(a) At a termination of parental rights hearing, the court shall determine whether there exists clear and convincing evidence that:

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-33

  • Authorized agency: means the department, other public agency, or a person or organization that is licensed by the department or approved by the court to receive children for control, care, maintenance, or placement. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Child: means a person who is born alive and is less than eighteen years of age. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Clear and convincing evidence: means the degree of proof that will produce in the mind of the trier of fact a firm belief or conviction that the fact sought to be proved is true. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Court: means one of the family courts established pursuant to chapter 571. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Date of entry into foster care: means the date a child was first placed in foster custody by the court or sixty days after the child's actual removal from the home, whichever is earlier. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Department: means the department of human services and its authorized representatives. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Family: means each legal parent of a child; the birthing parent, unless the child has been legally adopted; the concerned non-birthing parent as provided in section 578-2(a)(5), unless the child has been legally adopted; each parent's spouse or former spouse; each sibling or person related by blood or marriage; each person residing in the dwelling unit; and any other person or legal entity with:

    (1) Legal or physical custody or guardianship of the child, or
    (2) Responsibility for the child's care. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Family home: means the home of the child's legal custodian. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Family supervision: means the legal status in which a child's legal custodian is willing and able, with the assistance of a service plan, to provide the child with a safe family home. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Foster care: means continuous twenty-four-hour care and supportive services provided for a child by an authorized agency or the court, including, the care, supervision, guidance, and rearing of a child by a resource family. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Foster custody: means the legal status created when the department places a child outside of the family home with the agreement of the legal custodian or pursuant to court order, after the court has determined that the child's family is not presently willing and able to provide the child with a safe family home, even with the assistance of a service plan. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Harm: means damage or injury to a child's physical or psychological health or welfare, where:

    (1) The child exhibits evidence of injury, including, but not limited to:
    (A) Substantial or multiple skin bruising;
    (B) Substantial external or internal bleeding;
    (C) Burn or burns;
    (D) Malnutrition;
    (E) Failure to thrive;
    (F) Soft tissue swelling;
    (G) Extreme pain;
    (H) Extreme mental distress;
    (I) Gross degradation;
    (J) Poisoning;
    (K) Fracture of any bone;
    (L) Subdural hematoma; or
    (M) Death;

    and the injury is not justifiably explained, or the history given concerning the condition or death is not consistent with the degree or type of the condition or death, or there is evidence that the condition or death may not be the result of an accident;

    (2) The child has been the victim of sexual contact or conduct, including sexual assault; sodomy; molestation; sexual fondling; incest; prostitution; obscene or pornographic photographing, filming, or depiction; or other similar forms of sexual exploitation, including but not limited to acts that constitute an offense pursuant to section 7121202(1)(b);
    (3) The child's psychological well-being has been injured as evidenced by a substantial impairment in the child's ability to function;
    (4) The child is not provided in a timely manner with adequate food; clothing; shelter; supervision; or psychological, physical, or medical care;
    (5) The child is provided with dangerous, harmful, or detrimental drugs as defined in section 712-1240, except when a child's family administers drugs to the child as directed or prescribed by a practitioner as defined in section 712-1240; or
    (6) The child has been the victim of labor trafficking under chapter 707. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Parent: means any legal parent of a child; the birth mother, unless the child has been legally adopted; the adjudicated, presumed, or concerned birth father of the child as provided in section 578-2(a)(5), unless the child has been legally adopted; or the legal guardians or any other legal custodians of the child. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Permanent custody: means the legal status created by order of the court after the termination of parental rights as set forth in this chapter. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Permanent plan: means a specific, comprehensive written plan prepared pursuant to § 587A-32. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Service plan: means a specific, comprehensive written plan prepared by an authorized agency pursuant to § 587A-27. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
  • Termination of parental rights: means the severance of parental rights. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587A-4
(1) A child‘s parent whose rights are subject to termination is not presently willing and able to provide the parent’s child with a safe family home, even with the assistance of a service plan;
(2) It is not reasonably foreseeable that the child’s parent whose rights are subject to termination will become willing and able to provide the child with a safe family home, even with the assistance of a service plan, within a reasonable period of time, which shall not exceed two years from the child’s date of entry into foster care;
(3) The proposed permanent plan is in the best interests of the child. In reaching this determination, the court shall:

(A) Presume that it is in the best interests of the child to be promptly and permanently placed with responsible and competent substitute parents and family in a safe and secure home; and
(B) Give greater weight to the presumption that the permanent plan is in the child’s best interest, the younger the child is upon the child’s date of entry into foster care; and
(4) The child consents to the permanent plan if the child is at least fourteen years old, unless the court consults with the child in camera and finds that it is in the best interest of the child to proceed without the child’s consent.
(b) If the court determines that the criteria set forth in subsection (a) are established by clear and convincing evidence and the goal of the permanent plan is for the child to be adopted or remain in permanent custody, the court shall order:

(1) That the child’s parent’s parental rights be terminated;
(2) Termination of the existing service plan and revocation of the prior award of foster custody;
(3) That permanent custody of the child be awarded to an appropriate authorized agency;
(4) An appropriate permanent plan; and
(5) The entry of any other orders the court deems to be in the best interests of the child, including restricting or excluding unnecessary parties from participating in adoption or other subsequent proceedings.
(c) Unless otherwise ordered by the court or until the child is adopted, the child’s family member shall retain, to the extent that the family member possessed the responsibility prior to the termination of parental rights, the continuing responsibility to support the child, including repaying the cost of any and all care, treatment, or any other service provided by the permanent custodian, any subsequent permanent custodian, other authorized agency, or the court for the child’s benefit.
(d) A family member may be permitted visitation with the child at the discretion of the permanent custodian. The court may review the exercise of such discretion and may order that a family member be permitted such visitation as is in the best interests of the child.
(e) An order for the termination of parental rights entered under this chapter shall not operate to terminate the mutual rights of inheritance of the child and the child’s family members or any other benefit to which the child may be entitled, until the child has been adopted.
(f) The court, in its discretion, may vest permanent custody of a child in an authorized agency or in subsequently authorized agencies, as the court deems to be in the best interests of the child.
(g) If the department receives a report that the child has been harmed or is subject to threatened harm by the acts or omissions of the permanent custodians of the child, the department may automatically assume either family supervision over the child and the child’s permanent custodian or foster custody of the child. The department shall immediately notify the court, and the court shall set the case for a permanency hearing within ten days after the department receives such a report, unless the court deems a later date to be in the best interests of the child.
(h) If the court determines that the criteria set forth in subsection (a) are not established by clear and convincing evidence, the court shall order:

(1) The preparation of a plan to achieve permanency for the child;
(2) The entry of any orders that the court deems to be in the best interests of the child;
(3) A periodic review hearing to be held within six months after the date of the last permanency hearing; and
(4) A permanency hearing to be held within twelve months of the date of the last permanency hearing.
(i) Absent compelling reasons, if the child has been in foster care under the department’s responsibility for an aggregate of fifteen out of the most recent twenty-two months from the date of entry into foster care, the department shall file a motion to terminate parental rights.

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