AN ACT CONCERNING CHILD PROTECTION.

This bill makes several unrelated changes in the laws governing children under the care or custody of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). Specifically, the bill:

1. allows the court to terminate a parent's parental rights when another child in the parent's custody, who is not biologically related to the parent, is harmed or killed;

2. requires the court to review more frequently certain permanency plans for children under the age of six;

3. expands the circumstances under which DCF must disclose records without the consent of the persons named in them, and requires substance abuse treatment providers to turn over certain records;

4. requires the court, when it has granted DCF temporary custody of a child who may have been abused or neglected, to permit DCF to provide medical care to the child;

5. specifies that certain evidence provided by children under the age of 13 is admissible only in juvenile delinquency proceedings, not all juvenile proceedings; and

6. makes it clear that the age when DCF guardianship ends is 18, but that young adults can continue to receive services from the department if they are pursuing education or training after they reach that age.

By law, the court can terminate parental rights if it finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that (1) in certain situations, DCF has made reasonable efforts to locate the parent and to reunify that parent with the child; (2) it is in the child's best interest, and (3) any of several enumerated harms have come to the child.

Currently, if the parent, through a deliberate, nonaccidental act, has killed another child of the parent or has requested, commanded, importuned, attempted, conspired, or solicited the killing, or has committed a nonaccidental assault that results in the other child's bodily injury, the court can terminate parental rights. The bill also allows termination if the other child in the parent's custody is not biologically related to the parent.

By law, the DCF commissioner must file a motion for review of a permanency plan for any children in her care or custody as a result of voluntary placement, removal, or court orders. It sets up various timetables for the parties to review these plans and for related hearings.

When the permanency plan is for reunification with the parent and the child is under age six, the bill requires the court, within six months of each permanency hearing, to review the parent's progress in regaining custody. And it allows the court to revise the specific steps in the permanency plan for the parent and DCF commissioner.

The law, unchanged by the bill, gives the commissioner nine months from the time a child or youth is placed to file a motion for the court to review the permanency plan. (There is no deadline for the court to approve the plan. ) Once the court approves the plan, the law requires the commissioner to file another motion for review within nine months. A hearing must be held within 90 days of the filing. After the initial hearing, subsequent hearings must be held at least once every 12 months.

The law requires the commissioner to provide copies of records, without the consent of the person named in the record, in a number of situations. Currently, this includes records provided to a party in a custody proceeding related to terminating parent's rights where the records concern a child who is the subject of the proceeding, or his or her parent. In addition to parties to the proceeding, the bill requires disclosure to a judge or personnel in the Court Support Division of the Judicial Department.

The bill requires a substance abuse treatment provider, if subpoenaed, to provide to the court clerk either an original record or a copy of records in connection with any court proceedings, provided the subpoena (1) is issued by a competent authority regarding a child committed to DCF care and custody and (2) specifically directs the provider to produce them.

The clerk (1) must give the provider a receipt, (2) is responsible for keeping the record safe and (3) may not allow it to be removed from the court. He or she must notify the provider that the record may be returned once the court no longer needs it. The record must be placed in a sealed envelope that indicates the names of the child, attorney, and case to which the subpoena refers.

These records are not open to inspection unless a judge of such court orders it. They are at all times subject to the judge's order.

The record, or any part of it, if not otherwise inadmissible, must be admitted in evidence without any preliminary testimony if a certification in affidavit form from the person in charge of the provider's records is attached to it that states that it is the original or a copy, made in the regular course of the provider's business, and that it was the regular course of business to make the record at the time of the transactions, occurrences, or events recorded in them within a reasonable amount of time thereafter.

The bill requires the Superior Court, when it has issued an ex parte order granting temporary custody to DCF for children or youth whom the court has reasonable cause to believe have been abused or neglected, to permit the DCF commissioner or her designee, to provide the child with all necessary care, including medical care. This care can include a physical or mental health exam by a physician or mental health professional, regardless of whether the child's parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the child's care consents.

Currently, a statement of a child under age 13 relating to a sexual offense or physical abuse committed against him or her by anyone who had authority, or apparent authority, over him or her, must be admissible in a criminal or juvenile proceeding, provided certain conditions are met. The bill specifies that this applies in juvenile delinquency proceedings only, not in any juvenile proceeding.

By law, DCF (or someone legally appointed by DCF) is the legal guardian of a child or youth for the entirety of the period for which a court has committed him or her, until his or her 18^th birthday. Current law appears to continue legal guardianship until the “youth's” 21^st birthday if he or she is attending secondary school, technical school, college, or a state-accredited job training program.

In practice, commitments end on the child's 18^th birthday, but the young adult can continue to get DCF services through the agency's voluntary services program until his or her 21^st birthday if he or she is engaged in one of these education or training activities.

The bill instead allows any “youth” between the ages of 18 and 22 who is engaged in these activities to remain under the DCF commissioner's supervision through DCF's voluntary services program. (This section of DCF law defines a youth as a 16- or 17-year-old. )

Yea

Nay

(03/12/2009)