a) Description
The minor will be in short-term care with a continued goal to
return home pending a status hearing. When the court finds that a parent has
not made reasonable progress to date, the court identifies what actions the
parent and the Department or purchase of service agency must take in order to
justify a finding of reasonable progress and sets a status hearing to be held
not earlier than nine months from the date of adjudication, nor later than 11
months from the date of adjudication, during which the parent's progress will
again be reviewed.
b)
Criteria for Selection
This goal may only be selected by the court. It is selected
when:
1) the parents have not
substantially fulfilled their obligations under the service plan and corrected
the conditions that brought the child into care; and
2) nine months have not yet elapsed since
adjudication.
c) Status
Hearing
1) When the court selects this goal,
the court sets a status hearing to review the parents' progress. The date for
the status hearing will be not earlier than nine months from the date of
adjudication, nor later than 11 months from the date of adjudication. The court
tells the parents what they must do to demonstrate reasonable efforts or
progress. The court also requires that relevant, appropriate reunification
services continue to be available during this time period.
2) When the court conducts the status hearing
at 9 to 11 months after the adjudication, the court determines whether the
parents have made reasonable efforts or progress toward attaining the goal of
"return home." If the court finds that the parents have failed to make
reasonable efforts or progress, the court may select the goal "substitute care
pending court decision regarding termination of parental rights" based upon the
parents' failure "to make reasonable efforts to correct the conditions that
were the basis for removal of the child or to make reasonable progress toward
the return of the child to the parent within nine months of an adjudication of
neglected, abused or dependent minor." [750 ILCS 50/1D(m) ]
3) This goal is not available for selection
by a caseworker. However, when the court selects this goal, the caseworker
shall request a legal screening to determine whether the parents have failed to
fulfill their obligations under the service plan and failed to correct the
conditions that brought the child into care, and the case is approaching nine
months since adjudication or more than nine months have passed since
adjudication.
