Chapter 385 |
2025 -- H 6120 SUBSTITUTE A Enacted 07/01/2025 |
A N A C T |
RELATING TO DELINQUENT AND DEPENDENT CHILDREN -- PROCEEDINGS IN FAMILY COURT |
Introduced By: Representative Jose F. Batista |
Date Introduced: March 21, 2025 |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
SECTION 1. Section 14-1-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 14-1 entitled "Proceedings in |
Family Court" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
14-1-3. Definitions. |
The following words and phrases when used in this chapter shall, unless the context |
otherwise requires, be construed as follows: |
(1) “Adult” means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older. |
(2) “Appropriate person,” as used in §§ 14-1-10 and 14-1-11, except in matters relating to |
adoptions and child marriages, means and includes: |
(i) Any police official of this state, or of any city or town within this state; |
(ii) Any duly qualified prosecuting officer of this state, or of any city or town within this |
state; |
(iii) Any director of public welfare of any city or town within this state, or his or her duly |
authorized subordinate; |
(iv) Any truant officer or other school official of any city or town within this state; |
(v) Any duly authorized representative of any public or duly licensed private agency or |
institution established for purposes similar to those specified in § 8-10-2 or 14-1-2; or |
(vi) Any maternal or paternal grandparent, who alleges that the surviving parent, in those |
cases in which one parent is deceased, is an unfit and improper person to have custody of any child |
or children. |
(3) “Child” means a person under eighteen (18) years of age; provided, however, solely for |
the purposes of “special immigrant juvenile status,” pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(27)(J), a child |
may be defined as an unmarried person under the age of twenty-one (21) years. |
(4) “The court” means the family court of the state of Rhode Island. |
(5) “Delinquent,” when applied to a child, means and includes any child who has |
committed any offense that, if committed by an adult, would constitute a felony, or who has on |
more than one occasion violated any of the other laws of the state or of the United States or any of |
the ordinances of cities and towns, other than ordinances relating to the operation of motor vehicles. |
(6) “Dependent” means any child who requires the protection and assistance of the court |
when his or her physical or mental health or welfare is harmed, or threatened with harm, due to the |
inability of the parent or guardian, through no fault of the parent or guardian, to provide the child |
with a minimum degree of care or proper supervision because of: |
(i) The death or illness of a parent; or |
(ii) The special medical, educational, or social-service needs of the child which the parent |
is unable to provide. |
(7) “Justice” means a justice of the family court. |
(8) “Neglect” means a child who requires the protection and assistance of the court when |
his or her physical or mental health or welfare is harmed, or threatened with harm, when the parents |
or guardian: |
(i) Fails to supply the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care, though |
financially able to do so or offered financial or other reasonable means to do so; |
(ii) Fails to provide the child proper education as required by law; or |
(iii) Abandons and/or deserts the child. |
(9) “Supervised independent living setting” means a supervised setting in which a young |
adult is living independently, that meets any safety and/or licensing requirements established by |
the department for this population, and is paired with a supervising agency or a supervising worker, |
including, but not limited to, single or shared apartments or houses, host homes, relatives’ and |
mentors’ homes, college dormitories or other postsecondary educational or vocational housing. All |
or part of the financial assistance that secures an independent supervised setting for a young adult |
may be paid directly to the young adult if there is no provider or other child-placing intermediary, |
or to a landlord, a college, or to a supervising agency, or to other third parties on behalf of the |
young adult in the discretion of the department. |
(10) “Voluntary placement agreement for extension of care” means a written agreement |
between the state agency and a young adult who meets the eligibility conditions specified in § 14- |
1-6(c), acting as their own legal guardian that is binding on the parties to the agreement. At a |
minimum, the agreement recognizes the voluntary nature of the agreement, the legal status of the |
young adult and the rights and obligations of the young adult, as well as the services and supports |
the agency agrees to provide during the time that the young adult consents to giving the department |
legal responsibility for care and placement. |
(11) “Wayward,” when applied to a child, means and includes any child: |
(i) Who has deserted his or her home without good or sufficient cause; |
(ii) Who habitually associates with dissolute, vicious, or immoral persons; |
(iii) Who is leading an immoral or vicious life; |
(iv) Who is habitually disobedient to the reasonable and lawful commands of his or her |
parent or parents, guardian, or other lawful custodian; |
(v) Who, being required by chapter 19 of title 16 to attend school, willfully and habitually |
absents himself or herself from school or habitually violates the rules and regulations of the school |
when he or she attends; |
(vi) Who has, on any occasion, violated any of the laws of the state or of the United States |
or any of the ordinances of cities and towns, other than ordinances relating to the operation of motor |
vehicles; or |
(vii) Any child under seventeen (17) years of age who violates § 21-28.11-22, and who is |
not exempted from the penalties pursuant to chapter 28.6 of title 21. |
(12) “Young adult” means an individual who has attained the age of eighteen (18) years |
but has not reached the age of twenty-one (21) years and was in the legal custody of the department |
on their eighteenth birthday pursuant to an abuse, neglect or dependency petition; or was a former |
foster child who was adopted or placed in a guardianship after attaining age sixteen (16). |
(13) The singular shall be construed to include the plural, the plural the singular, and the |
masculine the feminine, when consistent with the intent of this chapter. |
(14) For the purposes of this chapter, “electronic surveillance and monitoring devices” |
means any “radio frequency identification device (RFID)” or “global positioning device” that is |
either tethered to a person or is intended to be kept with a person and is used for the purposes of |
tracking the whereabouts of that person within the community. |
SECTION 2. Chapter 14-1 of the General Laws entitled "Proceedings in Family Court" is |
hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: |
14-1-5.2. Expanded jurisdiction for special immigrant juvenile status findings. |
(a) The family court shall have jurisdiction to make factual findings under this section and |
to award legal custody or appoint a legal guardian of a person under the age of twenty-one (21) |
years to be used solely in conjunction with a petition to the United States Citizenship and |
Immigration Services for designation of the minor child as having special immigrant juvenile status |
(herein this section referred to as “SIJS”) under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(27)(J) including, but not limited |
to, determinations regarding the following: |
(1) Whether the child has been declared dependent on the court, or legally placed under the |
custody of an individual or entity appointed by the court; |
(2) Whether reunification with one or both parents is not viable due to abuse, neglect, |
abandonment, or a similar basis under state law; and |
(3) Whether it is not in the best interest of the child to be returned to the child’s country of |
nationality or last habitual residence. |
(b) For purposes of this section, the term “child” shall include any unmarried person under |
twenty-one (21) years of age who files a petition for relief under this section. |
(c) The family court shall have original or continuing jurisdiction to make the findings set |
forth in subsection (a) of this section for any petitioner who is under the age of twenty-one (21) at |
the time of filing, regardless of whether the petitioner has reached the age of eighteen (18) before |
the court issues its findings. |
(d) A petition for factual findings under this section may be filed as an independent action |
or in conjunction with any other proceeding over which the family court has jurisdiction including, |
but not limited to, guardianship, child custody, adoption, and dependency matters. |
(e) The court’s jurisdiction to issue findings under this section shall be solely for the |
purposes of making the necessary factual determinations to support a petition for SIJS and shall not |
confer any independent immigration status. |
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC002539/SUB A |
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