2016 Hawaii Revised Statutes
TITLE 31. FAMILY
587A. Child Protective Act
587A-7 Safe family home factors.

[§587A-7] Safe family home factors. (a) The following factors shall be fully considered when determining whether a child's family is willing and able to provide the child with a safe family home:

(1) Facts relating to the child's current situation, which shall include:

(A) The child's age, vulnerability, and special needs that affect the child's attachment, growth, and development;

(B) The child's developmental, psychological, medical, and dental health status and needs, including the names of assessment and treatment providers;

(C) The child's peer and family relationships and bonding abilities;

(D) The child's educational status and setting, and the department's efforts to maintain educational stability for the child in out-of-home placement;

(E) The child's living situation;

(F) The child's fear of being in the family home;

(G) The impact of out-of-home placement on the child;

(H) Services provided to the child and family; and

(I) The department's efforts to maintain connections between the child and the child's siblings, if they are living in different homes;

(2) The initial and any subsequent reports of harm and threatened harm to the child;

(3) Dates and reasons for the child's out-of-home placement; description, appropriateness, and location of the placement; and who has placement responsibility;

(4) Facts regarding the alleged perpetrators of harm to the child, the child's parents, and other family members who are parties to the court proceedings, which facts shall include:

(A) Birthplace and family of origin;

(B) Manner in which the alleged perpetrator of harm was parented;

(C) Marital and relationship history; and

(D) Prior involvement in services;

(5) Results of psychiatric, psychological, or developmental evaluations of the child, the alleged perpetrators, and other family members who are parties;

(6) Whether there is a history of abusive or assaultive conduct by the child's family members and others who have access to the family home;

(7) Whether there is a history of substance abuse by the child's family or others who have access to the family home;

(8) Whether any alleged perpetrator has completed services in relation to any history identified in paragraphs (6) and (7), and acknowledged and accepted responsibility for the harm to the child;

(9) Whether any non-perpetrator who resides in the family home has demonstrated an ability to protect the child from further harm and to ensure that any current protective orders are enforced;

(10) Whether there is a support system available to the child's family, including adoptive and hanai relatives, friends, and faith-based or other community networks;

(11) Attempts to locate and involve extended family, friends, and faith-based or other community networks;

(12) Whether the child's family has demonstrated an understanding of and involvement in services that have been recommended by the department or court-ordered as necessary to provide a safe family home for the child;

(13) Whether the child's family has resolved identified safety issues in the family home within a reasonable period of time; and

(14) The department's assessment, which shall include the demonstrated ability of the child's family to provide a safe family home for the child, and recommendations.

(b) The court shall consider the likelihood that the current situation presented in the safe family home factors set forth in subsection (a) will continue in the reasonably foreseeable future. [L 2010, c 135, pt of §1]

Case Notes

Sections 587A-2 and 587A-10 and this section do not contain an explicit or mandatory preference in favor of relative placements at all stages of a case. 130 H. 486 (App.), 312 P.3d 1193 (2013).