232.97 Social investigation and report.

1. The court shall not make a disposition of the petition until five working days after a social report has been submitted to the court and counsel for the child and has been considered by the court. The court may waive the five-day requirement upon agreement by all the parties. The court may direct either the juvenile court officer or the department of human services or any other agency licensed by the state to conduct a social investigation and to prepare a social report which may include any evidence provided by an individual providing foster care for the child. A report prepared shall include any founded reports of child abuse.

2. The social investigation may be conducted and the social history may be submitted to the court prior to the adjudication of the child as a child in need of assistance with the consent of the parties.

3. The social report shall not be disclosed except as provided in this section and except as otherwise provided in this chapter. At least five days prior to the hearing at which the disposition is determined, the court shall send a copy of the social report to counsel for the child, counsel for the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian, and the guardian ad litem. The court may in its discretion order counsel not to disclose parts of the report to the child, or to the parent, guardian, or custodian if disclosure would seriously harm the treatment or rehabilitation of the child or would violate a promise of confidentiality given to a source of information. If the report indicates the child has behaved in a manner that threatened the safety of another person, has committed a violent act causing bodily injury to another person, or has been a victim or perpetrator of sexual abuse, unless otherwise ordered by the court, the child’s parent, guardian, or foster parent or other person with custody of the child shall be provided with that information.

[C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, §232.14; C79, 81, §232.97]

83 Acts, ch 96, §157, 159; 83 Acts, ch 186, §10055, 10201; 84 Acts, ch 1279, §14; 86 Acts, ch 1186, §9; 2005 Acts, ch 124, §4; 2015 Acts, ch 62, §2

Referred to in §232.147