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19 GCA § 13301

2 of this Article; or

Guam Code AnnotatedTitle 19 — Personal Relations
View official PDF ↗

(2)in all other cases, within twelve

(12)months after the child is removed from the child’s home.

(b)At the Permanency Plan Hearing, the court shall consider fully all relevant prior and current information for determining whether the child’s family is willing and able to provide the child with a safe family home, including, but not limited to, the report or reports submitted pursuant to § 13309 of this Article, or any of the circumstances under § 13301.2 of this Article, and determine whether there exists clear and convincing evidence that:

(1)the child’s family is not presently willing and able to provide the child with a safe family home, even with the supervision of Child Protective Services;

(2)it is not reasonably foreseeable that the child’s family will become willing and able to provide the child with a safe family home, even with the supervision of Child Protective Services, within a reasonable period of time, which shall not exceed fifteen

(15)of the most recent twenty-two

(22)months from the date upon which the child was first placed under foster custody by the court; CH. 13 CHILD PROTECTIVE ACT

(3)the proposed permanency plan is in the best interests of the child; provided, that the court shall presume that:

(A)it is in the best interests of a child to be promptly and permanently placed with responsible and competent substitute caretakers and family in a safe and secure home; and

(B)such presumption increases in importance proportionate to the youth of the child upon foster custody by the court; and

(4)if the child has reached the age of fourteen (14), the child is supportive of the permanency plan.

(c)If the court determines that the criteria set forth in Subsection

(b)of this Section are established by clear and convincing evidence, the court shall order:

(1)that the existing order of disposition be terminated and that the prior award of foster custody be revoked;

(2)that permanent custody be awarded to an appropriate authorized agency;

(3)that an appropriate permanency plan be implemented concerning the child whereby the child will:

(A)be adopted pursuant to §§ 4201 et seq. of Title 19 GCA; provided, that the court shall presume that it is in the best interests of the child to be adopted, unless the child is in the permanent custody of family or persons who have become as family and who for good cause are unwilling or unable to adopt the child but are committed to and are capable of being the child’s permanent custodians; or

(B)remain in permanent custody until the child is subsequently adopted or reaches the age of eighteen (18), and that such status shall not be subject to modification or revocation except upon a showing of extraordinary circumstances to the court.

(d)If the court determines that the criteria set forth in Subsection

(b)of this Section are not established by clear and convincing evidence, the court shall order that:

(1)the permanency plan hearing be continued for a reasonable period of time not to exceed six

(6)months from the date of the continuance;

(2)the authorized agency submits a written report pursuant to § 13309 of this Article; and

(3)such further orders as the court deems to be in the best interests of the child be entered.

(e)At the continued Permanency Plan Hearing, the court shall proceed pursuant to Subsections (b),

(c)and

(d)of this Section, until such date as the court determines that:

(1)there is sufficient evidence to proceed pursuant to Subsection

(c)of this Section; or

(2)the child’s family is willing and able to provide the child with a safe family home, even with the supervision of Child Protective Services, upon which determination the court may:

(A)revoke the prior award of foster custody to the authorized agency and return the child to the family home; and

(B)terminate jurisdiction; or

(C)award supervision to an authorized agency; CH. 13 CHILD PROTECTIVE ACT

(D)order such revisions to the order of disposition as the court, upon such hearing as the court deems to be appropriate, determines to be in the best interests of the child;

(E)set the case for a progress hearing; and

(F)enter such further orders as the court deems to be in the best interests of the child.

§ The story of this section

  1. Enacted by P.L. 20-209 § 5 (bill & sponsor pending — earlier Legislature not yet ingested)
  2. Amended by P.L. 36-135 § 4 — introduced as Bill 299-36 · introduced by Mary Camacho Torres + 14 cosponsors

Interpreted by the courts:

  • 1997 Guam 14Joanne Downey Coffey vs. The Government of Guam, In the Interest of M.D., Minor as the Real Party (1997) · per Benjamin J.F. Cruz, J. · pinpoints (c), (d) at ¶21
  • 2023 Guam 13In the Interest of D.S., S.S, R.H., J.S., and S.S., Minors (2023) · per Robert J. Torres, J. · pinpoints (a), (c), (c)(2), (d) at ¶28

Reconstructed from the Guam Code Annotated. For the authoritative version, see the official PDF.