12.45.010 Procedure for filing a petition to terminate parental rights.
On behalf of YSS, the Office of the Tribal Attorney or other designated official shall either file a petition, or seek to be joined to a petition filed by another party, to terminate parental rights of the child’s parent(s) in the following circumstances:
(a) When a child has been in foster care under the responsibility of YSS for 15 of the most recent 22 months, the petition to terminate parental rights must be filed by the end of the child’s fifteenth month in foster care.
(1) In calculating when to file a petition for termination of parental rights, YSS:
(A) Will calculate the 15 out of the most recent 22-month period from the date the child entered foster care (as defined in YTC 12.05.040);
(B) Will use a cumulative method of calculation when a child experiences multiple exits from and enters into foster care during the 22-month period; and
(C) Will not include trial home visits or runaway episodes in calculating 15 months in foster care.
(2) YSS will only apply this requirement to a child once.
(b) When a court of competent jurisdiction has determined a child to be an abandoned infant as defined in YTC 12.05.040, the petition to terminate parental rights is to be made within 60 days of the judicial determination.
(c) When a court of competent jurisdiction has made a determination that the parent has:
(1) Committed murder of another child of the parent;
(2) Committed voluntary manslaughter of another child of the parent;
(3) Aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such a murder or such a voluntary manslaughter; or
(4) Committed a felony assault that has resulted in serious bodily injury to the child or to another child of the parent the petition to terminate parental rights is to be made within 60 days of a judicial determination that active efforts to reunify the child and parent are not required.
(d) A finding by the Tribal Court or court of competent jurisdiction has determined the parent is guilty of aggravated circumstances, as defined by YTC 12.05.040. [Ord. 46A § 1801, adopted, 3/24/2016.]