Bill > HSB108

Introduced Session

This bill relates to the ability of a juvenile court to H.F. _____ close a child in need of assistance (CINA) case by transferring jurisdiction through modification of a bridge order issued pursuant to a previous CINA case. Under current law, a juvenile court may close a CINA case by issuing a bridge order that would transfer jurisdiction to the district court. If the child is subject to a subsequent CINA case, the juvenile court is required to issue a new order for the case and a court would have to rescind the previous bridge order. The bill provides that if a bridge order currently exists for a child in a CINA case, a juvenile court may close a CINA case by transferring jurisdiction over the child’s custody, physical care, and visitation to the district court through a modification of the bridge order issued pursuant to the previous CINA case if the child has been adjudicated a CINA in an active juvenile court case, and a dispositional order in that case is in place; paternity of the child has been legally established, including by operation of law due to the individual’s marriage to the mother at the time of conception, birth, or at any time during the period between conception and birth of the child, by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or by administrative order when authorized by state law; the child is safely placed by the juvenile court with a parent; a parent qualified for a court-appointed attorney in the juvenile court case; and the juvenile court has determined that the CINA case can safely close once the child’s previous bridge order is modified and entered by the district court. The bill requires a bridge order to designate the petitioner and respondent in the existing bridge order as petitioner and respondent in their previously designated roles. The bill restricts the scope of a modification of a bridge order to issues pertaining to custody, physical care, and visitation. All other matters, including child support, shall be filed by separate petition or by action of the child support recovery unit, and shall be subject to existing applicable H.F. _____ statutory provisions. The bill waives filing fees and other court costs related to the juvenile court transferring jurisdiction to a district court pursuant to a modification of a bridge order. The bill requires the district court to take judicial notice of the juvenile file in any hearing related to the case being transferred pursuant to a modification of a bridge order. Records contained in the district court case file that were copied or transferred from the juvenile court file concerning the case are subject to all Code chapter 232 (juvenile justice) confidentiality provisions, and must be disclosed, upon request, to the child support recovery unit without a court order.

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Other Sponsors (1)

Committee report approving bill, renumbered as HF 359. (on 02/20/2023)

Official Document