OAR 413-040-0140: Permanency Hearings by the Court

A Permanency Hearing must be held no later than 12 months after a child was found within the jurisdiction of the court under ORS 419B.100 or 14 months after the child was placed in substitute care, whichever is the earlier, and thereafter no less frequently than 12 months for as long as the child remains in substitute care. The Permanency Hearing will: (1) Be held for all children in the legal or physical custody of the Department and placed in paid or unpaid substitute care including, but not limited to, children in foster or relative placements, group homes, permanent foster care, emergency shelters, residential facilities, non-finalized adoptive placements, subsidized independent living, accredited psychiatric facilities, SAIP, and SCIP. Children's permanency hearings continue regardless of whether the placement is licensed or certified or, the child is on runaway status, or the child is returned to a parental home on the basis of a trial home visit. (2) Be conducted by a juvenile court, another court of competent jurisdiction, or by an authorized tribal court; and (3) Determine the permanency plan for the child that includes whether, and if applicable, when the child will: (a) Be returned to the parent; (b) Be placed for adoption and the Department shall file a petition to terminate the parental rights of the parent(s) to a child in Department custody; (c) Be referred to legal guardianship; or (d) Be placed in another planned permanent living arrangement. If the Department has determined that is not in the best interest of the child to file a petition for termination of parental rights, the case plan must also contain documentation for review by the court that: (A) The child is being cared for by a relative and that placement is intended to be permanent; or (B) There is a compelling reason that filing such a petition would not be in the best interests of the child. Such compelling reasons include, but are not limited to: (i) The parent is successfully participating in services that will make it possible for the child to safely return home within a reasonable time; (ii) Another permanent plan is better suited to meet the health and safety needs of the child; (iii) The court or local CRB in a prior hearing or review determined that while the case plan was to reunify the family the Department did not make reasonable efforts or, if the Indian Child Welfare Act applies, active effort to make it possible for the child to safely return home; or (iv) The Department has not provided to the family of the child, consistent with the time period in the case plan, such services as the Department deems necessary for the child to safely return home, if reasonable efforts to make it possible for the child to safely return home are required to be made with respect to the child.