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Rev. Stat. § 43-246
Nebraska
Revised Statutes of 1943
Chapter
43. Infants and Juveniles
Article
2. Juvenile Code
(B)
General Provisions
§
43-246. Code, how construed.
Acknowledging the responsibility
of the juvenile court to act to preserve the public peace and security,
the Nebraska Juvenile Code shall be construed to effectuate the following:
(1) To assure the rights
of all juveniles to care and protection and a safe and stable living environment
and to development of their capacities for a healthy personality, physical
well-being, and useful citizenship and to protect the public interest;
(2) To provide for the
intervention of the juvenile court in the interest of any juvenile who
is within the provisions of the Nebraska Juvenile Code, with due regard
to parental rights and capacities and the availability of nonjudicial
resources;
(3) To remove juveniles
who are within the Nebraska Juvenile Code from the criminal justice system
whenever possible and to reduce the possibility of their committing future
law violations through the provision of social and rehabilitative services
to such juveniles and their families;
(4) To offer selected
juveniles the opportunity to take direct personal responsibility for their
individual actions by reconciling with the victims through juvenile offender
and victim mediation and fulfilling the terms of the resulting agreement
which may require restitution and community service;
(5) To achieve the purposes
of subdivisions (1) through (3) of this section in the juvenile's own
home whenever possible, separating the juvenile from his or her parent
when necessary for his or her welfare, the juvenile's health and safety
being of paramount concern, or in the interest of public safety and, when
temporary separation is necessary, to consider the developmental needs
of the individual juvenile in all placements, to consider relatives as
a preferred potential placement resource, and to make reasonable efforts
to preserve and reunify the family if required under section 43-283.01;
(6)
To promote adoption, guardianship, or other permanent arrangements for
children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services
who are unable to return home;
(7) To provide a judicial
procedure through which these purposes and goals are accomplished and
enforced in which the parties are assured a fair hearing and their constitutional
and other legal rights are recognized and enforced; and
(8) To assure compliance,
in cases involving Indian children, with the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare
Act.
Source: Laws 1981, LB
346, § 2; Laws 1982, LB 787, § 1; Laws 1985, LB 255, §
31; Laws 1985, LB 447, § 12; Laws 1996, LB 1001, § 2; Laws 1998,
LB 1041, § 21; Laws 1998, LB 1073, § 12.
CROSS
REFERENCE
Nebraska Indian Child
Welfare Act, see section 43-1501.
NOTES
OF DECISIONS
The state Department of
Social Services is not required to institute a plan for rehabilitation
of a parent whose child has been found to be dependent and neglected.
In re Interest of L.C., J.C., and E.C., 235 Neb. 703, 457 N.W.2d 274 (1990).
The juvenile code must
be liberally construed to effectuate its purpose of securing the best
interests of those juveniles who fall within it. In re Interest of R.A.
and V.A., 225 Neb. 157, 403 N.W.2d 357 (1987).
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