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

What Are Reasonable Efforts

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 432B.393

For the purposes of this section, 'reasonable efforts' have been made if an agency that provides child welfare services that has legal custody of a child has exercised diligence and care in arranging appropriate, accessible, and available services that are designed to improve the ability of a family to provide a safe and stable home for each child in the family, with the health and safety of the child as its paramount concerns. The exercise of such diligence and care includes, without limitation, obtaining necessary and appropriate information concerning the child for the purposes of §§ 127.152, 127.410, and 424.038 and, if necessary, creating an in-home safety plan for the protection of the child.

An agency may satisfy the requirement of making reasonable efforts pursuant to this section by taking no action concerning a child or making no effort to provide services to a child if it is reasonable to do so under the circumstances.

As used in this section, 'in-home safety plan' means a plan created by a child welfare agency to ensure the protection of a child in his or her home, including, without limitation, determining any vulnerabilities of the child, managing any potential threats to the safety of the child, and determining the capacity of the person responsible for the welfare of the child to care for the child.

When Reasonable Efforts Are Required

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 432B.393

Except as otherwise provided in this section, the child welfare agency shall make reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify the family of a child, as follows:

• Before the placement of the child in foster care to prevent or eliminate the need to remove the child from the home
• To make it possible for the child to safely return home
• If continuation of reasonable efforts is determined to be inconsistent with the plan for the permanent placement of the child, to place the child in a timely manner in accordance with that plan and to complete whatever actions are necessary to finalize the permanent placement of the child

When Reasonable Efforts Are NOT Required

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 432B.393

Reasonable efforts are not required if the court finds that any of the following applies:

• A parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare has done any of the following:
  • Committed, aided, or abetted in the commission of or attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit murder or voluntary manslaughter
  • Caused the abuse or neglect of the child, which resulted in substantial bodily harm to the child
  • Caused the abuse or neglect of the child, and the abuse or neglect was so extreme or repetitious that returning the child to the home would result in an unacceptable risk to the child's health or welfare
  • Abandoned the child for 60 or more days, and the identity of the parent is unknown
• A parent of the child has, for the previous 6 months, had the ability to contact or communicate with the child and made no more than token efforts to do so.
• The parental rights of a parent to another child have been terminated involuntarily by a court order, and the court order is not currently being appealed.
• The child or a sibling of the child was previously removed from the home due to abuse or neglect, returned to the home, and subsequently removed from the home as a result of additional abuse or neglect.
• The child is less than age 1, the father of the child is not married to the child's mother, and the father:
  • Has failed within 60 days after learning of the birth of the child, to visit the child, to commence proceedings to establish his paternity of the child, or to provide financial support for the child
  • Is entitled to seek custody of the child, but fails to do so within 60 days after learning that the child was placed in foster care
• The child was delivered to a provider of emergency services.
• The child or another child in the household has been sexually abused or has been subjected to neglect by pervasive instances of failure to protect the child from sexual abuse.
• A parent of the child is required to register as a sex offender.