Act No. 476

Public Acts of 2004

Approved by the Governor

December 21, 2004

Filed with the Secretary of State

December 28, 2004

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 28, 2004

STATE OF MICHIGAN

92ND LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2004

Introduced by Senator Bernero

ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 1441

AN ACT to amend 1939 PA 288, entitled "An act to revise and consolidate the statutes relating to certain aspects of the family division of circuit court, to the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the family division of circuit court and its judges and other officers, to the change of name of adults and children, and to the adoption of adults and children; to prescribe certain jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the family division of circuit court and its judges and other officers; to prescribe the manner and time within which certain actions and proceedings may be brought in the family division of the circuit court; to prescribe pleading, evidence, practice, and procedure in certain actions and proceedings in the family division of circuit court; to provide for appeals from certain actions in the family division of circuit court; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments, agencies, and officers; to provide for certain immunity from liability; and to provide remedies and penalties," by amending section 19c of chapter XIIA (MCL 712A.19c), as amended by 2000 PA 46.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

CHAPTER XIIA

Sec. 19c. (1) Except as provided in section 19(4) and subject to subsection (2), if a child remains in placement following the termination of parental rights to the child, the court shall conduct a review hearing not more than 91 days after the termination of parental rights and no later than every 91 days after that hearing for the first year following termination of parental rights to the child. If a child remains in a placement for more than 1 year following termination of parental rights to the child, a review hearing shall be held no later than 182 days from the immediately preceding review hearing before the end of the first year and no later than every 182 days from each preceding review hearing thereafter until the case is dismissed. A review hearing under this subsection shall not be canceled or delayed beyond the number of days required in this subsection, regardless of whether any other matters are pending. Upon motion by any party or in the court's discretion, a review hearing may be accelerated to review any element of the case. The court shall conduct the first permanency planning hearing within 12 months from the date that the child was originally removed from the home. Subsequent permanency planning hearings shall be held within 12 months of the preceding permanency planning hearing. If proper notice for a permanency planning hearing is provided, a permanency planning hearing may be combined with a review hearing held under section 19(2) to (4) of this chapter. A permanency planning hearing under this section shall not be canceled or delayed beyond the number of months required in this subsection, regardless of whether any other matters are pending. At a hearing under this section, the court shall review all of the following:

(a) The appropriateness of the permanency planning goal for the child.

(b) The appropriateness of the child's placement.

(c) The reasonable efforts being made to place the child for adoption or in other permanent placement in a timely manner.

(2) This section applies only to a child's case in which parental rights to the child were either terminated as the result of a proceeding under section 2(b) of this chapter or a similar law of another state or terminated voluntarily following the initiation of a proceeding under section 2(b) of this chapter or a similar law of another state. This section applies as long as the child is subject to the jurisdiction, control, or supervision of the court or of the Michigan children's institute or other agency.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Secretary of the Senate

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Approved

Governor