New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:6 – Protective Custody
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I. A police or juvenile probation and parole officer may take a child into protective custody without the consent of the parents or other person legally responsible for the child’s care if the child is in such circumstances or surroundings as would present an imminent danger to the child’s health or life unless immediate action is taken and there is not enough time to petition for a court order.
II. If a police or juvenile probation and parole officer removes a child under paragraph I above, the officer:
(a) Shall inform the court forthwith whereupon continued protective custody pending a hearing may be ordered by the court;
(b) May take the child to a child protection services worker of the department; or
(c) May place the child in a foster home; if a child is placed directly in a foster home, the department shall be notified of the incident and where the child is placed within 24 hours, unless there is a physician involved and treating the child and the child is or will be taken to and admitted to a hospital; and
(d) Shall, when the child is removed from an individual other than a parent or a person legally responsible for the child, make every reasonable effort to inform both parents or other persons legally responsible for the child’s care where the child has been taken.
III. Any police or juvenile probation and parole officer or other individual acting in good faith pursuant to this section, shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed as a result of such removal or placement.
IV. The court shall hold a hearing on the matter within 48 hours of taking the child into protective custody, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excluded. Notice shall be given by the police to both parents, the department, and all parties designated by the petitioner or the court.
V. [Repealed.]
VI. The court having jurisdiction over a child who appears to be abused or neglected, and in imminent danger may issue ex parte orders pursuant to N.H. Rev. Stat. § 169-C:6-a, permitting the child or the alleged perpetrator to be removed from the home at the request of the department or a law enforcement officer.
VII. No child taken into protective custody pursuant to this section shall be securely detained.
VIII. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the refusal of a parent or other person having control of a child to administer or consent to the administration of any psychotropic drug to such child shall not, in and of itself, constitute grounds for the police or a juvenile probation and parole officer to take the child into custody, or for the court to order that such child be taken into custody. However, if the administration of a decreasing dose of the drug is required during withdrawal from the medication, the refusal may constitute grounds for taking the child into protective custody.
II. If a police or juvenile probation and parole officer removes a child under paragraph I above, the officer:
Terms Used In New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:6
- Child: means any person who has not reached his eighteenth birthday. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
- Court: means the district court, unless otherwise indicated. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
- Department: means the department of health and human services. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
- Foster home: means a residential care facility licensed pursuant to N. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
- Imminent danger: means circumstances or surroundings causing immediate peril or risk to a child's health or life. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Notice: means communication given in person or in writing to the parent, guardian, custodian or other interested party not having custody or control of the child, of the time and place fixed for hearing; and it shall be given in all cases, unless it appears to the court that such notice will be ineffectual. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
- Parent: means mother, father, adoptive parent, stepparent, but such term shall not include a parent as to whom the parent-child relationship has been terminated by judicial decree or voluntary relinquishment. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies corporate and politic as well as to individuals. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:9
- petition: when used in connection with the equity jurisdiction of the superior court, and referring to a document filed with the court, shall mean complaint, and "petitioner" shall mean plaintiff. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:51
- petitioner: shall mean plaintiff. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 21:51
- Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
- Protective custody: means the status of a child who has been taken into physical custody by a police officer or juvenile probation and parole officer because the child was in such circumstances or surroundings which presented an imminent danger to the child's health or life and where there was not sufficient time to obtain a court order. See New Hampshire Revised Statutes 169-C:3
(a) Shall inform the court forthwith whereupon continued protective custody pending a hearing may be ordered by the court;
(b) May take the child to a child protection services worker of the department; or
(c) May place the child in a foster home; if a child is placed directly in a foster home, the department shall be notified of the incident and where the child is placed within 24 hours, unless there is a physician involved and treating the child and the child is or will be taken to and admitted to a hospital; and
(d) Shall, when the child is removed from an individual other than a parent or a person legally responsible for the child, make every reasonable effort to inform both parents or other persons legally responsible for the child’s care where the child has been taken.
III. Any police or juvenile probation and parole officer or other individual acting in good faith pursuant to this section, shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed as a result of such removal or placement.
IV. The court shall hold a hearing on the matter within 48 hours of taking the child into protective custody, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excluded. Notice shall be given by the police to both parents, the department, and all parties designated by the petitioner or the court.
V. [Repealed.]
VI. The court having jurisdiction over a child who appears to be abused or neglected, and in imminent danger may issue ex parte orders pursuant to N.H. Rev. Stat. § 169-C:6-a, permitting the child or the alleged perpetrator to be removed from the home at the request of the department or a law enforcement officer.
VII. No child taken into protective custody pursuant to this section shall be securely detained.
VIII. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the refusal of a parent or other person having control of a child to administer or consent to the administration of any psychotropic drug to such child shall not, in and of itself, constitute grounds for the police or a juvenile probation and parole officer to take the child into custody, or for the court to order that such child be taken into custody. However, if the administration of a decreasing dose of the drug is required during withdrawal from the medication, the refusal may constitute grounds for taking the child into protective custody.