(a) The service plan shall provide:

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-27

  • Authorized agency: means the department, other public agency, or a person or organization that is licensed by the department or approved by the court to receive children for control, care, maintenance, or placement. 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
  • Date of entry into foster care: means the date a child was first placed in foster custody by the court or sixty days after the child's actual removal from the home, whichever is earlier. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Department: means the department of human services and its authorized representatives. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • 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
  • Foster care: means continuous twenty-four-hour care and supportive services provided for a child by an authorized agency or the court, including, the care, supervision, guidance, and rearing of a child by a resource family. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Foster custody: means the legal status created when the department places a child outside of the family home with the agreement of the legal custodian or pursuant to court order, after the court has determined that the child's family is not presently willing and able to provide the child with a safe family home, even with the assistance of a service plan. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • 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.
  • Ohana conference: means a family-focused, strength-based meeting conducted by trained community facilitators that is designed to build and enhance the network of protection for a child who is subject to a proceeding under this chapter. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Party: means an authorized agency; a child who is subject to a proceeding under this chapter; the child's parents and guardian ad litem; any other person who is alleged in the petition or who is subsequently found at any child protective proceeding to be encouraging, causing, or contributing to the acts or conditions that brought the child within the scope of this chapter; and may include any other person, including the child's current foster parent or current resource family, if the court finds that such person's participation is in the best interest of the child; provided that the court may limit a party's right to participate in any child protective proceeding if the court deems such limitation of such party's participation to be consistent with the best interests of the child and such party is not a family member who is required to be summoned pursuant to § 587A-13, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Service plan: means a specific, comprehensive written plan prepared by an authorized agency pursuant to § 587A-27. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Termination of parental rights: means the severance of parental rights. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
(1) The specific steps necessary to facilitate the return of the child to a safe family home, if the proposed placement of the child is in foster care under foster custody. These specific steps shall include treatment and services that will be provided, actions completed, specific measurable and behavioral changes that must be achieved, and responsibilities assumed;
(2) Whether an ohana conference will be conducted for family finding and family group decision making;
(3) The respective responsibilities of the child, the parents, legal guardian or custodian, the department, other family members, and treatment providers, and a description and expected outcomes of the services required to achieve the permanency goal;
(4) The required frequency and types of contact between the assigned social worker, the child, and the family;
(5) The time frames during which services will be provided, actions must be completed, and responsibilities must be discharged;
(6) Notice to the parents that their failure to substantially achieve the objectives described in the service plan within the time frames established may result in termination of their parental rights;
(7) Notice to the parents that if the child has been in foster care under the responsibility of the department for an aggregate of fifteen out of the most recent twenty-two months from the child’s date of entry into foster care, the department is required to file a motion to set a termination of parental rights hearing, and the parents’ failure to provide a safe family home within two years from the date when the child was first placed under foster custody by the court, may result in the parents’ parental rights being terminated; and
(8) Any other terms and conditions that the court or the authorized agency deem necessary to the success of the service plan.
(b) Services and assistance to the family that are required by a service plan shall be presented in a manner that can be understood by and does not overwhelm the parties.
(c) The court shall ensure that each term, condition, and consequence of the service plan has been thoroughly explained to, understood by, and agreed to by each member of the child’s family whom the authorized agency deems to be necessary to the success of the service plan. The court shall thereafter order the service plan into effect and order the distribution of copies to each family member or person who is a party to the service plan. If a member of a child’s family whom the authorized agency deems to be necessary to the success of the service plan cannot understand or refuses to agree to the terms, conditions, and consequences of the service plan, the court shall conduct a hearing to determine the terms, conditions, and consequences of a service plan that will ensure a safe home for the child.