Opinion ID: 1757549
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: expeditious hearing

Text: As recognized in Lehman v. Lycoming County Children's Serv.'s Agency, 458 U.S. 502, 513, 102 S.Ct. 3231, 3238, 73 L.Ed.2d 928 (1982), [i]t is undisputed that children require secure, stable, long-term, continuous relationships with their parents or foster parents. Very little is as detrimental to a child's sound development as uncertainty over whether he is to remain in his current `home,' under the care of his parents or foster parents, especially when such uncertainty is prolonged. Id., 458 U.S. at 513-14, 102 S.Ct. at 3238; see also In re J.M.P., 528 So.2d 1002, 1016-17; In Interest of CLS, 94-531 (La.App. 3 Cir. 11/2/94), 649 So.2d 532, 540. In keeping with this paramount interest of the child[ren], in 1997 our Children's Code enacted Article 1001.1 specifically mandating that any petition or proceeding filed or held under the provisions of the Children's Code be given priority. La.Ch.Code art. 1001.1 provides: Any petition filed and any proceeding held under the provisions of this Title shall be given priority, to the extent practicable, over any other civil action before the court, except emergency proceedings for the protection of the child under Articles 617 through 627, or Domestic Abuse Assistance proceedings under Chapter 8 of Title XV. Any petition filed under the provisions of this Title shall be docketed immediately upon filing, and hearings shall be scheduled for the earliest dates practicable. (Emphasis added.) Accordingly, this court in exercising its supervisory jurisdiction orders that this case shall proceed expeditiously and within the following time frames to the extent practicable: (1) the juvenile court shall hold a hearing and decide the issue of the Permanency Placement Plan and/or petition for the termination of N.M.'s parental rights and any related issue within twenty days after either or both of these proceedings is filed; (2) the juvenile court shall set the return day of the appeal, should one be requested, no more than fifteen days from the signing of a judgment or from the mailing of notice of the judgment if required; and (3) in this event, the court of appeal shall hear and decide an appeal taken from the juvenile court within sixty days of the lodging of the record on appeal.