§571-62  Hearing; investigation and report. 
Every petition under section 571-61 shall be filed in duplicate and the clerk
of the court in which the same is filed shall immediately forward a copy of the
petition, and of the notice of the time and place of the hearing thereof, to
the director of the department of human services.  The director shall be
permitted to appear and be heard at any such hearing on behalf of the
petitioner or the child or minor or the State and shall have the same right of
appeal as any party to the proceeding.  The attorney general shall, at the
request of the director, represent and defend the interests of the department
in any such proceeding.  Upon the request of any petitioning parent or parents
or upon the request of the department of human services, any child-placing
organization, approved by the department under section 346-17, shall be
permitted to appear together with or in place of the department.



If any petitioner or the department or any such
child-placing organization approved by the department or any parent whose
rights are sought to be terminated requests of the court a continuance of the
hearing for the purpose of permitting an objective investigation of the
circumstances of the minor and the parent or parents concerned, no judgment of
termination shall be entered prior to the expiration of thirty days from the
date of the request or until the earlier date of the filing of a report of the
investigation.  If the petition has been filed by or at the request of the department
of human services or any such child-placing organization, or, in the event that
a continuance has been requested as above provided, the department of human
services shall prepare or procure and file in the termination proceeding a
report of the facts disclosed as a result of investigation of the circumstances
of the minor and the parent or parents whose rights are sought to be
terminated.  The court may, for good cause, grant extensions of the time within
which such report must be filed.  Any such report shall be incorporated in the
record of the proceeding and shall be considered by the court in determining
the issues presented by the petition.  The court may, if it deems such action
necessary, appoint a guardian ad litem to represent and defend the interests of
the child or minor or of any minor parent. [L 1965, c 232, pt of §1; Supp,
§333-30; HRS §571-62; am L 1970, c 105, §5; am L 1987, c 339, §4; am L 1990, c
34, §34]



 



Rules of Court



 



  Guardians ad litem, see HFCR rule 17(c).