A. Prior to holding a dispositional hearing, the court shall direct that a predisposition study and report be submitted in writing to the court by the department.

B. The predisposition study required pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall contain the following information:

(1) a statement of the specific reasons for intervention by the department or for placing the child in the department's custody and a statement of the parent's ability to care for the child in the parent's home without causing harm to the child;

(2) a statement of how an intervention plan is designed to achieve placement of the child in the least restrictive setting available, consistent with the best interests and special needs of the child, including a statement of the likely harm the child may suffer as a result of being removed from the parent's home, including emotional harm that may result due to separation from the child's parents, and a statement of how the intervention plan is designed to place the child in close proximity to the parent's home without causing harm to the child due to separation from parents, siblings or any other person who may significantly affect the child's best interest;

(3) the wishes of the child as to the child's custodian;

(4) a statement of the efforts the department has made to identify and locate all grandparents and other relatives and to conduct home studies on any appropriate relative expressing an interest in providing care for the child, and a statement as to whether the child has a family member who, subsequent to study by the department, is determined to be qualified to care for the child;

(5) a description of services offered to the child, the child's family and the child's foster care family and a summary of reasonable efforts made to prevent removal of the child from the child's family or reasonable efforts made to reunite the child with the child's family;

(6) a description of the home or facility in which the child is placed and the appropriateness of the child's placement;

(7) the results of any diagnostic examination or evaluation ordered at the custody hearing;

(8) a statement of the child's medical and educational background;

(9) if the child is an Indian child, whether the placement preferences set forth in the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 or the placement preferences of the child's Indian tribe were followed and whether the child's case plan provides for maintaining the child's cultural ties;

(10) a case plan that sets forth steps to ensure that the child's physical, medical, psychological and educational needs are met and that sets forth services to be provided to the child and the child's parents to facilitate permanent placement of the child in the parent's home;

(11) for children sixteen years of age and older, a plan for developing the specific skills the child requires for successful transition into independent living as an adult, regardless of whether the child is returned to the child's parent's home;

(12) a case plan that sets forth steps to ensure that the child's educational needs are met and, for a child fourteen years of age or older, a case plan that specifically sets forth the child's educational and post-secondary goals; and

(13) a description of the child's foster care placement and whether it is appropriate in terms of the educational setting and proximity to the school the child was enrolled in at the time of the placement, including plans for travel for the child to remain in the school in which the child was enrolled at the time of placement, if reasonable and in the child's best interest.

C. A copy of the predisposition report shall be provided by the department to counsel for all parties five days before the dispositional hearing.

D. If the child is an adjudicated abused child, any temporary custody orders shall remain in effect until the court has received and considered the predispositional study at the dispositional hearing.

History: 1978 Comp., § 32A-4-21, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 77, § 115; 1997, ch. 34, § 5; 2009, ch. 239, § 41; 2016, ch. 54, § 5.

Cross references. — For the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, see 25 U.S.C. § 1901.

The 2016 amendment, effective May 18, 2016, amended the required contents of predisposition studies; in Subsection B, Paragraph (4), added "a statement of the efforts the department has made to identify and locate all grandparents and other relatives and to conduct home studies on any appropriate relative expressing an interest in providing care for the child, and a statement as to", and, in Paragraphs (9), (10) and (12), deleted "treatment" and added "case".

The 2009 amendment, effective July 1, 2009, added Paragraphs (12) and (13) of Subsection B.

The 1997 amendment, effective July 1, 1997, substituted "report be submitted" for "report be made" in Subsection A and rewrote Subsection B.