Reasonable Efforts to Preserve or Reunify Families and Achieve Permanency for Children - Michigan

Date: September 2019

What Are Reasonable Efforts

Citation: Comp. Laws § 712A.18f

Reasonable efforts are measures taken to preserve and reunify the family and may include the following:

  • Efforts to be made by the parents
  • Efforts to be made by the agency
  • A schedule of services to be provided, including in-home services
  • A schedule of parenting time between the child and the parent, if appropriate

When Reasonable Efforts Are Required

Citation: Comp. Laws § 712A.18f

Reasonable efforts must be made as follows:

  • To prevent the child's removal from his or her home
  • To rectify conditions that caused removal of the child from his or her home

When Reasonable Efforts Are NOT Required

Citation: Comp. Laws §§ 712A.19a; 722.638

Reasonable efforts to reunify the child and family must be made in all cases, except when any of the following apply:

  • There is a judicial determination that the parent has subjected the child to aggravated circumstances, as provided in § 722.638, including the following:
    • Abandonment of a young child
    • Criminal sexual conduct involving penetration, attempted penetration, or assault with intent to penetrate
    • Battering, torture, or other severe physical abuse
    • Loss or serious impairment of an organ or limb
    • Life-threatening injury
  • The parent has been convicted of one or more of the following:
    • Murder of another child of the parent
    • Voluntary manslaughter of another child of the parent
    • Aiding or abetting in the murder or voluntary manslaughter of another child of the parent, the attempted murder of the child or another child of the parent, or the conspiracy or solicitation to commit the murder of the child or another child of the parent
    • A felony assault that results in serious bodily injury to the child or another child of the parent
  • The parent is required by court order to register under the sex offenders registration act.
  • The parent has had rights to the child's siblings involuntarily terminated and the parent has failed to rectify the conditions that led to that termination of parental rights.

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