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IN HB1277
Bill
Status
1/10/2019
Primary Sponsor
Jeffrey Thompson
Click for details
AI Summary
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Establishes a rebuttable presumption that equal joint physical custody between parents is in the child's best interest; courts must apportion custody equally unless preponderance of evidence shows unequal custody serves the child better.
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Requires DCS or prosecuting attorney to file a child in need of services (CHINS) petition and request the child be taken into custody when two independent health care providers submit reports indicating suspected child abuse or neglect based on medical examination.
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Mandates juvenile courts grant custody requests when petitions are triggered by the two-report requirement from health care providers.
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Prohibits courts from removing a child from home or awarding DCS wardship unless the court finds by preponderance of evidence that the parent/guardian either refused to provide necessities despite having financial means, or lacked financial means but refused to make reasonable efforts to obtain them.
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Effective date: July 1, 2019; amends Indiana Code sections IC 31-9-2, IC 31-14-13-2, IC 31-17-2-8, and IC 31-34.
Legislative Description
Family and juvenile law matters. Establishes a rebuttable presumption in child custody proceedings that an award of joint physical custody is in the best interest of the child. Provides that if the department of child services (DCS) or a prosecuting attorney receives two reports, made independently by separate health care providers, each of which states that the health care provider has reason to believe, based on the health care provider's medical examination of the child, that the child is a victim of child abuse or neglect, DCS or the prosecuting attorney shall: (1) request that the juvenile court authorize the filing of a petition alleging that the child is a child in need of services; and (2) request that the child be taken into custody. Provides that if the juvenile court authorizes the filing of the petition, the juvenile court shall grant the request that the child be taken into custody if the juvenile court finds that DCS or the prosecuting attorney was required to request the petition due to DCS's or the prosecuting attorney's receipt of the health care providers' reports. Provides that a court may not enter a dispositional decree that removes a child in need of services from the child's home and authorizes DCS to place the child in a facility or in another home, or that makes the child a ward of DCS, unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the child is a child in need of services as the result of: (1) the refusal or neglect of the child's parent, guardian, or custodian to supply the child with necessary food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, or supervision despite the parent, guardian, or custodian having the financial means to do so; or (2) the inability of the child's parent, guardian, or custodian to supply the child with necessary food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, or supervision due to the parent, guardian, or custodian lacking the financial means to do so, but refusing or neglecting to make reasonable efforts to obtain the financial means to do so.
Last Action
First reading: referred to Committee on Family, Children and Human Affairs
1/10/2019