The major goals of the Department are to ensure the safety, well-being and permanent placement of children. This should occur within the family setting as long as the child’s safety is not compromised.  

To achieve these goals, federal and state laws require that the Department make reasonable efforts in every case to prevent unnecessary placement. 

Legal Reference: Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, Public Law 96-27 and the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, Public Law 105-89. 

Reasonable efforts prior to filing a petition require  

• offering services to families and children designed to prevent out-of-home placement, and 

• documentation by the Department of the above services to enable the court to make a judicial determination that reasonable efforts were made. 

The following are examples of some of the services that might be used to prevent out-of-home placement: 

• intensive family preservation services

• twenty-four (24) hour emergency caretaker and homemaker services

• day care

• crisis counseling

• individual and family counseling

• emergency shelters

• parent aide services

• self-help groups

• services for unmarried or minor parents

• provision of, or arrangements for, mental health services

• drug and alcohol abuse counseling

• services for foster parents to stabilize a child medically  or emotionally. 

The burden of proof to show that reasonable efforts have been made rests with the Department because it is the state that seeks to remove the child from the home. 

The Department shall submit specific, accurate and comprehensive information to the court to form the basis for a judicial determination of reasonable efforts. 

The documents used to present this information are the following: 

• Affidavit Seeking Out of Home Placement of Child (DCF-1999)  

• Summary of Facts, and 

• Social Study.

The court, based on the information submitted by the Department, determines if continuation in the home is contrary to the child’s welfare, and whether the Department's actions conformed to one of the following: 

• reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child/youth were made by the state, or 

• reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of said child/youth from the home were not possible. 

A copy of the court's reasonable efforts determination, along with the Department’s  affidavit, if applicable, shall be filed in the legal section of the case record.