Courts give kin preference for temporary child placements

Courts must give preference to temporary placement with capable, willing, and available relatives or kin. This applies when a court considers temporary placement for a child or youth removed from home. The placement is presumed to be in the child’s best interests, but the court may find that evidence rebuts the presumption. When weighing the evidence, the court must give primary consideration to the child’s mental, physical, and emotional needs, including the child’s placement preference. The court must find that no suitable birth or adoptive parent is available after due efforts to locate one. A parent’s objection to a particular relative or kin is not enough by itself to show that placement would hinder reunification.

County departments must make and document diligent efforts to contact relatives and identified kin, and tell them about placement options. The duty covers all grandparents, other adult relatives, and identified kin of a child or youth removed from home. A court may excuse contact or allow it to be delayed for good cause, including family or domestic violence. The department must make these efforts within 30 days after the child or youth is removed from home.

The law’s definitions include certain relatives of a deceased parent or grandparent. These definitions apply to the law’s section on family time for grandparents and great-grandparents. For the grandparent definition, the person may be the parent of the child’s mother or father who has died. For the great-grandparent definition, the person may be the grandparent of the child’s mother or father, or of the child’s grandparent, if that parent or grandparent has died. The person must be related to the child by blood, adoption, or marriage. The definitions exclude specified relatives of a legal parent whose parental rights were terminated under the cited law.