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Researching references to Dispositional Hearings

HHS
Overview Of The Civil Child Protective Court Process

http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/userma ... ourtsd.cfm

The Disposition Hearing (Introduction)

If the judge determines that abuse or neglect has occurred, the trial will proceed to the disposition hearing. At this stage of the civil court process, the judge decides who will have custody and control over the child, and may, in some jurisdictions, have the authority to issue certain conditions on placement or instructions to the parties. In most States, the court has the authority to require parents to participate in treatment and counseling or to cooperate with agency caseworkers as conditions of keeping the family intact.35 This judicial authority depends upon a prior finding of abuse or neglect, since without such an adjudication, the court does not have jurisdiction (i.e., power over the parties) to order these remedies. Witnesses may be presented and cross-examined at the hearing, and written agency reports, with recommendations, may be submitted."

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KENNETH D., a Minor,
(The People of the State of Illinois,

Petitioner-Appellee, v. Martha L.,

http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/A ... 053627.htm

"In determining the relevance of respondent's conduct after Kenneth was taken into protective custody, we find the case of ..., instructive. There, the court addressed a mother's argument that her participation in services after the removal of her child should have been considered at an adjudicatory hearing where the State alleged the child was dependent due to the mother's inability to care for the child. The court rejected the mother's claim, finding that the mother "seems to confuse the adjudicatory hearing and the dispositional hearing." ... In making its finding, the court relied upon the supreme court's decision in ... Therein, the supreme court stated that:

"Evidence that a parent substantially completed offered services, or otherwise refrained from prior objectionable conduct following removal of the child, does not somehow absolve or erase the parent's initial failing that triggered State intervention and removal of the child. Rather, such evidence is appropriately considered at the second stage of the termination hearing, at which the court considers whether it is in the best interest of the minor that parental rights be terminated. At that time, the full range of the parent's conduct can be considered."

http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/spring03/30654.htm

WV
IN RE: STEPHEN TYLER R.

Whether an incarcerated parent may attend a dispositional hearing addressing the possible termination of his or her parental rights...

"a circuit court may enter a dispositional order in an abuse and neglect case that simultaneously terminates a parent's parental rights while also requiring said parent to continue paying child support for the child(ren)... "

"Lastly, Mr. R. argues that the circuit court erred by continuing his obligation to pay child support for Stephen even though it terminated his parental rights to this child. In rendering its dispositional ruling in this matter, the circuit court ordered “[t]hat it is in the best interest of the infant child that the parental rights of Robert [R.] are hereby TERMINATED and forever gone as to the infant child, Stephen Tyler [R.], but for his duty to pay child support for said infant child.”

"However, the dispositional alternative enumerated in W. Va. Code § 49-6-5(a)(5) specifically commands the court selecting this disposition to enter “an appropriate order of financial support by the parents or guardians” even though this alternative also entails the temporary transfer of custody of the subject child(ren) to a guardian other than the child(ren)'s parents."

"the court shall conduct a hearing pursuant to section two [§ 49-6-2] of this article and may modify a dispositional order"