Other planned permanent living arrangements may only be used as a
permanency goal for children or youth in exceptional circumstances for children
sixteen years of age or older who have co-occurring complex conditions that
preclude their return home, their adoption or legal guardianship, or allocation of
parental responsibilities; or for children and youth who are in the unaccompanied
refugee minor program, regardless of their age.
(C) Other planned permanent living arrangements may not be used as a
concurrent goal.
(D) The court shall ask the child or youth about his or her desired
permanency outcome when considering other planned permanent living
arrangements.
(b) (I) The department shall document in the family services plan the
compelling reasons why it is not in the best interest of the child or youth to return
home, be placed for adoption, be placed with a legal guardian, or be placed with a
fit and willing relative. In addition, the department shall document intensive,
ongoing, and unsuccessful efforts made to return the child or youth home or to a
secure placement with a fit and willing relative, including adult siblings; a legal
guardian; or an adoptive parent, including efforts that utilize search technology that
includes social media to find biological family members for the children or youth.
(II) The department shall document in the family services plan and the court
shall review whether the child's or youth's placement is following the reasonable
and prudent parent standard and whether the child or youth has regular, ongoing
opportunities to engage in age-appropriate activities.
(c) Prior to closing a case before a youth's eighteenth birthday, the court or
the youth's guardian ad litem or counsel for youth shall notify the youth that the
youth will lose the right to receive medicaid until the maximum age provided by
federal law if the case is closed prior to the youth's eighteenth birthday. Prior to
closing a case after a youth's sixteenth birthday, the court shall advise the youth of
the youth's eligibility for the foster youth in transition program, created in section
19-7-303, should the youth later determine the youth needs child welfare
assistance from a county department.
(d) Every child who is eighteen years of age or older who is leaving foster or
kinship care must be provided with his or her birth certificate, social security card,
health insurance information, medical records, either a driver's license or state-issued identification card, and proof of foster care.
(e) If the court finds that there is not a substantial probability that the child
or youth will be returned to a parent or legal guardian within six months and the
child or youth appears to be adoptable and meets the criteria for adoption in
section 19-5-203, the court may order a county department of human or social
services to show cause why it should not file a motion to terminate the parent-child
legal relationship pursuant to part 6 of this article 3. Cause may include, but is not
limited to, any of the following conditions:
(I) The parent or legal guardian has maintained regular parenting time and
contact with the child or youth, and the child or youth would benefit from
continuing this relationship;
(II) A child who is twelve years of age or older objects to termination of the
parent-child legal relationship;
(III) The child's foster parents are unable to adopt the child because of
exceptional circumstances that do not include an unwillingness to accept legal
responsibility for the child. The foster parents must be willing and capable of
providing the child with a stable and permanent environment, and it must be shown
that removal of the child from the physical custody of his or her foster parents
would be seriously detrimental to the emotional well-being of the child.
(III.5) The court, in a proceeding involving an Indian child, has determined
that active efforts, as defined in section 19-1.2-103 and described in section 19-1.2-111, have not been made;
(IV) The criteria for termination in section 19-3-604 have not yet been met; or
(V) If the parent:
(A) Is incarcerated in a department of corrections facility, a private
correctional facility under contract with the department of corrections, or a jail;
detained by the United States department of homeland security; or deported; and
(B) Has a meaningful and safe relationship with the child or youth while
incarcerated, detained, or deported.
(5) For a child or youth in a case designated pursuant to section 19-1-123
only:
(a) A permanent home is the place in which the child or youth may reside if
the child or youth is unable to return home to a parent or legal guardian. If the court
determines by a preponderance of the evidence that a permanent home is not
currently available or that the child's or youth's current needs or situation prohibit
placement, the court must be shown and the court must find that reasonable
efforts, as defined in section 19-1-103, were made to find the child or youth an
appropriate permanent home and such a home is not currently available or that a
child's or youth's needs or situation prohibit the child or youth from a successful
placement in a permanent home.
(b) Regardless of any permanent home findings made pursuant to this
section, reasonable efforts shall continue to be made to return the child or youth
home unless the court has previously found or finds that reunification is not an
option pursuant to section 19-1-115 (7). Any findings by the court regarding a
permanent home shall not delay or interfere with reunification of a child or youth
with a parent or legal guardian.
(c) At a permanency planning hearing that occurs immediately prior to
twelve months after the original placement of the child or youth out of the home,
the court shall make a finding identifying whether the child or youth is in a
placement that can provide legal permanency. The court must make this finding to
ensure that a child or youth who has been removed from his or her home is placed in
a permanent home as expeditiously as possible.
(d) The court shall review the case at a permanency planning hearing at least
every six months until the court finds that the child or youth is in a permanent
home. The permanency planning hearings must continue as long as the court is
unable to find that the child or youth is in a permanent home. At each hearing, the
court must be provided evidence that a child or youth is in a permanent home or
that reasonable efforts, as defined in section 19-1-103, continue to be made to find
the child or youth an appropriate permanent home and such a home is not currently
available or that a child's or youth's needs or situation prohibit the child or youth
from successful placement in a permanent home.
(e) At each permanency planning hearing, the caseworker shall provide the
court with a written or verbal report specifying what efforts have been made to
identify a permanent home for the child or youth and what services have been
provided to the child or youth to facilitate identification of a permanent home,
including the department's ongoing efforts to identify relatives and kin and to
engage the relatives and kin in providing support for the child or youth and family,
and document that the relatives and kin have been provided notice as required by
section 19-3-403 (3.6)(a)(IV). The department shall also report any decision
regarding placing the child or youth with a relative or kin. If the department
determines not to place the child or youth with a relative or kin, after giving primary
consideration to the child's or youth's mental, physical, and emotional needs, or if
the department decides not to place a child or youth with a relative or kin because
the placement would hinder efforts to reunite the child or youth and parent, the
department shall explain why any identified relatives or kin have been ruled out for
placement.
(f) In determining whether a child or youth is in a permanent home, the court
shall consider placement of the children or youth together as a sibling group
pursuant to section 19-3-213.
(6) If a placement change is contested by a party and the child or youth is
not reunifying with a parent or legal guardian, the court shall consider all pertinent
information, including the child's or youth's wishes, related to modifying the
placement of the child or youth prior to removing the child or youth from the child's
or youth's placement, and including the following:
(a) An individualized assessment of the child's or youth's needs created
pursuant to Title IV-E of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, and
regulations promulgated thereunder, as amended;
(b) Whether the child's or youth's placement at the time of the hearing is a
safe and potentially permanent home for the child or youth;
(c) The child's or youth's actual age and developmental stage and, in
consideration of this information, the child's or youth's attachment needs;
(d) Whether the child or youth has significant psychological ties to a person
who could provide a permanent home for the child or youth, including a relative,
and, if so, whether this person maintained contact with the child or youth during the
child's or youth's placement out of the home;
(e) Whether a person who could provide a permanent home for the child or
youth is willing to maintain appropriate contact after an adoption of the child or
youth with the child's or youth's relatives, particularly sibling relatives, when such
contact is safe, reasonable, and appropriate;
(f) Whether a person who could provide a permanent home for the child or
youth is aware of the child's or youth's culture and is willing to provide the child or
youth with positive ties to his or her culture;
(g) The child's or youth's medical, physical, emotional, or other specific
needs, and whether a person who could provide a permanent placement for the
child or youth is able to meet the child's or youth's needs;
(h) The child's or youth's attachment to the child's or youth's caregiver at the
time of the hearing and the possible effects on the child's or youth's emotional
well-being if the child or youth is removed from the caregiver's home. However,
placement with a child's or youth's relative or kin should not be denied based solely
upon the ordinary bonding and attachment to a foster parent as a result of time
spent in the home. The court shall consider the number of prior placements, the
child's or youth's mental, physical, and emotional needs, and any subsequent
caregivers' ability to provide emotional and psychological support when
considering a change of placement.
(i) The child's or youth's preference regarding placement.
(7) (a) If a child's parent is incarcerated in a department of corrections
facility, a private correctional facility under contract with the department of
corrections, or a jail, and the parent has maintained a meaningful and safe
relationship with the child while incarcerated, the court shall make findings
regarding whether a permanent placement for the child exists that permits the
parent to maintain a relationship with the child, including guardianship or allocation
of parental responsibilities, giving primary consideration to the child's mental,
physical, and emotional needs. If the proposed permanent placement would require
the child to transfer to another placement, the court shall consider the factors in
subsection (6) of this section in making its determination.
(b) In making a determination whether the parent who is incarcerated has
maintained a meaningful and safe relationship with the child, the court shall give
primary consideration to the child's mental, emotional, and physical needs, and
whether the involvement of the parent who is incarcerated in the child's life serves
the child's best interests. The court shall not find that the parent's incarceration is
the sole reason that a relationship with the parent is not in the child's best interests,
and shall consider the parent's efforts to comply with the treatment plan under the
circumstances of incarceration.