O.C.G.A. § 15-11-230 (2019)
Permanency plan hearing
(a) The court shall hold a permanency plan hearing to determine the future permanent legal status of each child in DFCS custody.
(b) A permanency plan hearing, which considers in-state and out-of-state placement options for a child adjudicated as a dependent child, shall be held:
(1) No later than 30 days after DFCS has submitted a written report to the court which does not contain a plan for reunification services;
(2) For children under seven years of age at the time a petition is filed, no later than nine months after such child has entered foster care;
(3) For children seven years of age and older at the time a petition is filed, no later than 12 months after such child has entered foster care; or
(4) For a child in a sibling group whose members were removed from the home at the same time and in which one member of the sibling group was under seven years of age at the time a petition for dependency was filed, the permanency plan hearing shall be held no later than nine months after such child has entered foster care.
(c) After the initial permanency plan hearing has occurred, a permanency plan hearing shall be held not less frequently than every six months during the time a child adjudicated as a dependent child continues in DFCS custody or more frequently as deemed necessary by the court until the court determines that such child’s permanency plan and goal have been achieved.
(d) A child adjudicated as a dependent child, his or her parent, guardian, or legal custodian, attorney, guardian ad litem, if any, foster parents if there are foster parents, any preadoptive parent or relatives providing care for such child, and other parties shall be given written notice of a permanency plan hearing at least five days in advance of such hearing and shall be advised that the permanency plan recommended by DFCS will be submitted to the court for consideration as the order of the court.
(e) The court shall consult with the child adjudicated as a dependent child, in an age-appropriate manner, regarding the proposed permanency plan for such child.
History
Code 1981, § 15-11-230, enacted by Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 1-1/HB 242.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 24A-2701, pre-2000 Code Section 15-11-41, and pre-2014 Code Section 15-11-58, which were subsequently repealed but were succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section. See the Editor’s notes at the beginning of the chapter.
Private cause of action. - Following factors were relevant in determining whether a private remedy was implicit in a statute not expressly providing one: first, was the plaintiff one of the class for whose special benefit the statute was enacted; second, was there any indication of legislative intent, explicit or implicit, either to create such a remedy or to deny one; third, was it consistent with the underlying purpose of the legislative scheme
to imply such a remedy for plaintiff? When foster children alleged that certain child services agencies and officials violated former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-58(c) and (o)(1) (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 15-11-201 and
15-11-230), then the former statute conferred upon the children a private cause of action. Kenny A. v. Perdue, 218 F.R.D. 277 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 18, 2003) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-58).