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

Date: September 2019

What Are Reasonable Efforts

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 43-532(2)

When children and families require assistance from a State department or agency, the health and safety of the child is the paramount concern, and reasonable efforts shall be made to provide such assistance in the least intrusive and least restrictive method consistent with the needs of the child and to deliver such assistance as close to the home community of the child or family requiring assistance as possible.

When Reasonable Efforts Are Required

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 43-283.01

Reasonable efforts shall be made for the following purposes:

  • Prior to placement to prevent or eliminate the need for removing the juvenile from the home
  • To make it possible for the juvenile to return home safely
  • To place the juvenile in a timely manner and to finalize a permanent placement if continuation of reasonable efforts is determined to be inconsistent with the permanency plan

When Reasonable Efforts Are NOT Required

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 43-283.01

Reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify the family are not required if the court has determined that any of the following are true:

  • The parent has subjected the juvenile or another minor child to aggravated circumstances, including abandonment, torture, chronic abuse, or sexual abuse.
  • The parent has committed murder or voluntary manslaughter of another child or aided, abetted, or attempted to commit such a crime.
  • The parent has committed felony assault resulting in serious bodily injury to the child or another child.
  • The parent has been convicted of felony sexual assault of the other parent of the child.
  • The parent's parental rights to another child have been terminated involuntarily.

Except as otherwise provided in the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act, if the family includes a child who was conceived by the victim of a sexual assault and a biological parent is convicted of the crime under § 28-319 or 28-320 or a similar law in another jurisdiction, the convicted biological parent of such child shall not be considered a part of the child's family for purposes of requiring reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify the family.

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