Care and Protection of Walt (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-167-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC-12295 CARE AND PROTECTION OF WALT.[1] Worcester. May 1, 2017. – October 20, 2017. Present: Gants, C.J., Lenk, Hines, Gaziano, Lowy, & Budd, JJ.[2] Department of Children & Families. Minor, Custody, Temporary custody. Parent and Child, Custody of minor. Appeals Court, Appeal from order of single justice. Jurisdiction, Equitable. Petition filed in the Worcester County Division of the Juvenile Court Department on June 2, 2016. A hearing on continuation of an ex parte emergency order granting temporary custody was had before Anthony J. Marotta, J. A petition for interlocutory review was heard in the Appeals Court by Judd J. Carhart, J.; motions for reconsideration and for a stay were also heard by him, and his order was reported by him to a panel of the Appeals Court. The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court. Ann Balmelli O’Connor, Committee for Public Counsel Services, for the father. Bryan K. Clauson (Marianne W.B. MacDougall also present) for the child. Richard A. Salcedo for Department of Children and Families. Evan D. Panich, Katrina C. Rogachevsky, Jessica Berry, Susan R. Elsen, & Jamie Ann Sabino, for Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts & others, amici curiae, submitted a brief. GANTS, C.J. Under G. L. c. 119, § 29C, if a Juvenile Court judge grants temporary custody of a child to the Department of Children and Families (department), the judge “shall certify that the continuation of the child in his home is contrary to his best interests and shall determine whether the department . . . has made reasonable efforts prior to the placement of a child with the department to prevent or eliminate the need for removal from the home.” In this opinion, we resolve three legal issues regarding the reasonable efforts determination. First, we hold that a judge must make a reasonable efforts determination when issuing an order transferring custody of the child to the department for up to seventy-two hours at the emergency hearing, and must revisit that determination at the temporary custody hearing that must follow, commonly known as the “seventy-two hour hearing,” if the judge continues the department’s temporary custody of the child. Second, § 29C provides that reasonable efforts by the department prior to removal of a child from the home are not required […]