Title XII, Public Safety and Welfare

If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held to be invalid, the remainder of the chapter and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, minors under the age of 11 years shall not be committed to the youth development center unless and until the court has referred the matter to and received the recommendation of an appropriate public or private agency or of a juvenile pr…

Anyone participating in good faith in the making of a report pursuant to this chapter or who provides information or assistance, including medical evaluations or consultations, in connection with a report, investigation, or legal intervention pursuant to a good faith report of ch…

Upon making a finding that the purposes of this chapter have been met with regard to the minor named in the petition, or for such other reason the court may deem appropriate and consistent with the purposes of this chapter, the court may order a case closed. Any case remaining op…

I. The department shall establish a system to collect data related to: (a) The person or entity who referred the child for services and/or filed the petition. (b) The racial and ethnic identity of the child. (c) The insurance status and coverage of child served. (d) The length of…

I. For a minor who enters an out-of-home placement prior to an adjudicatory finding and who is in an out-of-home placement for 12 or more months, the court shall hold and complete an initial permanency hearing within 14 months of the minor's entry into out-of-home placement or wi…

I. The department shall establish a system to collect data related to: (a) Charges which led to involvement with the juvenile justice system. (b) The racial and ethnic identity of the child. (c) The length of time a child receives services under this chapter, beginning at the tim…

I. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the court shall close all cases other than those involving serious violent offenses no later than 2 years after the date of adjudication. This section shall not apply if, with the assistance of counsel, the minor consents to…

This chapter shall not be construed as applying to persons 16 years of age or over who are charged with the violation of a motor vehicle law, an aeronautics law, a law relating to navigation or boats, a fish and game law, a law relating to title XIII, a law relating to fireworks …

The privileged quality of communication between husband and wife and any professional person and his patient or client, except that between attorney and client, shall not apply to proceedings instituted pursuant to this chapter and shall not constitute grounds for failure to repo…

The court and officials, in placing minors, shall, as far as practicable, place them in the care and custody of some individual holding the same religious beliefs as the minor or the parents of said minor, or with some association which is controlled by persons of like religious …

I. Any medical person or the department preparing or investigating a report under this chapter, may take, or cause to be taken, photographs of the areas of trauma visible on a child who is the subject of a report and, if medically indicated, cause to be performed a radiological e…

I. If it appears that the immediate safety or well-being of a child is endangered, the family may flee or the child disappear, or the facts otherwise so warrant, the department shall commence an investigation immediately after receipt of a report. In all other cases, a child prot…

I. (a) All juvenile cases shall be heard separately from the trial of criminal cases, and such hearing shall be held wherever possible in rooms not used for such trials. Only such persons as the parties, their witnesses, their counsel, the victim, a victim witness advocate or oth…

I. The department of health and human services may enter into formal cooperative agreements with appropriate agencies and organizations to create multidisciplinary child protection teams to assist with the investigation and evaluation of reports of abuse and neglect under this ch…

I. If a report is screened-in for investigation of abuse or neglect, the department shall collect information concerning the military status of the parent or guardian of the child who is the subject of the report and shall share information about the allegation with the appropria…

I. There shall be established a state registry for the purpose of maintaining a record of founded reports of abuse and neglect. The registry shall be confidential and subject to rules on access established by the commissioner of the department under RSA 541-A. The commissioner of…

I. All case records, as defined in RSA 170-G:8-a, relative to delinquency, shall be confidential and access shall be provided pursuant to RSA 170-G:8-a. II. Court records of proceedings under this chapter, except for those court records under RSA 169-B:36, II, shall be kept in bo…

I. The department shall retain a screened-out report for 4 years from the date that the report was screened out. If during the 4-year retention period, the department receives a subsequent report of abuse or neglect concerning the same alleged perpetrator or the same child or any…

I. For the purposes of this section: (a) "Victim" shall mean a person who suffers direct physical, emotional, or psychological harm as a result of the commission of a violent crime. "Victim" also includes the immediate family of any victim who is a minor or who is incompetent, or…

I. It shall be unlawful for any person to disclose court records or any part thereof to persons other than those persons entitled to access under RSA 169-B:35, except by court order. Any person who knowingly violates this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. This prohibiti…

I. It shall be unlawful for any newspaper to publish, or any radio or television station to broadcast or make public the name or address or any other particular information serving to identify any juvenile arrested, without the express permission of the court; and it shall be unl…

The department of justice shall be empowered to receive and investigate reports of institutional abuse or neglect at the youth development center, and any facility that provides child inpatient psychiatric treatment within the state mental health system; and the department shall …

I. In cases involving the death of a child placed in any group home or child care institution as defined in RSA 170-E:25 or certified by the department for the care of children under this chapter, in any state owned or operated residential treatment program, or the youth developm…

The publisher of any newspaper or the manager, owner or person in control of a radio or television station or agent or employee of any of the above who violates any provision of RSA 169-B:37 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

I. The department shall immediately by telephone or in person refer all cases in which there is reason to believe that any person under the age of 18 years has been: (a) sexually molested; (b) sexually exploited; (c) intentionally physically injured so as to cause serious bodily …

The department of health and human services and the department of justice shall jointly develop a standardized protocol for the interviewing of victims and the investigation and assessment of cases of child abuse and neglect. The protocol shall seek to minimize the impact on the …

Anyone who knowingly violates any provision of this subdivision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

A child abuse specialized medical evaluation program is hereby established in the department. The program shall include the following elements: I. Child protective service workers shall have on-call access, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, to an experienced health care professio…

I. The court shall have jurisdiction over any minor with respect to whom a petition is filed under this chapter after the minor's eighteenth and before the minor's nineteenth birthday for an alleged delinquency offense committed before the minor's eighteenth birthday. II. The cou…

The compact administrator is hereby authorized and empowered to enter into supplementary agreements with appropriate officials of other states pursuant to the compact. In the event that such supplementary agreement shall require or contemplate the use of any institution or facili…

I. The court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over all proceedings alleging the abuse or neglect of a child. II. The court may, with the consent of the child, retain jurisdiction over any child, who, prior to his or her eighteenth birthday, was found to be neglected or …

I. Proceedings under this chapter may be originated in any judicial district in which the child is found or resides. II. By the court, upon its own motion, or that of any party, proceedings under this chapter may, upon notice and acceptance, be transferred to another court as the…

I. Upon request, law enforcement agencies in this state shall cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in their investigations of missing child cases. II. The information in any missing child report made to a law enforcement agency shall be made available, upon request, to l…

The court shall not approve any consent agreement unless the department of health and human services has been a party to such agreement and has been given an opportunity to be heard.

If the dispositional order is amended by an order substituting a different order or disposition of the case, the review panel shall make any other disposition of the case in accordance with the order of the review panel.

All reports, evaluations and other records from the department of health and human services, counselors, and guardians ad litem in proceedings under this chapter shall be filed with the court and all other parties at least 5 days prior to any hearing. Once filed with the court an…

If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held to be invalid, the remainder of the chapter and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

I. (a) Whenever an order creating liability for expenses is issued by the court under this chapter, any expenses incurred for services, placements, and programs the providers of which are certified pursuant to RSA 170-G:4, XVIII, shall be payable by the department of health and h…

I. Any parent or guardian or person having custody or control of a minor, or anyone else, who shall knowingly encourage, aid, cause, or abet, or connive at, or has knowingly or willfully done any act to produce, promote, or contribute to the delinquency of such minor, shall be gu…

If any minor is found more than once to be delinquent by the court as provided in RSA 169-B:41, the court may, upon complaint of the county attorney or any other person, or upon its own motion, issue a warrant commanding any parent, guardian or person having custody or control of…

The court, upon a complaint issued under RSA 169-B:42, may proceed under that section and, in addition, if the court finds, after a hearing, that the parent, guardian, or person having custody or control of the minor has failed to exercise reasonable diligence in the control of s…

Nothing in this chapter shall bar civil action to recover damages for the negligence of a person having custody or control of a minor who causes injury to property or persons.

I. For purposes of this section, "vandalism" has the same meaning as "criminal mischief" in RSA 634:2. II. The court shall, when appropriate, order any child who is found to have committed vandalism of private property to write a formal apology to the victim or victims of such va…

Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 169-B:36 and 169-B:37, there shall be no restriction on the publishing or broadcasting of the name or address of any child found to have committed vandalism under RSA 169-B:45, or any child who is adjudicated to have committed a second or sub…

If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held to be invalid, the remainder of the chapter and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.