Child In Need of Services (CHINS)

A Child In Need of Services (CHINS) petition is a request from a child or parent/legal guardian to the Juvenile Court to grant temporary placement of a child. This is not in place of a parenting plan or emancipation. The child must be 12-17 years old and meet one or more of the following requirements:

A. The child has been reported as absent without consent for at least 24 consecutive hours on two or more separate occassions from the parent's/legal guardian's home, a crisis residential center, an out-of-home placement, or a court-ordered placement; and

1. Has exhibited a serious substance aboue problem; or

2. Has exhibmited behaviors that crate a reisk of serious harm to the health, safety, or welfare of the child or any other person; 

OR

B. The child is beyond the control of his/her parent/guardian such that the child's behavior endangers the health, safety, or welfare of the child or other person: OR

C. The child is in need of necessary services (including food, shelter, health care, clothing, education, or services designed to maintain or reunite the family);

1. The child lacks access to, or has declined to utilize these services; and

2. The child's parent/guardians have evidenced continuing but unsuccessful efforts to maintain the family structure or are unable or unwilling to continue efforts to maintain the family structure.