Amends existing law to establish provisions regarding an order to prevent removal.

Idaho’s Child Protective Act contains several ineffective provisions regarding the issuance of protective orders topreventremovingachildfromhishomeincasesofallegedabuseorneglect. Duetotheunworkablenatureof these provisions, this bill seeks to strike these references to protective orders and relief. This bill also creates a straightforwardprocessforacourttoenteranordertopreventremovaltoaccomplishthesamegoal. Anorderto prevent removal is specifically defined as an order to allow a child to remain in the child’s present surroundings when there is reasonable cause to believe the child is safe in the sole care of a parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian and when there is alleged neglect or abuse by another parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian. A prosecutor or the attorney general may seek such an order by filing a motion that is accompanied by a sworn affidavit from a law enforcement officer or the department. The court in which the motion is filed may then issue an order to prevent removal if there is reasonable cause to believe the child would be safe in the child’s present surroundings. The order will exclude the alleged offender from the child’s residence, prohibit the alleged offender from communicating with the child, and restrain the alleged offender from coming within a certaindistanceofthechild. Ahearingonwhethertocontinuetheordermaybeheldandthecourtmaycontinue the order upon certain findings. Finally, this bill also establishes that a failure to abide by an order to prevent removal is punishable as misdemeanor criminal contempt.