Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-2 – Purpose; construction
This chapter creates within the jurisdiction of the family court a child protective act to make paramount the safety and health of children who have been harmed or are in life circumstances that threaten harm. Furthermore, this chapter makes provisions for the service, treatment, and permanent plans for these children and their families.
The legislature finds that children deserve and require competent, responsible parenting and safe, secure, loving, and nurturing homes. The legislature finds that children who have been harmed or are threatened with harm are less likely than other children to realize their full educational, vocational, and emotional potential, and become law-abiding, productive, self-sufficient citizens, and are more likely to become involved with the mental health system, the juvenile justice system, or the criminal justice system, as well as become an economic burden on the State. The legislature finds that prompt identification, reporting, investigation, services, treatment, adjudication, and disposition of cases involving children who have been harmed or are threatened with harm are in the children’s, their families’, and society’s best interests because the children are defenseless, exploitable, and vulnerable. The legislature recognizes that many relatives are willing and able to provide a nurturing and safe placement for children who have been harmed or are threatened with harm.
The policy and purpose of this chapter is to provide children with prompt and ample protection from the harms detailed herein, with an opportunity for timely reconciliation with their families if the families can provide safe family homes, and with timely and appropriate service or permanent plans to ensure the safety of the child so they may develop and mature into responsible, self-sufficient, law-abiding citizens. The service plan shall effectuate the child’s remaining in the family home, when the family home can be immediately made safe with services, or the child’s returning to a safe family home. The service plan shall be carefully formulated with the family in a timely manner. Every reasonable opportunity should be provided to help the child’s legal custodian to succeed in remedying the problems that put the child at substantial risk of being harmed in the family home. Each appropriate resource, public and private, family and friend, should be considered and used to maximize the legal custodian’s potential for providing a safe family home for the child. Full and careful consideration shall be given to the religious, cultural, and ethnic values of the child’s legal custodian when service plans are being discussed and formulated. Where the court has determined, by clear and convincing evidence, that the child cannot be returned to a safe family home, the child shall be permanently placed in a timely manner.
The policy and purpose of this chapter includes the protection of children who have been harmed or are threatened with harm by:
Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-2
- Adjudication: means a finding by a court that is supported by a preponderance of the evidence that the child has been harmed or is subjected to threatened harm by the acts or omissions of the child's family. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
- Child: means a person who is born alive and is less than eighteen years of age. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
- Court: means one of the family courts established pursuant to chapter 571. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
- 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: means each legal parent of a child; the birthing parent, unless the child has been legally adopted; the concerned non-birthing parent as provided in section 578-2(a)(5), unless the child has been legally adopted; each parent's spouse or former spouse; each sibling or person related by blood or marriage; each person residing in the dwelling unit; and any other person or legal entity with:
(1) Legal or physical custody or guardianship of the child, or (2) Responsibility for the child's care. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4 - Family home: means the home of the child's legal custodian. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
- Harm: means damage or injury to a child's physical or psychological health or welfare, where:
(1) The child exhibits evidence of injury, including, but not limited to: (A) Substantial or multiple skin bruising; (B) Substantial external or internal bleeding; (C) Burn or burns; (D) Malnutrition; (E) Failure to thrive; (F) Soft tissue swelling; (G) Extreme pain; (H) Extreme mental distress; (I) Gross degradation; (J) Poisoning; (K) Fracture of any bone; (L) Subdural hematoma; or (M) Death; and the injury is not justifiably explained, or the history given concerning the condition or death is not consistent with the degree or type of the condition or death, or there is evidence that the condition or death may not be the result of an accident;
(2) The child has been the victim of sexual contact or conduct, including sexual assault; sodomy; molestation; sexual fondling; incest; prostitution; obscene or pornographic photographing, filming, or depiction; or other similar forms of sexual exploitation, including but not limited to acts that constitute an offense pursuant to section 7121202(1)(b); (3) The child's psychological well-being has been injured as evidenced by a substantial impairment in the child's ability to function; (4) The child is not provided in a timely manner with adequate food; clothing; shelter; supervision; or psychological, physical, or medical care; (5) The child is provided with dangerous, harmful, or detrimental drugs as defined in section 712-1240, except when a child's family administers drugs to the child as directed or prescribed by a practitioner as defined in section 712-1240; or (6) The child has been the victim of labor trafficking under chapter 707. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4 - 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.
- Service plan: means a specific, comprehensive written plan prepared by an authorized agency pursuant to § 587A-27. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
if safe reunification with the family is not possible.
The child protective services under this chapter shall be provided with every reasonable effort to be open, accessible, and communicative to the persons affected by a child protective proceeding without endangering the safety and best interests of the child under this chapter.
This chapter shall be liberally construed to serve the best interests of the children affected and the purpose and policies set forth herein.