30:4C-17 Petition, notice of hearing; interlocutory, order.

17. a. When a petition is filed under section 15 of P.L.1951, c.138 (C.30:4C-15), by a person, association, or agency other than the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, the court, in addition to causing service to be made upon the parent, parents, guardian, or person having custody and control of such child in accordance with rules of court, shall also cause a copy of the petition and notice of the time and place of hearing to be served on or mailed to the division at least 20 days before the time of such hearing.

b. When a petition is filed under section 15 of P.L.1951, c.138 (C.30:4C-15) by a person, association, or agency, the court shall cause a copy of the petition to be served upon the absent parent of the child. The notice shall inform the parent of the purpose of the action and of the right to file written objections to the guardianship proceedings within 20 days after notice is given in the case of a resident, and 35 days in the case of a nonresident, of this State.

If personal service of the notice cannot be effected because the whereabouts of an absent parent are unknown, the court shall determine that an adequate effort has been made to serve notice upon the parent if the plaintiff has:

(1) Sent the notice by regular mail and by certified mail return receipt requested, to the last known address of the parent;

(2) Made a discreet inquiry among any known relatives, friends, and current or former employers of the parent;

(3) Unless otherwise restricted by law, made direct inquiries, using the party's name and last known or suspected address, to the local post office, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission in, but not of, the Department of Transportation, the county welfare agency, the municipal police department, the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety, the county probation office, the Department of Corrections, and any other social service or law enforcement agency known to have had contact with the parent, or the equivalent agencies in other states, territories, or countries.

Failure to receive a response to the inquiries made pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection within 45 days shall constitute a negative response.

c. In any case in which the identity of an absent parent cannot be determined or the known parent of a child is unable or refuses to identify the other parent, and the court is unable from other information before the court to identify the other parent, service on that parent shall be waived by the court.

d. Whenever a petition is filed under section 15 of P.L.1951, c.138 (C.30:4C-15), and there shall be filed with such petition a statement or statements made under oath and attesting that the best interests of the child require that he be placed under the guardianship of the division immediately and pending final hearing, the court, at a special summary hearing held upon notice to the division, may make an interlocutory order committing such child to the division until a final hearing on the petition. Such interlocutory order shall have the same force and effect as an order of commitment provided for in section 20 of P.L.1951, c.138 (C.30:4C-20).

L.1951, c.138, s.17; amended 1962, c.197, s.1; 1991, c.275, s.4; 2012, c.16, s.69.