STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1570

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 1117
                                        H.D. 3
                                        S.D. 2




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No.
1117, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CHILD PROTECTIVE ACT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to conform Hawaii law with the
federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which seeks to
expedite permanency for children in foster care.

     Specifically, the bill makes the following revisions to
chapter 587, Hawaii Revised Statutes:

     (1)  Provides a definition for "abandoned infant";

     (2)  Clarifies the definition of "aggravated circumstances"
          to include abandonment or torture of the child;

     (3)  Clarifies service of summons on an out-of-state party;

     (4)  Reduces the time period that triggers a show cause
          hearing under section 587-71(e), Hawaii Revised
          Statutes, when the child's family home has been
          determined to be unsafe, from eighteen months to twelve
          consecutive months in which a child has been residing
          outside the family home;

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1570
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     (5)  Requires the court to set the case for a show cause
          hearing within thirty days if the court determines, in
          a disposition hearing, that aggravated circumstances
          exists;

     (6)  Requires the court, at a review hearing, to set the
          case for a show cause hearing:  within thirty days if
          the court determines that aggravated circumstances are
          present; or if the child has been residing outside the
          family home for twelve consecutive months;

     (7)  Requires the Department of Human Services to file a
          motion for a permanent plan hearing, if the child has
          been residing outside of the family home for an
          aggregate of fifteen months out of the most recent
          twenty-two months; and

     (8)  Reduces from three years to two the time in which it is
          presumed reasonably foreseeable that a safe family home
          can be provided to the child by the legal mother or
          father, or natural father for purposes of a permanent
          plan hearing.

     Your Committee notes that this bill is part of an ongoing
effort to protect children from child abuse, prevent child abuse,
and provide follow-up attention and care to children who are
under the court's jurisdiction as child abuse victims.

     Your Committee has amended the definition of "abandoned
infant", to clarify that a child is not deemed "abandoned" by
only one parent if the other parent is still willing and able to
provide care.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
1117, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it
pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1117,
H.D. 3, S.D. 2.


 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1570
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary,



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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