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Victimized Twice: The Reasonable Efforts Requirement In Child Protection Cases When Parents Have A Mental Illness, Jeanne M. Kaiser
Victimized Twice: The Reasonable Efforts Requirement In Child Protection Cases When Parents Have A Mental Illness, Jeanne M. Kaiser
Jeanne M. Kaiser
Abstract: State child protection agencies are required by federal law to exert reasonable efforts to keep families together before seeking termination of parental rights. Some states, however, have created an exception to this requirement when the parent involved suffers from a chronic mental illness. Moreover, even in those states that enforce the requirement, the reunification services provided to parents with a mental illness often do not meet the needs of those parents. This article argues that although parents with a mental illness face serious challenges in caring for their children, they should not be categorically excluded from reunification efforts by …
Finding A Reasonable Way To Enforce The Reasonable Efforts Requirement In Child Protection Cases, Jeanne M. Kaiser
Finding A Reasonable Way To Enforce The Reasonable Efforts Requirement In Child Protection Cases, Jeanne M. Kaiser
Jeanne M. Kaiser
Abstract: Under federal law, state child protection agencies are required to exert “reasonable efforts” to reunite abused and neglected children with their parents before seeking to terminate parental rights and free the children for adoption. The scope of this requirement is undefined in federal statutes and in the statutory law of many states. As a result, it has fallen to appellate courts to determine the degree of effort a state agency must exert before the relationship between a parent and a child is severed. This has proven no easy task. By the time a parental termination case has reached an …