NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1977 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1121

SENATE BILL 434

 

 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR MANDATORY PERIODIC JUDICIAL REVIEW IN ALL CASES WHERE THE CUSTODY OF A CHILD IS REMOVED FROM A PARENT.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 7A-286(2), as the same appears in Volume 1B of the 1975 Cumulative Supplement to the General Statutes of North Carolina, is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following paragraph:

"In any case where custody is removed from a parent, the court shall after 10 days notice to the parent order and conduct periodic reviews, not less frequently than semiannually during the first year after such removal and annually thereafter, to determine if the needs of the child are being met and if the placement is in the child's best interests. The court may order the Department of Social Services, the juvenile court counselor, or any other public or private community agency to timely present the review to the court and assist in making such determination. The court shall after findings of fact enter an order (i) continuing the placement under review, (ii) providing for a different placement, or (iii) making such other provision for the child as is deemed to be in the child's best interests. If at any time custody is restored to a parent, the court shall be relieved of the duty to conduct periodic judicial reviews of the placement."

Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective on January 1, 1978, and shall only apply to custody orders entered on or after January 1, 1978.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 1st day of July, 1977.