1. After a petition has been filed, the court shall direct the clerk to issue a summons requiring the person who has custody or control of the child to appear personally and bring the child before the court at a time and place stated in the summons. If the person so summoned is other than a parent or guardian of the child, then the parent or guardian, or both, must also be notified by a similar summons of the pendency of the hearing and of the time and place appointed.

2. Summons may be issued requiring the appearance of any other person whose presence, in the opinion of the court, is necessary.

3. Each summons must include notice of the right of parties to counsel at the adjudicatory hearing. A copy of the petition must be attached to each summons.

4. Except as provided in subsection 5, the summons must be served by:

(a) Personal service of a written notice; or

(b) Registered or certified mail to the last known address of the person.

5. If the child was delivered to a provider of emergency services pursuant to NRS 432B.630 by one parent and the location of the other parent who did not deliver the child is unknown to the agency which provides child welfare services, the summons must be served on that parent by publication at least once a week for 3 consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county and if no such newspaper is published, then a newspaper published in this state that has a general circulation in the county. The failure of the parent to appear in the action after the service of summons on the parent pursuant to this paragraph shall be deemed to constitute a waiver by the parent of any further notice of the proceedings that would otherwise be required pursuant to this chapter. The parent who delivered the child to a provider of emergency services pursuant to NRS 432B.630 shall be deemed to have waived any right to notice pursuant to this section.

6. If it appears that the child is in such condition or surroundings that the welfare of the child requires that custody be immediately assumed by the court, the court may order, by endorsement upon the summons, that the person serving it shall at once deliver the child to an agency which provides child welfare services in whose custody the child must remain until the further order of the court.

7. If the summons cannot be served or the person who has custody or control of the child fails to obey it, or:

(a) In the judge’s opinion, the service will be ineffectual or the welfare of the child requires that the child be brought forthwith into the custody of the court; or

(b) A person responsible for the child’s welfare has absconded with the child or concealed the child from a representative of an agency which provides child welfare services,

the court may issue a writ for the attachment of the child’s person, commanding a law enforcement officer or a representative of an agency which provides child welfare services to place the child in protective custody.

(Added to NRS by 1985, 1381; A 1991, 922; 2001, 1259; 2001 Special Session, 49; 2015, 1522; 2017, 674)