Tribe: Forest County Potawatomi Community
3.15. Disposition of a Child in Need of Care
(A) If the Court finds that the Child is a Child in Need of Care, the Court shall enter
an order of disposition pursuant to this Section.
(B) The Court shall give consideration to the Child’s physical or mental condition, the
Child’s need for assistance, the manner in which the parent or guardian
participated in the abuse, neglect, or abandonment of the Child and the evidence received at the dispositional hearing concerning the ability of the Child’s parent or
guardian to provide supervision and care of the Child.
(C) The Court shall give precedence to dispositions in the following sequence:
(1) Dismiss the petition.
(2) Refer the Child and the Child’s parents if appropriate to an agency for
needed assistance and dismiss the petition.
(3) Order terms of supervision calculated to assist the Child and the Child’s
parent or guardian, which prescribe the manner of supervision and care of
the Child and which are within the ability of the parent or guardian to
perform.
(4) Order the Indian Child Welfare Worker to assist the Child and to assist the
Child’s parent or guardian to secure social and medical services to provide
proper supervision and care of the Child.
(5) Order the parent, child or relatives who are subject to the court’s
jurisdiction to participate in treatment and services calculated to rehabilitate
the child and parents and reunify the family.
(6) Upon a finding that a parent or guardian is not willing to take custody of
the Child, or that a Child is not willing to reside in the custody of the
Child’s parent or guardian, or that a parent or guardian cannot provide
necessary supervision and care of the Child, the Court may place the Child
in an out of home placement. The Court shall give precedence to out of
home placements in the following sequence: a relative, a foster home,
a group boarding home, or a Child caring institution. The Court shall
make an o ut of h om e placement in the Child’s community when possible.
a. All relative or foster home placements shall be subject to licensure by
the Tribe.
b. All relative or foster home placement caretakers shall be subject to drug
screening, pursuant to the Family Services Division Drug Screening
Policy.
(7) Order the initiation of proceedings to terminate parental rights as outlined
in §5 of this Code.
(D) If the Child is not placed in his or her parent’s custody, the Court may require the
parent to rectify the conditions that formed the basis for the petition. When the
parent fulfills the requirements of the order, the Court shall return the Child to the
parent’s custody.
(E) An order of disposition made pursuant to this Section shall remain in force for an
indeterminate period, but not beyond the Child’s eighteenth (18th) birthday, subject
to the annual review provisions of §3.14 (F) above.