(a) Except as provided in (b), (c), and (g) of this section, the department shall make timely, reasonable efforts to provide family support services to the child and to the parents or guardian of the child that are designed to prevent out-of-home placement of the child or to enable the safe return of the child to the family home, when appropriate, if the child is in an out-of-home placement. The department’s duty to make reasonable efforts under this subsection includes the duty to

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Terms Used In Alaska Statutes 47.10.086

  • care: means to provide for the physical, mental, and social needs of the child. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • child: means a person who is
    (A) under 18 years of age. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • child in need of aid: means a child found to be within the jurisdiction of the court under Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • court: means the superior court of the state. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • department: means the Department of Family and Community Services. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • family support services: means the services and activities provided to children and their families, including those provided by the community, a church, or other service organization, both to prevent removal of a child from the parental home and to facilitate the child's safe return to the family. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • guardian: means a natural person who is legally appointed guardian of the child by the court. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • infant: means a child who is less than 21 days of age. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • mental illness: has the meaning given in Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • mental injury: has the meaning given in Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • parent: means the biological or adoptive parent of the child. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • permanency hearing: means a hearing
    (A) designed to reach a decision in a case concerning the permanent placement of a child under Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, or society, as well as a natural person. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • physical injury: has the meaning given in Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
  • reasonable efforts: means , with respect to family support services required under Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • sexual abuse: means the conduct described in Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
  • state: means the State of Alaska unless applied to the different parts of the United States and in the latter case it includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • support: has the meaning given in Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 47.10.990
(1) identify family support services that will assist the parent or guardian in remedying the conduct or conditions in the home that made the child a child in need of aid;
(2) actively offer the parent or guardian, and refer the parent or guardian to, the services identified under (1) of this subsection; the department shall refer the parent or guardian to, and distribute to the parent or guardian information on, community-based family support services whenever community-based services are available and desired by the parent or guardian; the information may include the use of a power of attorney under AS 13.26.066 to select an individual to care for the child temporarily; and
(3) document the department’s actions that are taken under (1) and (2) of this subsection.
(b) If the court makes a finding at a hearing conducted under Alaska Stat. § 47.10.080 (l) that a parent or guardian has not sufficiently remedied the parent’s or guardian’s conduct or the conditions in the home despite reasonable efforts made by the department in accordance with this section, the court may conclude that continuation of reasonable efforts of the type described in (a) of this section are not in the best interests of the child. The department shall then make reasonable efforts to place the child in a timely manner in accordance with the permanent plan and to complete whatever steps are necessary to finalize the permanent placement of the child.
(c) The court may determine that reasonable efforts of the type described in (a) of this section are not required if the court has found by clear and convincing evidence that

(1) the parent or guardian has subjected the child to circumstances that pose a substantial risk to the child’s health or safety; these circumstances include abandonment, sexual abuse, torture, chronic mental injury, or chronic physical harm;
(2) the parent or guardian has

(A) committed homicide under Alaska Stat. § 11.41.100 – 11.41.130 of a parent of the child or of a child;
(B) aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited under Alaska Stat. Chapter 11.16 or Alaska Stat. Chapter 11.31 to commit a homicide described in (A) of this paragraph;
(C) committed an assault that is a felony under Alaska Stat. § 11.41.200 -11.41.220 and results in serious physical injury to a child; or
(D) committed the conduct described in (A) – (C) of this paragraph that violated a law or ordinance of another jurisdiction having elements similar to an offense described in (A) – (C) of this paragraph;
(3) the parent or guardian has, during the 12 months preceding the permanency hearing, failed to comply with a court order to participate in family support services;
(4) the department has conducted a reasonably diligent search over a time period of at least three months for an unidentified or absent parent and has failed to identify and locate the parent;
(5) the parent or guardian is the sole caregiver of the child and the parent or guardian has a mental illness or mental deficiency of such nature and duration that, according to the statement of a psychologist or physician, the parent or guardian will be incapable of caring for the child without placing the child at substantial risk of physical or mental injury even if the department were to provide family support services to the parent or guardian for 12 months;
(6) the parent or guardian has previously been convicted of a crime involving a child in this state or in another jurisdiction and, after the conviction, the child was returned to the custody of the parent or guardian and later removed because of an additional substantiated report of physical or sexual abuse by the parent or guardian;
(7) a child has suffered substantial physical harm as the result of abusive or neglectful conduct by the parent or guardian or by a person known by the parent or guardian and the parent or guardian knew or reasonably should have known that the person was abusing the child;
(8) the parental rights of the parent have been terminated with respect to another child because of child abuse or neglect, the parent has not remedied the conditions or conduct that led to the termination of parental rights, and the parent has demonstrated an inability to protect the child from substantial harm or the risk of substantial harm;
(9) the child has been removed from the child’s home on at least two previous occasions, family support services were offered or provided to the parent or guardian at those times, and the parent or guardian has demonstrated an inability to protect the child from substantial harm or the risk of substantial harm;
(10) the parent or guardian is incarcerated and is unavailable to care for the child during a significant period of the child’s minority, considering the child’s age and need for care by an adult; or
(11) the parent or guardian

(A) has sexually abused the child or another child of the parent or guardian; or
(B) is registered or required to register as a sex offender or child kidnapper under Alaska Stat. Chapter 12.63.
(d) If the court determines under (b) or (c) of this section that reasonable efforts under (a) of this section are not required to be provided,

(1) the court shall hold a permanency hearing for the child within 30 days after the determination; and
(2) the department shall make reasonable efforts to place the child in a timely manner in accordance with the permanency plan, and complete whatever steps are necessary to finalize the permanent placement of the child.
(e) The department may develop and implement an alternative permanency plan for the child while the department is also making reasonable efforts to return the child to the child’s family under (a) of this section.
(f) In making determinations and reasonable efforts under this section, the primary consideration is the child’s best interests.
(g) The department is not required to make reasonable efforts of the type described in (a) of this section if the department took emergency custody of an infant under Alaska Stat. § 47.10.142 after the infant was abandoned safely within the meaning of Alaska Stat. § 47.10.013 (c).
(h) The department shall engage a child who is 14 years of age or older in the development or revision of a case plan, permanency goal, or alternative permanency plan for the child. The department shall also allow the child to select not more than two adults to participate in the development or revision of the plan in addition to the child’s foster parents or department employees who are supervising the care of the child. The department may reject an adult selected by the child if the department has good cause to believe that the adult will not act in the best interests of the child. If the department rejects an adult, the child may select another adult. The child may designate one of the adults to be the child’s advisor, and the advisor may advocate for the child.
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