Section 315.215  Return Home Pending Status Hearing

a)         Description

            The minor will be in short-term care with a continued goal to return home pending a status hearing.  When the court finds that a parent has not made reasonable progress to date, the court identifies what actions the parent and the Department or purchase of service agency  must take in order to justify a finding of reasonable progress and sets a status hearing to be held not earlier than nine months from the date of adjudication, nor later than 11 months from the date of adjudication, during which the parent's progress will again be reviewed.

b)         Criteria for Selection

            This goal may only be selected by the court.  It is selected when:

1)         the parents have not substantially fulfilled their obligations under the service plan and corrected the conditions that brought the child into care; and

2)         nine months have not yet elapsed since adjudication.

c)         Status Hearing

1)         When the court selects this goal, the court sets a status hearing to review the parents' progress.  The date for the status hearing will be not earlier than nine months from the date of adjudication, nor later than 11 months from the date of adjudication.  The court tells the parents what they must do to demonstrate reasonable efforts or progress.  The court also requires that relevant, appropriate reunification services continue to be available during this time period.

2)         When the court conducts the status hearing at 9 to 11 months after the adjudication, the court determines whether the parents have made reasonable efforts or progress toward attaining the goal of "return home."  If the court finds that the parents have failed to make reasonable efforts or progress, the court may select the goal "substitute care pending court decision regarding termination of parental rights" based upon the parents' failure "to make reasonable efforts to correct the conditions that were the basis for removal of the child or to make reasonable progress toward the return of the child to the parent within nine months of an adjudication of neglected, abused or dependent minor." [750 ILCS 50/1D(m)]

3)         This goal is not available for selection by a caseworker.  However, when the court selects this goal, the caseworker shall request a legal screening to determine whether the parents have failed to fulfill their obligations under the service plan and failed to correct the conditions that brought the child into care, and the case is approaching nine months since adjudication or more than nine months have passed since adjudication.