Section 169-C:6 Protective Custody. - New Hampshire Statutes

   I. A police or juvenile probation and parole officer may take a child into protective custody without the consent of the parents or other person legally responsible for the child's care if the child is in such circumstances or surroundings as would present an imminent danger to the child's health or life unless immediate action is taken and there is not enough time to petition for a court order.
   II. If a police or juvenile probation and parole officer removes a child under paragraph I above, the officer:
      (a) Shall inform the court forthwith whereupon continued protective custody pending a hearing may be ordered by the court;
      (b) May take the child to a child protection services worker of the department; or
      (c) May place the child in a foster home; if a child is placed directly in a foster home, the department shall be notified of the incident and where the child is placed within 24 hours, unless there is a physician involved and treating the child and the child is or will be taken to and admitted to a hospital; and
      (d) Shall, when the child is removed from an individual other than a parent or a person legally responsible for the child, make every reasonable effort to inform both parents or other persons legally responsible for the child's care where the child has been taken.
   III. Any police or juvenile probation and parole officer or other individual acting in good faith pursuant to this section, shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed as a result of such removal or placement.
   IV. The court shall hold a hearing on the matter within 24 hours of taking the child into protective custody, Sundays and holidays excluded. Notice shall be given to both parents and all parties designated by the petitioner or the court.
   V. If a child is found by a child protection services worker of the department to be in imminent danger in such circumstances or surroundings and where immediate removal appears necessary to protect the child from such imminent danger, the department's child protection services worker shall contact a judge or clerk immediately for an order to remove the child. Prior to any order authorizing foster placement, the child protective service worker shall inform the judge of efforts to locate any non-custodial parent or other relatives for temporary placement.
   VI. The court having jurisdiction over a child who appears to be abused or neglected, and in imminent danger may issue ex parte orders pursuant to RSA 169-C:6-a, permitting the child or the alleged perpetrator to be removed from the home at the request of the department or a law enforcement officer.
   VII. No child taken into protective custody pursuant to this section shall be securely detained.
   VIII. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the refusal of a parent or other person having control of a child to administer or consent to the administration of any psychotropic drug to such child shall not, in and of itself, constitute grounds for the police or a juvenile probation and parole officer to take the child into custody, or for the court to order that such child be taken into custody. However, if the administration of a decreasing dose of the drug is required during withdrawal from the medication, the refusal may constitute grounds for taking the child into protective custody.

Source. 1979, 361:2. 1987, 402:12. 1988, 197:6. 1994, 411:3, 16, 17. 1995, 310:175. 2000, 294:9, eff. July 1, 2000. 2003, 199:1, eff. Aug. 29, 2003. 2004, 237:7, eff. June 15, 2004.