Child Welfare And Juvenile Court Jurisdiction

The bill provides juvenile courts jurisdiction to enter permanent allocations of parental responsibilities without requiring a full adjudication of a child as dependent or neglected as to each parent in certain circumstances.

Current law grants concurrent jurisdiction to district and county courts to order name changes for children or youth who appear in dependency and neglect and foster youth in transition cases. The bill grants juvenile courts the same jurisdiction.

The bill eliminates the requirement to give public notice of name changes through publication for a child or youth adjudicated dependent or neglected or subject to a continued adjudication.

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)