Reasonable Efforts to Reunify Families Hawaii

What Are Reasonable Efforts

Statute: § 587-26

A written service plan that sets forth the steps that will be necessary to make the family home safe and to terminate the agency's intervention into the family.

The service plan should include steps that are structured and balance the priority, intensity, and quantity of services needed with the family's ability to benefit from those services.

When Reasonable Efforts Are Required

Statute: § 587-26

To facilitate the return of the child to a safe family home if the proposed placement of the child is in foster care

To allow the child to remain in a safe family home with the assistance of a service plan

When Reasonable Efforts Are NOT Required

Statute: §§ 587-26; 587-71

The court need not order a service plan if the court finds that aggravated circumstances are present:

The parent has committed, aided, attempted, or conspired to commit murder or voluntary manslaughter of another child of the parent

The parent has committed a felony assault that results in serious bodily injury to the child or another child

The parental rights to a sibling have been judicially terminated

The parent has tortured the child

The child is an abandoned infant

A court has determined regarding a sibling under § 587-73 that the parent is not willing and able to provide a safe family home