CT SB00294

Requires the Department of Children and Families to document all efforts to achieve permanency plans, including efforts to keep children with parents prior to removal and to locate relative caregivers in permanency planning reports effective October 1, 2010.

Expands the description of required efforts in department reports to include assistance in remedying factors that contributed to child removal and clarifies documentation requirements for reunification timelines and justifications for extended substitute care.

Modifies parental rights termination procedures to require the department to submit documentation sufficient for courts to find parents unable or unwilling to benefit from reunification efforts, rather than making such findings directly in court proceedings.

Establishes provisions for cooperative postadoption agreements between birth parents and adoptive parents regarding communication and contact with adopted children, with court approval required and acknowledgment that termination of parental rights remains irrevocable.

Requires guardians or statutory parents to report to the court on adoption case plan implementation at least every three months and includes documentation of child-specific recruitment efforts and reasonable efforts to achieve adoptive placement.