Current through Register No. 40, October 3, 2024
(a) A surrogate
parent shall be appointed by the lead agency in the following circumstances:
(1) No parent as defined in
He-M
510.02(ag) can be
identified;
(2) The lead agency,
area agency, or FCESS program, after reasonable efforts, including, but not
limited to telephone calls and e-mails with documentation of the dates and
times of the attempts, cannot locate a parent;
(3) The child is in the custody of DCYF and
the court overseeing the case has not appointed a surrogate parent meeting the
requirements of (f) below; or
(4)
When a court has issued a written order for a surrogate
parent.
(b) An
application for appointment of a surrogate parent shall be submitted to the
lead agency by an area agency or FCESS program if any of the criteria in (a)
above are present.
(c) Within 30
days of the receipt of a completed application pursuant to (b) above, the lead
agency shall determine whether the child needs a surrogate parent, and if
necessary, assign a surrogate parent.
(d) In order to determine whether a child
needs a surrogate parent, the lead agency shall obtain information that
demonstrates one of the following:
(1) A
parent cannot be identified because there is no written record of the existence
of such a person available to the area agency, FCESS program, or lead agency;
(2) A parent is not able to be
located by the FCESS program or area agency as evidenced through documentation
of efforts including but not limited to, telephone calls and emails and the
date, time of attempts to contact parent.
(3) The FCESS program or area agency has
contacted DCYF for assistance; or
(4) The absence of a court order appointing a
surrogate parent for a child in the custody of DCYF.
(e) For children in the custody of DCYF, the
lead agency must collaborate with DCYF to obtain necessary information for the
appointment of a surrogate parent.
(f) The lead agency shall select individuals
to be available to serve as surrogate parents provided such individuals:
(1) Have volunteered to serve as a surrogate
parent;
(2) Have satisfactorily
completed training to serve as a surrogate parent provided by the lead agency
or designee;
(3) Are 21 years of
age or over;
(4) Have agreed in
writing to serve as a surrogate parent from the date of appointment;
(5) Have no interest that conflicts
personally or professionally with the interest of the child they
represents;
(6) Are not employees
of the lead agency, area agency, or FCESS program responsible for the services,
education, care, or any other services to the child or any family member of the
child, or the school district of liability related to the transition process;
and
(7) Have provided consent to a
check of state registries of founded reports of abuse, neglect, exploitation,
as established by RSA 161-F:49 and
RSA
169-C:35, and their names do not appear on
said registries.
(g) A
surrogate parent assigned by the lead agency shall have the same rights and
responsibilities as a parent defined in
He-M
510.02(ag) for purposes of this
chapter.
(h) The lead agency shall
terminate the appointment of a surrogate parent when:
(1) A parent becomes known, is located, or
rescinds their request or consent to have a surrogate parent appointed and will
assume educational decision-making;
(2) The child ceases to be under legal
custody of DCYF or guardianship of DCYF per RSA 463;
(3) The child is placed within a relative
foster placement;
(4) The child is
adopted; or
(5) When the assigned
surrogate parent provides 30 days' notice to the lead agency of the desire to
end the surrogate parent relationship.
#9594, eff 11-11-09 (from
He-M
510.13)
