Section He-M 510.18 - Surrogate Parent(a) A surrogate parent shall be appointed by the lead agency in the following circumstances: (1) No parent as defined in He-M 510.02(ag) can be identified;(2) The lead agency, area agency, or FCESS program, after reasonable efforts, including, but not limited to telephone calls and e-mails with documentation of the dates and times of the attempts, cannot locate a parent;(3) The child is in the custody of DCYF and the court overseeing the case has not appointed a surrogate parent meeting the requirements of (f) below; or(4) When a court has issued a written order for a surrogate parent.(b) An application for appointment of a surrogate parent shall be submitted to the lead agency by an area agency or FCESS program if any of the criteria in (a) above are present.(c) Within 30 days of the receipt of a completed application pursuant to (b) above, the lead agency shall determine whether the child needs a surrogate parent, and if necessary, assign a surrogate parent.(d) In order to determine whether a child needs a surrogate parent, the lead agency shall obtain information that demonstrates one of the following:(1) A parent cannot be identified because there is no written record of the existence of such a person available to the area agency, FCESS program, or lead agency; (2) A parent is not able to be located by the FCESS program or area agency as evidenced through documentation of efforts including but not limited to, telephone calls and emails and the date, time of attempts to contact parent.(3) The FCESS program or area agency has contacted DCYF for assistance; or(4) The absence of a court order appointing a surrogate parent for a child in the custody of DCYF.(e) For children in the custody of DCYF, the lead agency must collaborate with DCYF to obtain necessary information for the appointment of a surrogate parent.(f) The lead agency shall select individuals to be available to serve as surrogate parents provided such individuals: (1) Have volunteered to serve as a surrogate parent;(2) Have satisfactorily completed training to serve as a surrogate parent provided by the lead agency or designee;(3) Are 21 years of age or over;(4) Have agreed in writing to serve as a surrogate parent from the date of appointment;(5) Have no interest that conflicts personally or professionally with the interest of the child they represents;(6) Are not employees of the lead agency, area agency, or FCESS program responsible for the services, education, care, or any other services to the child or any family member of the child, or the school district of liability related to the transition process; and(7) Have provided consent to a check of state registries of founded reports of abuse, neglect, exploitation, as established by RSA 161-F:49 and RSA 169-C:35, and their names do not appear on said registries.(g) A surrogate parent assigned by the lead agency shall have the same rights and responsibilities as a parent defined in He-M 510.02(ag) for purposes of this chapter.(h) The lead agency shall terminate the appointment of a surrogate parent when: (1) A parent becomes known, is located, or rescinds their request or consent to have a surrogate parent appointed and will assume educational decision-making;(2) The child ceases to be under legal custody of DCYF or guardianship of DCYF per RSA 463;(3) The child is placed within a relative foster placement;(4) The child is adopted; or(5) When the assigned surrogate parent provides 30 days' notice to the lead agency of the desire to end the surrogate parent relationship.N.H. Admin. Code § He-M 510.18
#9594, eff 11-11-09 (from He-M 510.13 )
Amended by Number 41, Filed October 12, 2023, Proposed by #13753, Effective 9/27/2023, Expires 9/27/2033.