| (1) |
The attorney general may employ, with the consent of the Division of Child and Family Services within the Department of Health and Human Services, and in accordance with Section 80-2-703, child protective services investigators to investigate alleged instances of abuse or neglect of a child that occur while a child is in the custody of the Division of Child and Family Services. Those investigators may also investigate reports of abuse or neglect of a child by an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services, or involving a person or entity licensed to provide substitute care for children in the custody of the Division of Child and Family Services. |
Terms Used In Utah Code 67-5-16
| (2) |
Attorneys who represent the Division of Child and Family Services under Section 67-5-17, and child protective services investigators employed by the attorney general under Subsection (1), shall be trained on and implement into practice the following items, in order of preference and priority:
| (a) |
the priority of maintaining a child safely in the child’s home, whenever possible; |
| (b) |
the importance of:
| (i) |
kinship placement, in the event the child is removed from the home; and |
| (ii) |
keeping sibling groups together, whenever practicable and in the best interests of the children; |
|
| (c) |
the preference for kinship adoption over nonkinship adoption, if the parent-child relationship is legally terminated; |
| (d) |
the potential for a guardianship placement if the parent-child relationship is legally terminated and no appropriate adoption placement is available; and |
| (e) |
the use of an individualized permanency goal, only as a last resort. |
|
Amended by Chapter 330, 2023 General Session
