30:4C-53.3 Revised, repeated placement plans, requisites.

3. a. The division shall not treat a child's repeated placement into resource family care as an initial placement. The child's revised placement plan, updated at the time of the child's repeated placement, shall summarize the child's prior history with the division regarding previous placements, the findings of the child placement review board, as well as a copy of the court order for the removal of the child from the custody of his parents or guardian. The revised placement plan shall be used by the division when preparing the child's repeated placement plan pursuant to this section.

b. Whenever a child is placed again into resource family care, the division shall prepare a repeated placement plan which shall ensure the goals of safety and permanency through the safe return of the child to his parents or, if this is not possible, through the State's assumption of guardianship for the purpose of finding the child an adoptive home or, if termination of parental rights is not appropriate, through an alternative permanent placement. The plan shall be prepared within 30 days after the child's repeated placement and submitted to the court. The plan shall be valid for 12 months after the date the child was placed again into resource family care.

c. The repeated placement plan shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) The specific reasons for the repeated placement of the child, including a description of the problems or conditions in the home of the parents or guardian which necessitated the child's removal, and a summary of the efforts made by the division to prevent the child's repeated placement or the exception to the requirement to make reasonable efforts to prevent placement in accordance with section 24 of P.L.1999, c.53 (C.30:4C-11.2);

(2) The specific actions to be taken by the child's parents or guardian to eliminate the identified problems or conditions which were the basis of the child's repeated placement into resource family care, which actions shall be taken within a specific time limit agreed upon by the child's caseworker and the parents or guardian;

(3) The social services to be provided to the child and the resource family parents during the period the child is in resource family care and the social services to be provided to the child's parent or guardian, or the exception to the requirement to make reasonable efforts toward family reunification in accordance with section 25 of P.L.1999, c.53 (C.30:4C-11.3), and the goal for the child and anticipated date for achieving the goal. The purpose of the supportive services shall be to promote the child's best interest and to facilitate his safe return to his home, placement for adoption or an alternative permanent placement. Services to facilitate adoption or an alternative permanent placement may be provided concurrently with services to reunify the child with the parent or guardian;

(4) An assessment of the division's ability to obtain a child's birth certificate, locate the child's parents for future contact and have access to the child's extended family, in the event that a plan for adoption or an alternative permanent placement becomes necessary;

(5) A stipulation that the child be placed with his prior resource family parent, if possible and if in the child's best interest, to provide the child with continuity and stability in his living environment; and

(6) A permanency plan for the child and the reasonable efforts of the division to achieve that plan, if: the division has established an exception to the requirement to provide reasonable efforts toward family reunification in accordance with section 25 of P.L.1999, c.53 (C.30:4C-11.3); or the child has, in any period of 22 consecutive months, been in any placement or placements for a total of 12 months.

The permanency plan shall include whether and, if applicable, when:

(a) the child will be returned to the parent or guardian, if the child can be returned home without endangering the child's health or safety;

(b) the division has determined that family reunification is not possible, and the division shall file a petition for the termination of parental rights for the purpose of adoption; or

(c) the division has determined that termination of parental rights is not appropriate in accordance with section 31 of P.L.1999, c.53 (C.30:4C-15.3), and the child shall be placed in an alternative permanent placement.

L.1991,c.448,s.3; amended 1999, c.53, s.41; 2004, c.130, s.86.