Review Hearings

Review hearings are held only when custody has not been removed from a parent, guardian, or custodian at initial disposition. In practice, DSS sometimes refers to these types of petitions as “slow petitions” or “compliance petitions.” In cases where custody has not been removed from a parent, guardian, or custodian, the court only holds review hearings, not permanency planning hearings.

The purpose of the review hearing is to review the parent’s, guardian’s, or custodian’s progress with court-ordered services.

• Review hearings must be held within 90 days of the initial disposition hearing WHEN custody has not been removed from a parent, guardian, or custodian at initial disposition.
• Review hearings must take place at least every six months unless
• The court removes custody from the parent, guardian, or custodian. In this case, the court must start holding permanency plan hearings.
• The court terminates its jurisdiction.

• All parties and placement provider must receive notice of the review hearing.
• All juveniles 12 years or older shall also get notice.
• The parties must be given 15 days notice.

• Evidence must be relevant, reliable, and necessary to determine the juvenile’s needs and most appropriate disposition.
• Rules of evidence do not apply. Practitioners refer to the rules of evidence being "relaxed"

• The court shall consider information from:
• Respondents
• The juvenile
• The guardian of the juvenile
• o The juvenile’s placement provider
• The legal custodian
• DSS
• The GAL program
• And any other person or agency that will aid in the court’s review
• The trial court’s paramount consideration is always the best interest of the child.

At each review hearing the trial court must make findings that are relevant from the following factors:

• Services which have been offered to prevent the removal from the parent, guardian, or custodian.
• Reports on and the appropriateness of the juvenile continuing in the home of the parent, guardian, or custodian.

The court continues to hold review hearings until the court terminates its jurisdiction, or orders the juvenile’s removal from the custody of the parent, guardian, or custodian.

• The efforts aimed at preventing the juvenile from being removed from their home.
• Examples of reasonable efforts:
• making referrals for services for the juvenile and Respondents
• paying for mental health and psychological evaluations
• transporting the juvenile and/or parents to services
• paying for random drug screens
• paying for genetic marker testing

At a review hearing, the court may remove custody from a parent, guardian, or custodian only if one of the following factors is found:

• Since the last hearing, one of the factors listed in G.S. 7B-901(c) (ceasing reunification efforts at initial disposition) or in G.S. 7B-503(a)(1) – (a)(4) (criteria for nonsecure custody) has occurred and the juvenile has experienced or is at substantial risk of experiencing physical or emotional harm as a result
• The parent, guardian, or custodian consent.

A parent, guardian, or custodian must demonstrate the circumstances that resulted in DSS’ involvement have been resolved to the court’s satisfaction and that they can provide a safe home for the juvenile by completing court-ordered services. The time frame for a parent, guardian, or custodian to do this is 12 months from when the petition is filed. Absent extraordinary circumstances, the court terminates its jurisdiction in the A/N/D action at that time.

Practice Note: When deciding whether to terminate jurisdiction, a court may want to consider when the adjudication and initial dispositional orders were entered to assess whether the parent had 12 months to demonstrate their compliance with court-ordered services.